State of Mind
I've been thinking about how the human mind works - and what that means for marketing - on and off for awhile now. To be honest, I'm still thinking, but I've come up with some initial ideas. If you have any thoughts, leave a comment; I'd love to hear from other people on this.
Roughly speaking, it appears to me that there are three levels to the human mind.
1) There's the rational mind that we use to actively think through problems (e.g. logic problems). This is the upper mind.
2) Beneath the upper mind is the deeper mind. These thoughts aren't something we think out rationally, rather they're the deep human impulses that control a lot of our actions. For instance, our desire to connect with other people falls into this category; we don't need to think it out, we just feel it.
3) The final mind, and I suspect most people wouldn't think of this as a mind, is the body. The brain and the body are in constant communication, and the body produces many chemicals that alter how we think. One common example is that the feeling of being in love is induced by a chemical in the blood stream (people like this one because chocolate reportedly has the same chemical). Testosterone is another good example; hormones have a huge impact on how people behave.
(I've intentionally stayed away from the terms conscious and subconscious above as I suspect these refer to different understandings of the mind.)
These levels are all so closely connected that they are not really separate; they blend into each other and require each other to function.
The sensation of being thirsty is something the body mind controls, but if you've ever been really thirsty then you know that every part of your being, all levels of your mind, focuses on getting water.
The desire to connect with other people, e.g. to fall in love, is controlled by the deep mind. The upper mind will think up rational reasons why love is a good idea (sometimes even inventing virtues in the other person that don't exist), and the body mind gets in on the act by responding to pheromones and circulating chemicals to induce euphoric feelings. (Apologies, by the way, if I've just destroyed your romantic illusions.)
So what, you may reasonably be asking at this point, does all this have to do with marketing?
The connection is that it's worth being aware of the level of mind you're trying to appeal to.
To carry on the example from above of the very thirsty individual: There's not much point in appealing to a sense of community in order to market water if the person you're selling to is desperately thirsty; they simply do not care and it's a waste of time and effort.
On the flip side, if you're trying to promote a community, then appealing to deeper motivations is likely to be more effective then offering them a free bottle of water.
Tailoring the message to the underlying motivations is more effective and more targeted.
P.S. Thanks to A. for talking out all of this with me.