In one of my earliest blogposts, I attempted to apply Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs”-model to branding. In conclusion of my post, I wrote:
“As brands in general move up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, companies need to start adapting their tone of voice across all touch points. Moving beyond product features or basic human concerns means they can start adapting their messaging around how they can boost clients’ sense of self-esteem and ultimately answer a basic human question: “What’s in it for ME ?”.”
In an interesting presentation on slideshare.net, digital strategist and blogger Jordan Julien talks about how differences in perception result in varying degrees of success when trying to get a message across towards a specific target audience. In his presentation, Jordan talks about using what he calls “key perception indicators” to ensure maximum success across varying audiences.
Linking back to my earlier post and the Maslow model, I feel there are five different levels in which brands can try to engage with their target audience: physiological, appealing to safety, love/belonging, (self)-esteem and ultimately self-actualization.
I found Jordan’s model a useful variation for looking at the world in a different way: rather than taking broadly defined “needs”, he talks about the importance of “using standards and finite instructions” to get the message across and understood in the correct way.
As professional communicators, we are aware it is very difficult to make sure an audience perceives a message in a uniform way. Personal character traits, societal background, individual history and a million other factors play an important role in how a message is perceived. As leaders, it can be frustrating to see how our messages are re-crafted as they make their way down the corporate levels. As people, we feel frustrated when our intentions are received differently from what we intended, creating what we appropriately term a “misunderstanding”.
A few years ago, I was handed a card by a co-worker. The card had five simple lines of text:
- Thinking is not saying
- Saying is not hearing
- Hearing is not understanding
- Understanding is not believing
- Believing is not doing
Throughout the years, I have often thought about those five simple lines, and how they could help me communicate better. In terms of Jordan’s presentation, I would have only one useful addition to make – perhaps the ultimate goal of communication is not to have an audience perceive a message in a specific way, but rather to have them act upon it in a specific way.
