The entire concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has its basis on the workings of the human brain. The human brain is a wonder. Humans have been trying to understand its workings for centuries. Moreover, since the conception of computational tasks, humans have been trying to dabble in the field of AI. On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee delve into the workings of the human brain, its ability to compare new experiences to old memories, why machines are still unable to mimic this capability, and what lies in store for intelligent machines in the future.
More Power Doesn’t Translate To More Intelligent
As smaller computers became more powerful than their huge ancestors, scientists and researchers have been dreaming about a computer that can think like the human brain. Yet, humanity is miles away from developing machines as intelligent and capable of creative thought and understanding, as the human brain is. This is due to the fact that computers and the human brain are based on totally different principles.
Computers are made for the storage of information. This information programs a computer to perform certain tasks based on the command or code it is given. Fundamentally, a computer cannot use the stored information later on and use it to understand and process other information, and neither can it learn new information.
The human brain, however, has the ability to learn, apply previous experiences to new ones, understand and apply the information it acquires, via observation. This is what makes it intelligent.
When the supercomputer Deep Blue beat the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, it was able to do so merely due to the fact that it was able to calculate the probabilities of winning by running the numbers of each and every move and counter-move, and not because it was more intelligent than Kasparov.
Increasing power, therefore, doesn’t translate into being more intelligent, because more power will only increase a computer’s ability to compute faster. Computers will never be able to think as the human brain does. For that, a computer will have to have the ability to understand how the human brain works.
On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee
Information Processing
The human brain processes information brilliantly. It combines the information received by the senses with existing memories, making humans capable of experiencing their surroundings.
The neocortex is responsible for sensory perception and conscious thought processes. It is made of a number of layers that combine and relate new information to stored memories. The new raw sensory information passes through these layers, to which previously experienced details are added.
For example, when one sees the face of a school friend, the eyes pass on this visual information to the brain. The lower layers of the neocortex further pass the information to a higher-layer that combines stored memory information, links it to the new visual, and thus helps us recognize the friend. This process is so fast that it enables us to experience our surroundings seamlessly and fluidly.
When the information sent to the brain is absolutely new and the neocortex has no data to reference it with, the information is sent to the higher layer, where it is stored as a new memory. Thus the brain builds its ever-growing database of memories.
Connecting The Past And Future
How do we know for a fact that when we turn the knob on a door, it will open the door? How do we, so easily, predict this future?
The brain stores different memories in different regions that get activated in a sequence or a pattern, when it receives familiar information. If we take listening to a favorite song as an example, one region of the brain recognizes the music notes from a previous memory, while another region references previously-stored memories of the lyrics, and yet another region links the two. Thus we recognize the song every time we hear it.
These sequences and patterns essentially help us predict the future. Every time we experience something, the brain combs through different regions, looking for similar memories, activating the same nerve cells that were activated then. In this manner, the brain can dig up former reactions and reactions after that, enabling us to know what reactions to expect this time around. For example, the brain is able to predict that cars begin to move when the signal lights turn green, purely based on past experiences and stored memory.
The human brain therefore, makes predictions and adapts those predictions every time there is a new experience. This is the process of learning.
The Brains Unique Complexity
After scientists realized that Artificial Intelligence lacks intelligence because it is based on traditional machines, they started to develop models based on the human brain – neural networks. Neural networks, like the human brain, use pathways of artificial neurons to pass information.
Unlike the central storage unit in a computer, there is a vast network of neurons in the brain, in which information is stored. Scientists are trying to emulate this network to pass information.
In a neural network, one neuron causes the reception of information to activate other connected neurons. Each neuron, in turn, sends the signal of the input to other selective neurons, triggering a wave of input signals. Based on how sensitive a neuron is to a particular information input, the strength of the signal that is passed on increases or decreases. The strongest signals end up being the output of the wave.
Thus, if one inputs the alphabets ‘a’ and ‘n’ in a neuron, it will send the signal to other connected neurons and so on. Thus the neurons that are related to ‘a’, ‘n’, and ‘an’ will be the strongest signals that will be the output.
Yet, these artificial neural networks are no closer to the sophistication and complexity of the human brain. They are limited by a one-sided flow of information, unlike the brain, where information can be affected by feedback loops from the higher parts of the brain, thereby affecting signals. It is these feedback loops that help us remember a mathematical formula learned when we were in school after trying hard to recollect.
Neural networks also do not have the ability to build memory banks as the brain does. Thus previously received inputs cannot be stored for later use.
Will Computers Be Intelligent?
While humanity is still far from creating truly intelligent machines, we might be closer than expected. The biggest obstacle that scientists still have to overcome is to provide a computer a memory capacity as large as the human brain. This would mean having a memory of about 8 trillion bytes to replicate the brain’s synapses. Today, a computer has only 100 billion bytes.
Despite the size of memory, it could be a feasible prospect today, if not for the second obstacle that scientists face – to make a computer with such a large memory in a feasible size to enable practical use.
The answer to this problem could be solved by silicon chips that not only consume less power but also fast and robust. Silicon chips that could exceed the memory capacity of the human brain are not too distant a possibility!
However, the third obstacle that challenges is that in the human brain, one nerve cell is connected to a thousand others. In AI, scientists still have not discovered how to achieve this kind of byte connectivity in silicon chips.
The possible solution? Single fiber optic cables. These cables are used in telecommunications to transmit more than a million concurrent conversations over a single cable.
If scientists are able to over come these three obstacles, more intelligent computers might as well be on their way!
Intelligence Machines: Threat Or Benefit?
The world of entertainment has already cast AI as a threat to humanity. Many movies and novels about killer, self-aware sentient beings have made greens at the box office. However, thankfully reality will be a far cry away from these!
AI machines will have their intelligence modeled around the neocortex of the brain. The neocortex does not process emotions and feelings such as love, hate, anger, fear, and desire. These emotions are generated and processed in a more primitive, older part of the brain.
As long as this part does not feature in the making of AI, the machines will remain unemotional, only capable of emulating the brain’s ability to learn, understand and link new information to stored memory. Essentially, they will be able to think, but not feel.
To think of it, the benefits of AI as intelligent as the human brain will eventually far outweigh the risks and threats imagined. Considering the fact that a machine will never ‘die’, it could end up have a memory that would exceed that of humans, and be able to accumulate even more knowledge than humans do in a lifespan. While it is possible that AI could surpass the human ability to think and process knowledge, it would never become a threat.
Conclusion
Today the human brain outweighs computers in knowledge and the ability to learn, experience, and think due to the way the neocortex works. Technological development and neural networks bring the possibility of machines being smarter than humans, better at the memory, and more knowledgeable in the future. However, the perception that AI could bring about the extermination of the human race is merely a good movie concept.
Life can be viewed as one big game. James P Carse, in his ‘Finite and Infinite Games’ (1986) shows us how people live their lives in two contrasting ways, whether it is love, sex, or warfare. He discusses that finite games (ones where there is a definite end) and infinite games (that lead to never-ending possibilities) are defined by the choices one makes.
He proposes the games of real life have real rules and goals, whereas some games don’t follow rules, nor have winners or losers. However, both finite and infinite games can have a resounding impact on our lives.
All Of Life Is A Game
Every part of life can be viewed as a game adults play. Let us delve into what finite and infinite games are.
Finite Games – Finite games have a clear beginning and have very specific, spatial, numerical, and temporal rules. They also have a clear playing field and a definite number of people playing the game. Apart from these external rules, finite games have certain internal rules and restrictions too. The players, in the beginning, agree upon these rules and comply with them with the aim of winning the game. Once a player wins, the game is over.
