I have been deep-diving into a book called “Rapid Response Advertising”.
It’s an old school.
Pre Social media.
But powerful.
It’s all human behaviour and psychology.
And I wanted to share something that I learned inside it
That has opened my mind up to appreciate it deeply
The science and art of communicating a message.
It’s called positioning.
I used to think positioning had to do with where you sat against your competitors,
But what I discovered is a much deeper
More profound deep dive into human psychology.
Some of you may know this in the context of your value system and how you prioritise your decisions and actions based on this.
But this is a little different.
Your mind is full of hierarchy,
With positions within them for everything.
Yep, EVERYTHING!
Your mind is a hierarchy-creating, idea-positioning machine.
That’s why when someone asks you who is your favourite xyz,
You have instantaneous recall of who the contenders are.
Normally 1 to 3, sometimes up to 7.
Your brain has positioned these into a hierarchy.
Sometimes it isn’t 100% clear,
And when you dive deeper and refine the question,
The top one positions itself.
And other times you automatically have absolute certainty, on the one in the top spot.
You see our brain is ALWAYS postioning things.
Into these hierarchies.
Whether we are aware of it or not,
We have positioned companies, brands, people, products into a hierarchy.
So when the appropriate question or problem shows up for us,
Our mind springs into action, with ease and little thought with a brand, company, person or product to solve it.
See Positioning is the brand, company, product or person vying for either the vacant top spot, creating a new segment and section in your mind, or to move someone else out of the top spot and own it for themselves in these mental hierarchies.
The goal for marketing is to OWN the top piece of your mental real estate, inside the mental suburbia they are playing in, that positions them as the one and only to go to.
Now what’s interesting is that these hierarchies and their positions are either intentionally created or created without intention and also positively charged or negatively charged, to create towards and away behaviors.
Intentional created would be like your favourite coffee shop when someone asks you “Where do I go for a coffee?” or a Company like Harvey Norman who pops to mind when you want to buy a TV, coffee table and a couch or a personal brand like Tony Robbins, when someone says life coaching.
If I were to say “Fresh Food People” if you are in Australia you would think woolworths. They own this real estate in your mind. Even if they pop to mind, then you think no they don’t, they do.
Unintentional business marketing like someone who may have hurt you deeply in the past, a painful experience or event. Sometimes these events can even hold the very top position in your mind and are continuously occupying it with the story, with the thoughts and the emotions and causes your whole world to be coloured by it.
If I were to ask, “Who caused you the most pain, and what was it?” This person and the actions they took both hold the top position in this hierarchy of people and pain caused.
And
Maybe intentionally like your intimate partner who chooses to make you a priority, take you on dates, spend quality time with you and make you feel special.
All of these, though different, with different intentionality, all slip into a mental headache.
And in that hierarchy, they are positioned either as the only one,
Or
Into the top spot, down.
And so when it comes to marketing,
This is a powerful,
Psychological operating system,
That the best businesses and marketers tap into.
So when it comes to our coaching business,
We want to own this real estate in people’s minds,
By crafting our messaging,
Inside our content or advertising,
That positions us and leverages this powerful part innately inside of our prospects,
So that when something comes up,
Either now, as they read it,
In 30 minutes time, in 7 days or 2 years,
It triggers them to remember us,
Reach out to us,
Then join us as a client.
Until next time,
Keep Smashing Growth Ceilings.
Justin “Your mind is a hierarchy-creating, idea-positioning machine” Wiseman
