8 Brain-Branding Website Techniques Part II

In '8 Brain-Branding Web Presentation Concepts, Part I' we discussed the first four brain-related marketing concepts that if incorporated into website presentations help generate brand preference purchase decisions. Part II continues with the next four concepts.

5. Cognitive Itch

James J. Kellaris, Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration is an expert in studying why certain songs get stuck in peoples' heads. Its a phenomenon we have all experienced, and one he refers to as Cognitive Itch, the mental equivalent of an itch you can't get rid of no matter how much you scratch.

Kellaris has identified three main criteria for producing music that generates the Cognitive Itch response: simplicity, incongruity, and repetition. These same principles can be applied to the development of an effective Web video campaign that creates a Cognitive Itch response to your product, service or brand.

In creating Web video campaigns for clients, we use these same memory-inducing criteria. Simplicity: (focused content, one video, one major point); Incongruity: (an offbeat approach or host-presenter that demands attention); and Repetition: (the repetition of signature verbal and visual taglines, and mnemonic sound logos that re-enforce the message and the brand).

6. SlipStreaming

Max Sutherland is an Australian marketing consultant, Adjunct Professor at Bond University, and author of "Advertising & the Mind of the Consumer." Sutherland's notion of SlipStreaming as a marketing tactic comes from the racing world. Auto and bike racers often conserve energy and propel momentum by tucking behind the race leader, thereby reducing wind resistance so at an opportune time they can accelerate past their competition.

SlipStreaming in the marketing world is similar. You associate your marketing message with an already well-known visual, auditory, or conceptual element that provides instant recognition and familiarity but with your own twist. The familiarity aspect equates to the racer sitting behind the leader conserving resources, while the twist provides the marketing momentum to push past the competition.

We use the technique quite often when we present our video marketing concepts. To convey the point that search engine optimization doesn't deal with delivering an effective marketing message to audiences once they arrive at your website, we emulated the iconic MAC versus PC advertisements by pitting a Multimedia Guy against an SEO Guy; people instantly understood the format and quickly caught on to the message.

In another presentation for the SonicPersonality concept we used the familiar movie trailer format in a series of different genre styles as a metaphor for presenting the ultimate mission statement or elevator pitch.

You are surrounded by familiar and iconic images, symbols, and personalities; all you have to do, is recognize what works and how to implement it. Being clever, entertaining, and persuasive is about talent, not deep pockets.

7. The Paradox of Choice & Information Anxiety

Barry Schwartz, is a psychologist and Professor at Swarthmore College who has written a book called "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less." His premise is quite simple: the more choices you have offered to you, the less likely you are to make a decision. This is a problem that is rampant on websites in every market sector.

Whether it's an entrepreneur trying to get his or her money's worth by cramming every last bit of information into a presentation; an ecommerce site cataloging every know product ever invented; or a multinational that demands every competing sales, marketing, and stock market objective be included, the result is the same: confusion and paralysis.

Schwartz's work points to four basic consequences that result from blitzing an audience with too much information: decision-making paralysis, buyer dissatisfaction, lost opportunity regret, and expectation escalation.

Back in 1989, Richard Saul Wurman, an architect, graphic designer, and cartographer wrote a book called "Information Anxiety" in which he pointed out the same basic premise: "Information Anxiety is produced by the ever-widening gap between what we understand and what we think we should understand."

The more we know the more we understand how little we know and that is not good for business, yet most businesses both big and small conform to the notion that more features, more benefits, and more text on their websites will somehow bring in more business; the fact is the opposite is true.

8. The Gestalt of It All

We've all heard the expression, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; this in essence summarizes the meaning of Gestalt theory. Gestalt, a German word that literally means 'shape' or 'figure,' is a psychological theory that posits the brain organizes sensory input into recognizable patterns in order to make sense of it, and understand its meaning and implications. This is one reason why the Slipstream marketing method mentioned earlier works so well.

In some sense the idea of Gestalt ties all the previously mentioned concepts together. How our brains interpret what we see, hear, and feel, drives who we are, what we think, and how we act.

In marketing terms, your website is the ideal platform for generating the kind of pattern recognition that some would call knowledge, what others might call understanding. But whatever you call it, the skillful presentation of information that uses all available sensory expression is what forms buyer preference, the major ingredient that gets your audience to buy what you sell rather than your competitors.

Human Motivational Optimization

What people experience makes them who they are. Who they are determines whether or not they're going to buy what you sell. And who they are is the result of their accumulated experiences. The concepts discussed above, afford businesses the opportunity to develop the kind of website that actually influences behavior and brand preference.

If your website doesn't use the motivational tools available to present a memorable experience that forms opinion and preference then it will probably never provide you with the results you want or expect.