A general election is a classic example of a real-life finite game. The rules are pre-decided, and based on the number of votes; a candidate (or a player) wins. The general rules include only one candidate per party and clearly outline what practices are allowed and what is not.
Infinite Games – These are the absolute opposite of finite games. Infinite games of life are played like one long continuous game. Thus, these do not have any internal or external restrictions, and anyone can participate, anytime, anywhere.
For example, if we see the field of music, there are no definite numbers of players; anyone can participate, anytime, anywhere. Composers do not make music to win or be the best. Instead, one composer winning composition is often inspirations for others to write better music.
More examples of finite and infinite games will help us see how life can be likened to a game.
Finite and Infinite Games by James P Carse
Defining Boundaries Of Games
Finite games, along with the aforementioned spatial, temporal, and numerical rules, have certain set boundaries. Consider a case wherein the rules for a general election merely stated that two people can compete and the one with the most votes is the winner. With this simple definition, even criminals could stand for elections, and the elections could be held on a daily basis!
However, because finite games are regulated by an audience who decides the when and where of the game, and who the players will be, the players are bound by the rules bestowed by the audience. Moreover, they are under pressure to play and to finish the game.
For example, a person writing an exam is a player, who needs to adhere to the timelines of learning and completing the exam on time.
Infinite games, on the other hand, place no boundaries on players. Players, therefore, are the masters of their own time in the game. Infinite games also present the player’s new possibilities, with every moment – that is seen as a new beginning to a new range of possibilities.
Players in infinite gameplay for as long as they wish to, invite others whenever they feel the need to, and play by any rules they create.
Society Versus Culture
Any game in life, whether finite or infinite, has others involved in the game. These other players can be on the same team as the player or opponents. However, how a player perceives others in the game differs on the basis of finite or infinite.
For finite players, there is an end reward. Therefore, they perceive others as part of a society (or life) wherein there are smaller finite games – like school is a definitive finite game within another game. Finite games award titles to winners. For example, the title a finite player will assume for a priest is ‘Father’ (wherein the priest has won the title in a previous finite game).
Titles are to be honored by the players of finite games and can be displayed via property and possession. For example, a player attends law school and opens his own prestigious law firm.
Infinite players on the other hand perceive society as a constantly developing culture. Their focus lies on the future and they do not concern themselves with past achievements. It for this very reason, that infinite players involve others in the quest for the future. They do not seek an end solution.
For example, infinite players would address the root cause of poverty, rather than to try and end it by helping the poor with some amount of charity.
Winning Versus Cohesion
Finite players are defined by the need to win, to take control over others in the game, to compete, and to dominate by winning. It is their end goal, whether it is a conversation with a friend or in the bedroom with their partners. They endeavor to overshadow their opponent and show their superiority. They perceive even the most basic conversation as a game that needs to be won. Their need for convincing others that their opinions are true becomes a title to be won – that is the title of knowledge.
When it comes to sexual relations, finite players perceive them as a means of conquering their partners and at times, can even create elaborate rituals of courtship to emphasize and fulfill their needs of reaching their end goal of winning.
Because infinite players give more weightage to the game itself rather than the end goal, they do not have the need to demonstrate superiority. They value both, listening and talking, and believe that life is about to give and take. For example, an infinite player will perceive a conversation as an opportunity to share knowledge than to explain the truth in their opinion. They prefer to offer their conversations as perspectives rather than the absolute truth.
Furthermore, when it comes to sex, infinite players do not concern themselves with the outcome (of either bearing children or achieving physical pleasure) but see sexual relationships as a means to explore themselves and their partners.
The Past Versus The Future
Finite players feel the need to assume roles designed and defined in the past. They have a fixation on their past because they need to prove themselves. For example, if a finite player is the son of a wealthy family, they will feel the need to safeguard the reputation and the property of the family. Thus the finite player will naturally assume the role of the heir.
A finite game is all about winning, yet, how often a finite player actually wins becomes irrelevant. This is because a finite player wouldn’t really be in a finite game if it wasn’t based on the past. A finite player, though fixated on winning, unfortunately, is a loser, simply because he dwells in the past. For example, a finite player who needs to prove himself to his office colleagues will aim towards winning the title of the best employee.
However, once the achieved title becomes past history, they will set their sights on another achievement, because they consider their past winning selves as a loser, and need to win again. It is their motivation to keep moving ahead in life.
Infinite players, on the other hand, focus on originality, uniqueness, and their own internal genius. Due to this they make peace with the past and focus on the future. The future for them is full of opportunities and endless possibilities, and they look forward to an open-ended game of life. Therefore an infinite player born in a wealthy family will consider it a new opportunity to opening a door full of unlimited possibilities, rather than be constricted by dwelling in the past of the family.
It Is After All A Choice
Life is complicated. Moreover, it could be a combination of finite or infinite games, or a finite game within an infinite game, or vice versa. How one perceives it is after all a choice.
Participating in any game is voluntary, yet finite players feel compelled to participate and win. While being a finite player or playing a finite game requires one to abide by and adhere to certain set external rules, being in a finite game is after all a choice.
For example, a lawyer needs to pass a bar exam and practice law in court regularly to be a successful lawyer. Yet being a lawyer itself is a choice. Sadly, it is often seen that finite players get trapped within the finite game and forget that they can choose to exit it altogether. They get too convinced themselves by the faces they need to adorn to abide by those external rules. For example, the CEO of a corporate forgets that he can take a break and go on vacation.
Playing a finite or infinite game is a matter of choice, and players need to keep in mind that they can play any way they want to as long as they don’t hide behind their masks and don’t get fooled by the masks of other people.
Fay Bound Alberti, the cultural historian courses through recent history to trace the development of the concept of loneliness in her book Biography Of Loneliness. Considering it a fairly modern concept, she delves into its origins since the 1800s, its evolution vis-a-vis society, and its increasing prominence in the lives of people today. She discusses case studies from social media, literature, and even Queen Victoria to understand the emotion of loneliness.
The Loneliness Epidemic
We know that emotions are an intrinsic part of humans. But how do these emotions develop? Is it possible to give feelings and emotions a timeline, to think of them beyond the human psyche?
This question can be answered when we look at loneliness, an emotion that is said to be an epidemic, showing a pattern of development in human society and undergoing change since. To give an example, the 1960’s Beatles’ song ‘Eleanor Rigby’ talks about lonely people in a village. The song marks the shift in society from a traditional ‘nuclear’ family system, a time when there were increasing instances of lonely elderly.
Today, the loneliness epidemic, according to the UK National Health Service (NHS), can cause about 30% of the affected to die earlier due to increased risk of conditions such as strokes, dementia, and depression.
Loneliness in linguistic terms is difficult to define. Though it is very prominent today, linguistically, the word isn’t synonymous with being alone, has no opposite, and involves a lack of emotional sense. Therefore, it could be said that loneliness incorporates feelings such as resentment, self-pity, shame, and sorrow among other elements. In other words, loneliness is a blend of different emotions.
Loneliness can be termed as a disease today, akin to obesity. It is a lifestyle-related, chronic condition, more prevalent in the contemporary world. Like obesity, loneliness is experienced by people who are unable to come out of the own limitations (of the mind, in case of loneliness). It places huge pressure on health services. Yet, it cannot be defined as a purely mental state, as its ramifications can be seen on the body as well.
Societal Change And The Meaning Of Loneliness
The Oxford English Dictionary dates loneliness back to the 16th Century and gives two meanings –
Feeling Sad – Meaning sadness occurring due to lack of company, and
A remote place
However, before the 19th Century, only the second meaning came to be in use, as did the word ‘loneliness’. The use of the word gave birth to a completely new concept.
