Do you really know how a zipper works? It’s like magic: pull up and our clothes are closed. Pull down and our clothes are open. But how do all those teeth link together and stay together even when you try to pull them apart? If you’re older than age 8, by now you probably just accept that a zipper just does what it does: zip!
This brings up an interesting concept: We Don’t Know How Much We Don’t Know. While I’ve heard of this concept before and I’ve definitely seen it in action within myself, it wasn’t until I watched the new show on National Geographic, Brain Games (specifically Season 3, Episode 6: What You Don’t Know) that I began to understand just how deep this concept goes.
This is Your Brain on Assumptions
Who likes to walk around feeling lost and clueless, especially when it comes to things “everyone” supposedly knows? From a basic survival standpoint, our brains know we need to feel safe and in control. That’s why our brains are wired to provide an answer (ANY answer, even if it’s totally wrong)—because it’s better than not knowing the answer at all. It’s automatic.
So we all think we know what we don’t know, because our brains trick us into thinking we’re so perfectly brilliant. All of us do it: we constantly come across problems we can’t solve, and if we were honest, we’d admit it!
Psychologists have a term for this: the “Illusion of Knowledge.”
So we’re ALL naturally inclined to maintain this illusion that we know all about the world. The Illusion of Knowledge is necessary to keep us from facing our own incompetence. The Illusion of Knowledge brings about a false sense of security in what we think we know. The Illusion of Knowledge is what leads us to make daily decisions with overconfidence.
Kinda scary, isn’t it? Millions of people thinking they 100% KNOW the answer means we have a bunch of Homer Simpsons running around thinking they’re Sherlock Holmes. And worse yet, due to the “Overconfidence Effect,” our brains spend a lot of time protecting our fragile little egos. Great.
A Quick Brain Game
National Geographic’s Brain Games offers a lot of cool quizzes to help illustrate this raging battle in our brains. I found this one illustrates my points best…
Read this phrase:
Now read it again, out loud.
Did it make sense? Yes? Then read it again.
…how about now? Did you see it?
If not, no worries; most people don’t see it on the first try. (To my husband’s amazement, I saw it immediately, because hey, attention to detail is my MO.)
Your eyes don’t focus on every single word when you read. Instead, you sweep across the page sampling small chunks of text—leaving it up to your brain to make sense of those chunks. (You’re probably doing the same thing while reading this article right now because it looked too long to commit to, right?) A simple task like reading shows how much your brain takes in and tosses out with next to zero conscious awareness on your part.
(You do see it now, right? New York in THE THE spring. Two THEs!)
Branding for Brains
Your brain is constantly trying to leave you with as little information as necessary to make sense of your world. While you might get the sense you’re taking in the entire scene, you’re really not. Your brain focuses on one thing (usually whatever is moving or talking or making noise), then it filters out everything else it doesn’t deem important.
Your brain doesn’t always give you the full picture.
So how can you get your potential customers to GET your business, your products and your services? After all, they think they know everything. They’re making assumptions about your business from the get-go. Worse yet, they’re not retaining any relevant information about your brand!
You’ve heard the numbers: it used to be that a prospective client needed to see your branding 7 times before remembering your business. But that number was established before the advent of the Internet. 20 years ago we were exposed to anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 marketing messages a day. Today, we’re up to 30,000 a day!
So how many of those messages got in? How many were retained? How many of your potential customers’ brains sabotaged your branding efforts?
As an entrepreneur, you’re looking at your competition as the bad guy: potentially stealing your clientele away with their catchy marketing tactics and solid branding. But don’t be so quick to judge their tactics: it’s likely YOUR branding and marketing isn’t reaching your potential customer’s brain!
Think of it this way…
- Is your ideal customer’s brain masking your products or services from their mind because of the perceived image YOU promote?
- Is that ideal customer’s brain hitting delete on your branding because they subconsciously don’t care enough to learn what you do?
Beyond Those Pesky Brains
Listen to me: great branding is memorable. You need to stand out in the crowd.
Online: Add movement and/or noise to your website or your advertising to draw the eye (but don’t be obnoxious). You can accomplish this by adding a video or using simple animation techniques.
Offline: Choose digital billboards over traditional billboards. Even if you don’t have movement in your ad, the fact that the billboard changes periodically means the eye tricks the brain into focusing on it.
In Person: People love their digital toys and tools, but we still need interaction with other humans. So the best way to make your company stand out these days is to be the face of your business everywhere you go. After all, You Are Your Brand! Stop hiding behind your computer and get out there and introduce yourself to the masses. You’ll bring a human factor to your company that people can relate to.
While you don’t have to be a psychologist, your branding and marketing has to take our crazy human brains into account. The trick is to dive in and really discover what your target audience wants, then get their attention in creative and unique ways. And don’t forget: that brain of yours is probably lying to you, too! Take a step back from your brand (and your brain) to see the bigger picture.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.” – Stephen Hawking