When people talk about hypnosis, quite often people think of Paul McKenna, people clucking like chickens and strangely dressed magician types holding swinging watches. The mention of hypnosis normally results in rolling eyed scepticism.
However underneath all the showmanship and cliche’s hypnosis is very real and, when done right, can help cure addictions and phobias almost like magic. The process is pretty simple. Put someone on a trance like state (like when you they listening to something really boring or driving on a motorway) then re programme how they process information using words. There is no voodoo or mysticism, it’s just words.
Marketeers use hypnosis all the time it’s just not called hypnosis, and one particular technique that is used to alter behaviour is called anchoring, it’s a very useful technique and it’s based on something pretty much all of us do.
Imagine you are out walking, and you smell a perfume someone you know wears. Immediately you will think of that person and the emotions associated with the memory, you can’t stop it. It’s a reflex. Pretty much everyone recalls these memories or associations instantly when they are triggered by an input such as touch, smell, sounds or visuals.
The whole advertising industry is pretty much built on anchoring. Evoke a positive emotion with sound and images then throw in a brand identity to link the two together. Then, like the perfume example, in future when you see that brand you feel the same emotion.
Music is a powerful anchor, just think of a horror film, the music evokes the emotion of fear. Advertising jingles work the same way. Hear the catchy jingle, then think of the product you have linked it to.
In clinical hypnosis, therapists remove the anchors or associations that trigger unwanted behaviour, however in marketing you want to anchor you brand to a positive emotion or feeling. This is why it is so important to have your branding on all the content you produce, in order to link the emotions of the content to your brand. A logo, music, even a domain name can all trigger an anchor.
Your videos especially are a great way to entertain and inform your audience and build your brand recognition through anchoring. Not all marketing content needs to promote a product or service. However, you are really missing a trick to not brand your content. Just adding your logo, musical identity or event just a visible domain name is enough.
Think of all the brands who make great use of anchoring. If I mention Nike, Apple, Ferrari or more recently Peloton they all evoke an emotion based on anchoring the brand to an emotion and feeling through content.
Don’t underestimate the power of anchoring when building your brand and start adding your identity to your content
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