The changes that came about in society then were reflected in how the word ‘lonely’ started being used. Unlike today, where loneliness has negative connotations, before the 19th Century, and ‘oneliness’ – meaning to be on one’s own – was popularly used. This was because people then were hardly alone. When others weren’t around, people were with God. Therefore, the word, along with the word solitude had positive connotations.
The 21st Century gave more importance to sociability – as being the cornerstone of good mental health. Contrarily, loneliness, due to the shift in the way people live and think of living is a more common, negative condition. This is because of the change from people living in nuclear or large families, to giving individualism (having great societal value) more importance. This shift, at the expense of the collective, brought about the rise in secularism. In the Western world, even the positive meaning of solitude of having religious connotations, is lost.
This loss of religious value gave more importance to individuality and relationships. Thus, when relationships are lacking, people are left truly alone, without the stronghold of the belief in God. This loneliness or even being alone today is a greater problem than people perceive.
Biography Of Loneliness by Fay Bound Alberti
The Concept Of Soulmate Vis-à-vis Loneliness
Today, loneliness not only affects those who are physically removed from others but even those who lead active social lives. If we consider Sylvia Plath, the American writer, and poet, as an example, we can see from her journal entries that she experienced chronic loneliness despite having romantic relationships and leading a good social life.
The emphasis that is placed on finding a ‘soulmate’ today makes it easy to feel lonely even when surrounded by strong relationships. Plath’s inability to balance societal expectations and her own ambitions as a woman in a male-dominated career is proof of this fact.
Plato, in his The Symposium, described the concept of ‘soulmate’ in a story of a man and a woman being one before they were split into two. Since then, women and men have sought out their literal other halves in attempts to complete themselves. However, the word itself was first used in 1822 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, when the concept of romantic love was developing. This concept, still in use today, saw the emergence in the 19th Century when marriage was seen as spiritual, another way of meeting spiritual needs.
More examples of the concept of a soulmate can be seen in Emily Bronte’s literary composition, The Wuthering Heights. The dangerous and tempestuous nature of love can be seen in Heathcliff’s famous lines, “I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”
Another reference to Heathcliff’s perception of love can be seen in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, when Edward the Vampire quotes Heathcliff, referencing Bella Swan as his soulmate. The novel emphasizes the importance of finding a soulmate as a way to fulfilling life.
Thus, it is in the nature of today’s society to portray one as lonely without a soulmate.
Loneliness And Losing A Loved One
The inability to find a soulmate/partner could trigger loneliness. However, losing a partner or a loved one is a sure invitation to the loneliness club. The very fact that a widow or widower has to live with material objects that are constant reminders of their deceased loved ones, can rake up feelings of pain and be a constant reminder of their loss – every day!
This traumatic experience has also changed drastically over the past few centuries with the emergence of the concept of loneliness. Two examples, a century apart, explain these changes well.
Example 1: The diary excerpts of a Thomas Turner from Sussex, England in the 18th century are detailed documentation of how the man lived his life after his wife Peggy, died in 1761. He describes himself as ‘destitute’ and mourning the loss of the ‘partner of his soul’. Yet his diary also shows that his grief was accompanied by the solace of belief in God. This was, according to the author, ‘oneliness’, the predecessor of loneliness.
Example 2: Exactly a century later, in 1861, we see Queen Victoria’s forty years of mourning for her husband Albert, documented in her diaries. The frequent use of the word ‘loneliness’ is proof of the fact that her feelings were quite different from the ‘oneliness’ that Turner felt. Her loss manifested with a profound sense of lack.
The shift in centuries and the emergence of the concept of loneliness has also rendered a new meaning to losing a partner.
How Social Media Affects Loneliness
Loneliness in its modern form manifests through the epidemic that young adults are facing due to the impact of social media. The UK’s Office for National Statistics, conducted in 2018 found that young adults are most affected by loneliness. However, as commonly believed, is social media the real cause of loneliness, or is it a mere symptom?
Effects of social media also clearly depend on the way it is used, vis-à-vis the kind of life a user is leading. While studies point fingers at social media for heightened feelings of loneliness, they also show that if the amount of online activity surpasses or replaces other offline activity, only then loneliness is inevitable.
The term FOMO, meaning ‘the fear of missing out’ surely contributes to feelings of loneliness among the millennials. A survey conducted in 2012, reports at least three out of four millennials suffering from FOMO. These feelings generate due to the overly glamorous lives that others depict leading on social media sites. An experiment conducted by Facebook in 2014 showed the relation between emotions shown in posts and a person’s own emotions when he reads those posts. It is known to have a rippling effect spanning large groups.
Social media has also brought people together in ‘real-life’. This has not only proved to be beneficial for Millenials, but also for the older generation. Therefore, social media can have a positive or a negative effect, and how it affects a person is based on a broader context. The idea is to maintain a bridge between the ‘online life’ and the ‘real-life’.
Loneliness And The Older Generation
It is true that loneliness is a problem that mostly affects the older generation. While statistics reveal that only 5-16% of the older generation claim to be lonely, the number shoots up to 50% when those over the age of 80 are taken into consideration.
Considering the fact that loneliness isn’t restricted to emotions and that it can manifest into a multitude of lifestyle diseases, physical and mental, it is a clear indicator of developing dementia. This often stems from ‘unmet needs’, a problem that is largely faced by the aging generation in the Western world. These unmet needs are actually basic necessities of getting help for daily activities or even having someone to talk to.
The problem directly relates to the fact that considering the aging population is increasing, governments are unable to adequately provide social care in the same amount as the population increase in demographic. This, coupled with the changing perceptions that members of the society should be able to economically contribute, places the old who are unable to work at risk. The older generation gets categorized as ‘useless’, which earlier wasn’t much of a problem considering that families maintained stronger ties.
The issue needs addressing. How can we meet the needs of the old effectively, without them blaming themselves for their old age? While proper care homes can be one way, the efficacy of these homes is doubted. Putting the old in care homes can help battle isolation, but not necessarily be the cure for loneliness. Moreover, care homes create a sense of separation and can alleviate problems.
Conclusion
Loneliness is a problem that has many facets. It affects people of all generations, differs from culture to culture and between genders, and has mental as well as physical manifestations. It is a clear indication of ‘lacking’ something in one’s life.
Nevertheless, loneliness isn’t always negative. For most artists, loneliness can manifest into exceptional works of art and creativity. Writers Virginia Woolf and Rainer Maria Rilke are classic examples. Therefore not everyone seeks a cure for loneliness.
The need of the hour, however, is for everyone to re-evaluate how loneliness is perceived in correspondence to how it has changed in modern times, and provide effective care for those suffering from it.
The social media world, within a span of a few years, has already become a crowded place. The numbers and statistics have shown that almost everybody has an online presence. It is a haven for marketers and products to bag valuable customers. How does one then ensure that they stand out from the crowd?
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk shows the way to tap into the potentials of various social media platforms to increase their social media presence and enhance their profiles to ‘hook in’ customers and ‘jab’ the competition where it hurts the most!
Every time you are online, you have a barrage of adverts screaming for your attention. Many marketers put their money into flooding social media, thinking it’s the best and only way to put their product into the limelight. However, in reality, one has to use systematic methods to achieve the right marketing mix for the latest marketing platform that’s taken the world by storm.
Social Media: An Essential Marketing Tool
The importance of social media can perhaps be understood best by seeing the number of people around us who are spending their time on their smartphones. Statistics say that in the U.S. alone, there are about 325 million phone subscriptions. That’s a massive number considering the total population in 2013 was 316 million!
Nearly everyone has an online presence, on either applications or websites that connect them to other people. According to eMarketer, 71% of Americans are on Facebook for nearly half the time they use their phones. Additionally, more than half a billion people worldwide use Twitter.
Social media has also changed consumer habits, influencing the way people spend. For example, about one in four people make buying decisions based on a friend’s Facebook post or a Twitter marketing campaign.
Along with the younger generation, it is seen that Baby Boomers, in one year have increased their social media usage by 42%. It important to note that Baby Boomers now account for about 70% of US expenditure.
The importance of social media can be seen when we take into account how fast it has overtaken other forms of media. In the past, radio took 38 years to overtake the print media and reach 50 million people, TV took 13 years to overtake radio, and it took only a year and a half for Instagram to reach the milestone!
It is therefore clear that social media is vital to marketers and advertisers in today’s time and age.
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk – Book Review & Summary
The Importance Of Content
To keep up with the changing social medial trends, marketers have to align their marketing content too. It’s no surprise that to create great content, one has to tell an enticing story. Additionally, while TV campaigns could be made for six months or so, campaigns for social media need to be targeting markets all year round with daily fresh content. It means to keep customers engaged on a daily basis.
This was done well by the Nike+ app campaign, wherein customers can share and compare their exercise goals and achievements and compete, thereby generating new content for the brand, and thus promoting it!
There are, however, a few ground rules for great content!
Content has to be eye-catching, entertaining, and mesmerizing enough that the consumer doesn’t simply scroll past it.
It therefore cannot be intrusive or annoying and should seamlessly blend into the consumers’ online world, else it runs the risk of getting ad-blocked, muted, or DVR’ed by the user.
Content should be interactive and informative, yet not be too demanding.
For content to be effective, it should be native, as the incorrect context makes all content meaningless.
Therefore, marketers should be very precise and ensure that the content fits the demographic, format, and general trends of the media used. For example, posting an unclear pic on Pinterest might get ignored, yet with a witty caption, it can take Twitter by storm.
It is therefore essential that marketers study every available platform well before they make their marketing decisions for social media.
Understanding Facebook
Facebook is the dream world of social interaction with consumers.
Advertising on Facebook is extremely inexpensive. As compared to a TV that charges anywhere between $7,000 and $13,000 per campaign, Facebook costs are around $0.50 and $1.50 per “like.” Additionally, being sharable, these ads are interactive!
However, Facebook requires content to be absolutely outstanding. The Facebook newsfeed is created in a way to filter out content that doesn’t interest the consumer. To enable such a filter, Facebook created EdgeRank, which keeps a track of every time a user does anything on Facebook. This stored piece of information is called an ‘edge. The EdgeRank then determines what content should show up on a newsfeed based on what the user clicks on or likes or shares. For example, if a user likes a friend’s photos and not their status, more photos from the friend will feature on the user’s newsfeed.
Facebook marketing therefore should focus more on content that helps generate more ‘edges’. However, marketers should also remember that the EdgeRank doesn’t count click-throughs that lead to another site or purchased likes. Therefore a link to a website, that could generate a high number of sales, won’t feature on the newsfeed unless it is liked, commented on, or shared. Thus Facebook needs ‘like’ worthy content.
Twitter Exposure
Not many marketers realize it, but Twitter is often used inefficiently. However, Twitter can really create great business opportunities considering it can help connect with the customer directly. Twitter being an almost public platform, connects strangers too. However, a user’s newsfeed is often inundated with mostly spontaneous conversations, which is a downside of Twitter. With more than 750 tweets per second, how can an advert stand out?
To make Twitter work, marketers can apply the concept of ‘trend jacking, wherein you piggyback on to a popular discussion. Popular discussions are identified by a mathematical algorithm and are listed. Trendjacking needs witty content creation and is often underused.
One can use hashtags for effective marketing too. However, #hashtags #are #most #commonly #overused #or #misused! People often use them indiscriminately, out of context, without any humour, sense of irony, and they backfire.
Pinterest Power
Pinterest is a great platform for companies to draw customers to their websites and online stores by sharing ‘pins’, or pics and videos, that when clicked can take a customer to the website. Additionally, Pinterest can help a brand diversify into topics of interest that are related.
Pinterest, interestingly, has a huge female user base. Therefore it is ideal for products and brands targeting women (mothers and even children). Additionally, it was found in 2012, that users were about 79% more likely to buy on Pinterest than on Facebook. Moreover, it is a fast-growing social market and had about 48.7 million users by 2013.
Pinterest however, isn’t a business favorite mainly because of business dogmatism and legalities due to copyright issues of sharing photos that businesses don’t own. While no legal suits on copyright infringement have been filed yet and Pinterest does all it can to keep its usage terms business-friendly, businesses are vary that it could be nothing more than a passing fad. Therefore Pinterest often takes a backseat.
Conclusion
There is never a ‘one size fits all’ formula for marketing on social media. While it is surely an essential medium for marketing, companies, and brands should focus on creating tailored content depending on the platform they wish to advertise on.
There will be newer platforms and apps to choose from. Thus it is important to understand that a certain amount of risk must be taken to try out new places. Who knows, it might just help your sales soar!
Language and the words you use are extremely powerful. Saying the right thing at the right time, using the correct words, and choosing the right language to convey our thoughts, makes all the difference between winning a debate or losing one, escaping a parking ticket or facing a fine, and in more grave situations, getting acquittal in a murder charge case.
When it comes to making an impact and winning others over with words, we need to be able to choose the right words that get our ideas across efficiently. Words that Work (2007), by Dr. Frank Luntz explores the elements of language and how to leverage the spoken word to not only make our messages clearer but also to use them effectively, so that one may make a memorable impression.
Who’s The Audience?
It is a common occurrence when a person says something, but the words get completely misinterpreted, or the other person hears it completely wrong. Flaws in language, such as these, are made by almost everyone in their daily lives. This happens often because at times, different words, though having the same meaning can elicit completely different responses.
For example, the words ‘welfare’ and ‘assisting the needy’ broadly mean the same thing. In a poll conducted, 23% of Americans thought the country is spending too little on welfare, whereas 68 % of Americans thought that there is too little assistance for the needy in the country. This happens because of how the words are projected. ‘Welfare’ is often associated with rich ‘welfare queens’ and ‘wasted government expenditure’, ‘assistance to the needy’ brings forth images of charity!
Language is surely made up of words, but the words themselves are not more important than how they are understood. In reality, how others understand words is based on their perceptions, beliefs, fears, etc.
George Orwell’s famous 1984, plays on a reader’s deepest personal fears. in the book, he describes a ‘Room 101’ that makes the people who enter the room face their personal fears. The words ‘Room 101’, soon got associated with personal nightmares.
Words that Work (2007), by Dr. Frank Luntz
Clarity, Simplicity, And Organization Of Language
While everyone has access to a dictionary, few actually use it to increase their vocabulary. That is because others seldom understand those few who have a sophisticated vocabulary.
Language, therefore, should be simple, for it to be effective enough for others to understand easily. Thus simpler, shorter words, are more important. For example, Apple’s Mac has more impact than its original lengthy name the Macintosh. Similarly, shorter sentences also make a bigger impact.
The importance of shorter sentences and words can be seen in American politics. Dwight Eisenhower’s’ ‘I like Ike’ campaign is still memorable for many, whereas, in 2004, John Kerry lost the election due to the fact that the average American couldn’t understand his sophisticated and complicated vocabulary. He simply couldn’t get his message across.
Along with clarity and simplicity, using the right words in the right order is equally important. The order adds relevance and context to any message. Thus without context, people will not understand what is being said. For example, while offering people a solution, telling them what the problem is will add context to the solution.
In 1920, Warren G. Harding won the election because his ‘back to normalcy’ campaign was apt for a post-World War I America. His solution – himself as President – was in context to the post-WWI America needing to get back to normalcy.
Appealing To The Senses And The Imagination
Language can help trigger imagination and can be used to appeal to our senses. Its power can be seen when a bunch of words such as a bear on a unicycle can fuel our imagination and appeal to our sense of humor by creating a vivid picture of a circus bear. Our brains find it difficult to resist the appealing nature of imagination. It tends to sensualize language that appeals to it.
For example, in advertising, the sensuality of language plays an extremely important role. Advertisements for chocolate always use terms such as melting, soft, silky, rich, etc. These words appeal to our imagination, wherein we can visualize how soft and rich, and tasty the chocolate is while it appeals to our senses, making our mouth water and wanting to eat chocolate.
Imagination is all about creating one’s own personal vision based on one’s deepest emotions and desires. Imagination helps create a very powerful, personal image. this was exactly the reason behind the success of John Lennon’s Imagine.
Other factors of language that make something more appealing to the senses and thus trigger imagination are repetition, alliteration, and sonic quality of words. For example, M&M’s ‘Melt in your Mouth’ slogan uses the sound of ‘M’ to create an effect one can visualize, and the ’Snap, Crackle, Pop’ of Kellogg’s rice crispies makes one literally hear the sounds.
Addressing Emotions
Language has the most important power to influence emotions. Therefore, since the beginning, advertisements, movies, songs, debates, speeches, political campaigns, etc. all rely heavily on the power of language. When language or words can affect how a person feels, it can also have a lasting effect on one’s memory. Such a lasting effect on memory can be brought about by the humanization and personalization of language or words that apply, appeal to, or describe the personal and human emotions of people.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s well-known ‘I have a dream’ speech had a humanization effect. It appealed not only to those in the black community but all Americans. Humanization and personalization have been well used in the fields of advertising and marketing for a long.
Questioning is another great way of using words and language to appeal to emotions. Questioning demands a direct answer. This, in turn, triggers people to engage in the thought processes that will lead them to a conclusion. They will be ultimately more interested and invested in the fact that they have arrived at the conclusion themselves, rather than being handed the conclusion on a platter. Discovering the answer themselves has a more profound effect.
When Ronald Reagan, during his presidential campaign questioned Americans, ‘Are you better off today than you were four years ago?’ his question, got people to think and realize that the country indeed had gotten worse under Carter’s Presidency. Reagan thus won the election.
The Credibility of Strong Language
Communication is all about the balance between old information (consistency) and new ideas (novelty). It is important to ensure that one strikes a balance between the two to ensure that the language that s used is effective to not only get one’s point across but also to ensure that the audiences’ attention is captivated.
When it comes to communication, especially in advertising, many companies and brands change their slogans too frequently, which is a mistake. No one can really remember the tagline of Coca-Cola instantly, unlike another brand like Wheaties for example. Their tagline “The breakfast of champions.” has stuck around since 1935, when it was created, whereas, Coca-Cola’s tagline was “Open Happiness” from 2009 to 2016, after which they changed to “Taste the feeling”. This is how consistency can make a difference.
Additionally, considering people get bored very easily, one needs to use novelty to grab attention. Volkswagen in the 1950s, successfully captured people’s attention by using a contradictory campaign “Think Small” at a time when cars were getting bigger. Yet contradiction has its pitfalls too. Any information or language that is perceived as contradictory to the generally accepted facts can be seen as fake. For example, Al Gore’s claim in the 2000 presidential election that he ‘invented the Internet’ became a joke! Thus authenticity is at the crux of strong language. Authenticity seen in action is more powerful than said in words, thus while one chooses the right words that seem authentic, their actions have to reflect the same.
Understanding The Audience
No bit of communication is effective if the communicator does not have a clear and full understanding of their audience. One has to know that they believe in, in general, what type of perceptions they have and what hopes do they have.
For example, anyone communicating with (or advertising to ) Americans, should know that contrary to popular belief, the average American isn’t as educated as we think. In fact, only 29% of Americans over the age of forty-five hold a bachelor’s degree, and only one out of four 25-year-old Americans are college-educated.
The average American also does not vote on the basis of political agenda. Most cast their vote on the basis of character, trustworthiness, and image. George Bush knew his audience well. Thus, after the 9/11 attacks, he successfully conveyed the image of the determined, strong leader Americans wanted to see and thus, won the re-election.
Additionally, it is also important to know how the audience perceives certain words. For example, Americans perceive the words ‘freedom’, ‘opportunity’, and ‘fairness’ very differently. ‘Freedom’, for example, is associated with the Republican party since it was most used during the George W. Bush administration. The Democrats use the word ‘fairness’ more. ‘Opportunity’ is perceived as a middle-of-the-road word with no political connotations.
Using Communication Effectively Daily
The most effective use of language is when it becomes part of a person’s daily usage; whether it using the right amount of ‘pleases’ and a believable, authentic, story to get the airport crew to re-open the aircraft door to let you in, or a right-off-the-fly ‘I’m sorry, Officer’ when you get caught for speeding, or even if it is to get your colleague to do you a favor at work.
The most important aspect of effective language and communication is how the audience perceives the words and how they interpret them. Effective language is all about clarity, simplicity, organization, imagination, and sense appeal, addressing emotions with the right words, understanding the credibility of the language, and most importantly, understanding the audience that is being communicated to. These elements of effective language need to be put into practice daily.
Small businesses are the buzzwords of today’s times, and everyone has the confidence to start their own small ventures. With so many smaller businesses hitting the market every year, the old textbook marketing mantras are a far cry from what is needed to survive in the big ocean of small businesses.
Duct Tape Marketing Updated And Revised by John Jantsch gives easy, technologically savvy, and practical modern marketing strategies to make small businesses stand out. These effective techniques show how to bring in the customers and spread the word effectively. It charts out effective plans for businesses that have just started out, for businesses that need to revamp their strategies, and even for those who need to get a clear direction once their initial strategies have successfully panned out.
The challenge that most new entrepreneurs have is how to find people that have a problem their businesses can solve, know, like, and trust in the product or service that the businesses can offer, and most importantly, make those people stick with their company.
Objective Mission And Goal
Traditionally, marketing strategies were defined by striking ad campaigns, eye-catching print ads and flyers, and other age-old marketing ideas. However, before one dives into deciding what their strategies look like, it is important to take a step back and focus on how to do it.
Any marketing strategy needs rock-solid objectives, mission, and goals. For example, the objective of your business could be to lead the market, have a mission of honorable and loyally serving customers, and have a goal of increasing your customer base within a given time period.
The objective, mission, and goal form the base of a marketing strategy and how to make them strong is the focus.
In addition to these, businesses need to have three basic steps while planning their strategies.
Who – The first step is to know whom you want to serve. Businesses should be able to clearly define their ideal customers to be able to effectively draw strategies to target them and to specialize their products and businesses to suit them.
How – The next step is to understand clearly how to attract the ideal customer and how to stand out from the competition. For example, businesses could focus on a USP such as uniqueness or higher quality standards.
Who and How – The third step is to combine both who and how to get the product to the target market by charting out business environments, knowing what competitor products offer, and analyzing the habits of the customer vis-à-vis their needs.
Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch
Your Ideal Customers
Traditional marketing strategies aimed at all types of people, hoping to catch the attention of the ideal customers. Today, it is essential for small businesses to be able to define who their ideal customers are. Moreover, it is important to know what are the problems they face, and how your products or services can help solve those problems.
These ideal customers can be found by looking into one’s own business history. The clients and customers list is a great way to analyze which customers are satisfied with the company’s products and services. Additionally, the ones who bring in the profits are the ideal customers who will not only fit the loyalty bill but also be the ones who will promote the company.
The next step is to look at the same demographic as those ideal profitable customers, and them how your products or services can solve their problems, and why they need you. Once you have a biographical sketch of the ideal customers, you can train your staff to identify them.
To tap into the same demographic, you can look at the places where these people go. For example, if your company deals in technology, any tech-related conference or exhibitions will be the place to go.
The Core Message
The core message of your marketing strategy is intrinsic to get talking to your ideal customers. In order to do this, your strategy should have a marketing purpose statement. While it isn’t a statement you will use on your customers, it will be the basis of all the strategies you develop.
A window cleaning company used a marketing purpose statement to give their strategies clarity. They saw that their competitors were unprofessional to clients, and hence, wanted to show customers that they are professional. So they developed the following marketing purpose statement, “We want people to know that we treat window cleaning as a profession and that our people are true professionals who treat the homes they enter as they would their own.” This enabled them to imbibe the value of professionalism into each staff member.
The next step is to create a talking logo. The talking logo is a statement that essentially sums up the greatest USP of your product or service. The window cleaning company used “We help homeowners see a better world.” A talking logo includes a strong action verb. It makes clients react with, “Really? How do you do that?”
The final step is to develop a core marketing message for the public. This is a slogan that serves as a short, succinct statement. The window cleaning company’s slogan was, “Your Pane is Our Passion.”
It is a catchy statement that attracted clients and showed them how professional the company is as compared to the competition in the market.
Tailoring The Marketing Message
Not everyone in the target market is the same or has the same needs. Therefore, tailoring the marketing message to suit different groups within the core target group. The core target market can be divided into four different groups.
Suspects – These are the customers who are part of the demographic of ideal customers, but haven’t been contacted by the company yet.
Prospects – Prospects are clients who have shown interest and want more information.
Clients – Clients are those who have used your products and services. Those clients who keep coming back for new products or upgrades are called repeat clients.
Champions – Finally, Champions are those who refer your company to friends and others and are indirect promoters of your product or service.
While initially, businesses tart out with mostly suspects in their core group, the aim is to convert all of them into champions. Actual growth is seen when customers become regular and refer your business, rather than merely acquiring new clients. Hence it is essential to develop tailored, targeted messages to appeal to these four sub-groups.
The aim of suspects is to catch their attention by offering test versions, free information, free reports, workshops, books, etc. Trial services, discounts, and offers help to convert prospects since they have already shown an interest. Champions are the most important sub-group and rewards such as memberships and affiliate programs work best for them.
Social Media And Online Presence
Today, having an online presence is vital for small businesses. Contrary to assumptions, jumping on the bandwagon and creating a website isn’t the end of it. Companies have to curate and tailor their online presence too.
Firstly, assuming that your customers know the name of your products and services is wrong. You have to employ the correct keywords with Search Engine Optimization to ensure that the customers get to your website when they search for you. Secondly, the correct contact details should be available on every page of your website. This will ensure that the client will know exactly how to contact you, without needing to search.
Optimization does help to bring in customers, however, it is equally important to increase your social media presence, advertise on other sites online, and even display your website on offline adverts and campaigns.
Ensuring that your website is enticing and attractive to your customers is essential too. It is wise to invest in a good website designer, have clear and concise content, and make navigation on the website easy. Adding audio and videos on the website increases SEO rankings by making the website more interesting and keeping customers on the website for longer.
Customers love to read reviews and ratings about the products and services they are looking for. Therefore, adding a feedback page and telling regular customers to give their feedback is essential for success.
Offline Advertising
In addition to ensuring a strong online presence, offline media should not be neglected. They still have the power to grab the attention of customers.
Advertising adds credibility to any business. The fact of the matter is, if a company has the ability to pay for advertising, it is doing well. Therefore, while free advertising works for smaller businesses, paid advertising helps reach a wider base.
Advertising gets people to notice the company. Journalists become aware of your standing in the market, people start recognizing social media adverts and most importantly, employees can proudly show off their company to friends and family, who in turn pass on the message via word-of-mouth.
Advertising, like marketing has it own rules and procedures. It has certain components that businesses should pay attention to.
Headline – The headline is the most important part of the advertisement and either mentions what the company has to offer or promises to the customers. It should be eye-catching enough to get a customer to stop flipping the pages of a magazine.
Editorial or Testimonial – Editorials and testimonials add proof to the claim made by the advert. Nothing is better than the words of a happy customer.
Call to action – An advertisement becomes more interesting if it includes a call-to-action. For example, if a retail store is having an offer, the advertisement should clearly state how these offers could be availed.
Following these procedures helps in understanding if the ad is effective, as well as understanding if the medium used is correct. An effective ad – also known as the control ad – should be used as long as it remains effective. After that, the wisest course of action is to create a better control ad than the previous one.
Public Relations And Positive Press Coverage
Often advertising isn’t enough. Even if the company has a star advertising plan, it doesn’t get the credibility it should without a good PR plan. That is why many companies are willing to pay hefty prices to ensure good public relations and press coverage.
A good PR plan helps in telling customers the story of the company. A heartfelt story helps in connecting customers emotionally to the brand. Additionally, positive advertising boosts employee satisfaction, because positive news about their own company will make them feel proud.
To increase positive press coverage, companies should get to know influential journalists, bloggers, and writers of the industry. Connecting with them on social media platforms such as Twitter will get them to notice your brand. Building good relations with them can help the company create positive press coverage.
Any news on any media, events, or changes in the company should be mentioned on the website of the company. Such bits of information can be placed in the ‘In the News section of the website and can be sent in newsletters to existing clients and other people in the network.
The Importance Of Referrals
The foremost aim of any marketing campaign is to get loyal customers to refer your brand, company, product, or service to others. One of the most effective ways of ensuring more clients and customers is via word-of-mouth or referrals.
People tend to trust the opinions and referrals of friends and family more than relying on an advertisement. Referrals work both ways. They add credibility to the reputation of the business and at the same time, make a client’s word worth trusting. As the business earns a badge of trustworthiness, the client gets a good name for referring to a good product.
Referrals are often willing to pay a premium price because they expect that the referred product to be absolutely worth its price. Because it is tried and tested!
How does one therefore, ensure good referrals?
The answer is as simple as – keep your existing customers happy! Only when customers are happy with the product or service, will they refer it to others. Additionally, it is essential for the business to provide its customers opportunities and ways of referring. For example, if your product has an upgrade, you can have a campaign where existing users click a picture of themselves using the upgraded product on their Facebook profiles.
Referrals aren’t limited to customers only. Other businesses that come in contact with your business can be modes of referrals too. As part of corporate gifting, you can send diaries or pens with the logo of your company. Their partner companies will take note of your business too.
The most important part of ensuring a steady flow of referrals is to reward referrals. For example, offering discounts for customers who bring in friends, or gifting other connected companies for referring you to other businesses, and most importantly referring them back.
Conclusion
Marketing has become a multifaceted function today. While many of the old-school rules of marketing still apply, they need to be tweaked to be relevant to the fast-paced, tech-savvy world. In order to do that, businesses should understand who their ideal customers are, tailor their marketing campaigns to them and ensure a good mix of online and offline advertising, positive PR, and press.
The main aim is to ensure recurring referrals from loyal customers.
Marketing, advertising, and branding strategies rely heavily on the power of visuals. Right from the advent of print media, through the era of television, and even today, with the increasing influence and use of social media and online platforms, using imagery to tell a story is one of the most influential methods of attracting customers.
‘The Power Of Visual Storytelling’, by Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio introduces us to the world of visual storytelling, shows how to use the power of images to boost advertising and branding, and understands the best social media platforms to choose for successfully meeting business goals.
Picture Power
Nothing gets attention like a good picture does.
The human brain has evolved to process images around it since the beginning of time. The written text, as such is a relatively new concept in the human timeline of existence. Thus, images are a medium that can be processed by our brains about 60,000 times faster than text. Moreover, imagery is extremely vital to the world of creativity, storytelling, and writing.
It is for this very reason that JRR Tolkien drew a map of Middle Earth before he wrote The Lord Of The rings and JK Rowling sketched images of the Harry Potter magical world before she began to write.
Pictures are more powerful than we think and elicit an emotional response. Let us take a simple example. When we read the word ‘girl’, we immediately conjure up a picture of a girl in our minds. But if we see a picture of a ‘smiling girl’, it associates the picture with emotion, happiness. This concept forms the basis of visual storytelling.
A story can be told using pictures, videos, infographics, etc. It is this understanding that helps companies and brands know whether a picture on Instagram is enough, or a full post on Facebook with a description is needed. For example, Hubspot, the marketing software company uses Pinterest to showcase their products on pin-boards, etc., as well as uses meme driven marketing of awful stock photography to showcase their quirky side to attract customers.
The Power Of Visual Storytelling by Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio
The Wonders of A Shared Story
We have all told a story with pictures and images, whether we have intended to or not. Every time, a picture is posted on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc., a story is told. Buzzfeed statistics reveal that every minute, there are 208,300 pictures on Facebook and 27,800 images shared on Instagram. With these huge numbers, we can simply imagine the power of sharing a picture.
However, to make a simple image moving enough to tell a story, the image must be adjusted to suit the platform one wishes to share it on. This happens when an image is both, personal and helpful. For example, one can tweak Pinterest pins to relate to tweets. However, they should not be the same. Creating relations between posts and tweets, even on different platforms, shows engagement and trust, keeping followers and fans attracted and interested.
It is important that the image posted should provide people some value because that makes the image personal. Social Listening, which means keeping an eye open to comments people post about one’s product or company can help understand the value. For example, a company selling tourism packages should look at comments on tourism sites, travel blogs, and pages such as Facebook to understand what people say.
A good story needs to be retold. Therefore, an image or post should be share-worthy. People share posts and images that they find funny, or cool, or that touch their hearts emotionally. The aim of any company or brand should be to convert their followers into ‘sharers’, thus turning them into a sales-force for the product. Coca-Cola, for example, launched the #BestSummerMoment marketing campaign, to which they received a post of a married couple sharing a coke on their honeymoon!
The shared image showed the product in a positive light by focusing on an emotional moment.
Which Platform To Get On?
It is imperative today, for companies to get familiar with the different social media platforms available to them. Different platforms target different customers, and having an understanding of which platforms are a good mix to use is the need of the day. Let us take a look at which platform to get on.
YouTube – To grab attention on YouTube, the video posted should be entertaining. Evian’s Baby and Me campaign, the ads became wildly successful hitting millions of views.
Instagram – About 70% of Instagram’s users are female. This is an important statistic while considering posts. Moreover, images and videos on Instagram should never be more than fifteen seconds long. Lululemon’s Every Mat Has a Story to Tell campaign,was tailor-made for Instagram.
Tumblr – Tumblr has a varied demographic. From Millenials to the wealthy, different types of customers get drawn to Tumblr’s cool, hip vibe. To boost engagement within teens, CocaCola has a ‘Where Happiness Lives’ Blog on Tumblr
Slideshare – A social media platform for sharing presentations, Slideshare, though information-heavy, is a great place for follower engagement. NASA uses Slideshare wisely to share videos and documents that showcase their work.
While these are the lesser-known platforms, they can still make a big difference when used well.
Using The Most Popular Social Media Sites
The most popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest are widely used and are essentials when companies decide their social media marketing plans. However, it is essential for companies to understand how best to use these based on the demographics they reach. Let us look at each of these as well.
Pinterest
Pinterest is a great platform for companies to draw customers to their websites and online stores by sharing ‘pins’, or pics and videos, that when clicked can take a customer to the website. A usual Pinterest profile includes different theme boards such as ‘behind the scenes’, ‘charity work’, ‘deals and offers’, etc.
Considering that Pinterest has a customer base that is 80% women, of which 50% have children, it becomes an important platform for most companies. Sephora, for example, has found that its Pinterest followers have a fifteen times higher tendency to buy their products than their Facebook followers.
Twitter
Twitter’s huge popularity is what gets most companies attracted. Starting as a small microblogging website, Twitter today gets about 460,000 new joiners every day. However, with Twitter, it is important to remember that people have a tendency to view the post rather than view the Twitter profile of a company. Therefore, using a relevant hashtag (the pound sign before the word) that stands out is essential.
Intel has over 4.34 million followers. They keep their followers engaged in a unique and intelligent manner. Their #dothemath thread on Twitter is used to post interesting pieces of information that could be statistics related or even quirky.
Facebook
Finally Facebook! The website we are all most familiar with. Whether it is more than one billion users, or their over fifteen million brand pages, what makes Facebook a great platform is the fact that it allows two-way communication between a company or a brand and their followers. The two-way communication works because the moment a customer likes a video, image, post, or any other form of content posted by the company, all the company’s information becomes available on the customers, or followers’ newsfeed.
Facebook also allows fans to send the company private messages, chat and comment on posts, write on the wall of the company’s page, etc. The sheer number of ways a company or a brand can communicate and engage with its fans, followers, and customers makes it the most popular choice.
Engagement is calculated on the basis of the number of likes and comments on posts – basically, the actions that a post makes a customer take. Engagement can take the form of user-generated content, for example, Moleskin created a Facebook campaign called “What’s in your bag?” The campaign required followers to post a pic of their ‘bag’s inner lives’, producing a huge amount of content via user-engagement and generating a massive number of comments, likes, and shares.
To technically understand Facebook, one must have an understanding of the EdgeRank algorithm. The EdgeRank score is given on the basis of the engagement level of the company or brand page. The higher the EdgeRank score is, the more prominence the company’s post gains on newsfeeds. Therefore, companies should plan their Facebook advertising and presence with the EdgeRank score in mind. Even the most scintillating picture won’t make a difference if it does not engage the audience in any way!
Strategy, Strategy, Strategy
Just as it is with mainstream marketing, visual storytelling on social media is all about strategy. Without a good strategy and plan, one won’t get very far.
For example, how would a cosmetics company with an 85% female target audience, using Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook strategize their social media plan?
To begin with, the strategy will need a vision or a goal, say, to build product awareness. Simultaneously, the company wants to engage its followers, increase customer base, loyalty, sales, and referral traffic. To put it statistically, increase followers by 20% and sales by 5%.
Second, the company needs to monitor its current position by tabulating the current impact of its content. Therefore, monitoring post metrics such as content, date, and time of post, etc. over a period of time, to ensure that they are in line with the goal/vision of the strategy is vital.
Third, conducting a cross-analysis between the monitored data and the information gathered during social listening will help in understanding the gap between the current position and the goal/vision.
Finally, considering social media needs a human touch, it helps to visualize the company’s personality. In this case, the cosmetic company would be a young, strong, design-conscious, woman. Therefore, the language and tone of the posts can reflect the personality type to engage like-minded and aspirant customers.
Finalizing The Media To Use
Visual storytelling isn’t limited to using videos and photos. In fact, infographics, postcards, and e-cards are great tools to use too.
Infographics – Infographics present data in the form of a picture. It helps merge important information with compelling pictures. Infographics, therefore, need solid data and research. There are online tools available to create smart infographics such as Visual.ly, Easel.ly, iCharts, Infogr.am, Piktochart, etc., in addition to hiring a graphic designer.
Thus if an organic coffee company, targeting high-end customers and specialty roasters could use infographics to show the process of their fair trade organic coffee production.
E-cards and Postcards – Postcards and e-cards are a simple yet great way of communicating with consumers, especially to communicate gratitude, share special promos, offers and even notify of CSR actions taken. These cards can be inspirational or even funny, and still, be a wonderful way to tell fans the story of the brand. There are websites such as ‘SnapShop Postcard’ and ‘Cards in the Post’ that have premade options.
Thus the organic coffee company can send new product postcards to their buyers chronicling the humor of a coffee lover not getting their morning cuppa!
These tools can add a boost to any social media campaign and enhance the storytelling ability of visuals.
Real-Time Marketing And Visual Storytelling
The concept of real-time marketing simply entails planning to be in the right spot at the right time (no thanks to the luck factor). It comprises well-tailored, perfectly timed messages sent to a target audience, using social media platforms and marketing data. It is a fast, dynamic form of marketing that is the key to marketing success.
For example, Oreo used the partial power outage during the 2013 Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans by tweeting a picture of an Oreo cookie under the spotlight with a tag, ‘You can always dunk in the dark.’ The post received nearly 20000 likes and was retweeted about 15000 times. A perfectly timed tweet!
The trick to real-time marketing is to be in sync with the latest news and trends and increase customer contact. To increase customer contact, companies need to use Social CRM (Social Customer Relationship Management). Social CRM uses fast-paced platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, and tools such as infographics to manage customer complaints and requests as they happen.
Additionally, to be in touch with the latest news and trends would mean to align marketing strategies to the happening news and current trends. For example, Mini Cooper once posted a picture of their new Nemo Model (replete with Pixar’s Finding Nemo fish colors), during a snowstorm with a tagline, ‘Find your way through the storm.’
Another great example of real-time marketing and social CRM was Smart Car’s reaction to Clayton Hove’s tweet, “Saw a bird had crapped on a Smart Car. Totaled it.”
They used an infographic showing the actual amount of bird poop (of either 360000 turkeys or 4.5 million pigeons) that would be needed to crush one of their cars. Clayton Hove, being the ad guru he is, loved and responded with “Outsmarted by Smart Car. Best. Social media response. Ever.” Tweet. It was indeed a great response using social CRM, making it a fun exchange!
Conclusion
Visual storytelling in the future of social media marketing. Using the right platforms, social media websites, and visualizing tools, companies, and brands can rake in those followers, attract a veritable number of customers, and in turn boost sales.
Using the power of visuals, applying strategy, and relying on clever, creative real-time marketing, any company or brand can take the online and offline world by storm.
Winning is an attitude. It is a matter of following what you want to do, rather than what others want you to do. A person strives through life to unlock the true potential that they have, yet there is only a handful that actually manages to do so. How do these people become the champions they are?
How Champions Think (2015), by Dr. Bob Rotella and Bob Cullen, brings forth the winning spirit, the guiding philosophy, and the psychology behind champions. Whether it is a CEO or an athlete looking for a guide to success, this is a true push towards achieving the maximum potential on a daily basis.
You Are Your Own Competition
Have you ever felt as though you want to be a champion at whatever you do, yet something holds you back? Why does this happen?
Everyone faces the problem of the ‘average’. Most get sorted into the average group not because they are really average at what they do, but because they have very few expectations from themselves.
Those few, who are in the ‘champion’ category follow a very important pattern. They convert their dreams into process goals, which in turn, help the dreams to become reality.
The trick is to think of the goal at the end of a ladder every day. Any challenge, possible outcome, or work can be a step towards the top of the ladder. For example, if you want to lose 20 lbs. of weight in 3 months, it is better to break down the goal by week. It is easier to achieve a goal of losing 2-3 lbs. of weight per week rather than look at the total amount, which may seem too much or too far away.
If you get into the habit of setting low goals thinking that you will start low, then the results will be low, too. Aim for the unreachable and you will get to where most people cannot!
The idea is to consider yourself as your toughest, truest competition and beat your ‘yesterday’s score’. Never set a limit to what you think you can achieve!
How Champions Think (2015) by Dr. Bob Rotella and Bob Cullen
Beat Negativity With Optimism
We are bombarded with news from all over the world. While we can all choose to absorb only the information that we wish to listen to, we cannot possibly avoid the negative information that comes through. Such negativity can affect us even though we try not to let it.
We often let negativity guide us, and even without realizing it, let it bar us from reaching our maximum potential. For example, in 1954, experts deemed that no one could run a mile in four minutes. Sadly, while no one attempted it, one man named Roger Bannister set to prove the statement wrong. He worked hard and persevered, finally breaking the record and set an example for other athletes to follow.
There is no proved co-relation between success and optimism, but there is a correlation between failure and pessimism. Therefore, the only way to beast negativity from affecting us is to be optimistic with a smile and see how the stress reduces!
Building Confidence Every Day!
It is true that winning instills the confidence to succeed repeatedly. However, if that were the only yardstick to success, how would one win in the first place?
Confidence is a choice. Confidence builds when you choose to keep even the smallest accomplishments in perspective. It is important to keep in mind that the journey to the finish line is more important than reaching the finish line. Additionally, repetition builds practice, which will eventually lead to success.
LeBron James, the basketball player, was only a rookie at first. With a 3-point shot success percentage of only 29, he approached the author to help him improve his performance. The author advised him to try 400 different variations of the 3-point shot on a daily basis. It was repetition, practice, and perseverance that made LeBron the star he is today! He also learned that being naturally talented isn’t enough.
According to Vince Lombardi, the American football coach, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
To build confidence and be a champion, being optimistic and leaving out the negativity should become a daily practice. Therefore, while revisiting failures is important to understand the errors that have been made, dwelling on them for too long is detrimental.
The Importance Of Self-Image
Parents, teachers, coaches, motivational gurus, etc. help us find our motivation. However, over time, it is essential that we find the inner strength to motivate ourselves from time-to-time as well.
Whether it is a manager in a multi-national, or an Olympic-level swimmer, the inability to self-motivate is one of the top reasons for underperforming or not reaching their true potential and thus goal in life. Many experience ‘burn-out’, losing the spark completely, in what once was their passion. At such a juncture in life, one has but 2 choices –
Re-ignite the lost spark by remembering what was it that ignited the passion in the first place, or
Change one’s passion completely and look towards new ventures.
Whatever the decision, one must remember to enthusiastic with their decision. Enthusiasm and optimism practiced on a daily basis will keep one positive, happy and have a good self-image of oneself.
Bring Down Those Mental Barriers With Virtuous Cycles.
Being a champion in everyday life is mind over matter. If you keep thinking that you are a failure, you will fail. Many who keep hitting misses in life tend to suffer from a problem of acquiring learned helplessness. Such a feeling can deter one from even trying to win. They develop a fear of failure that keeps them from trying to win at all.
It is therefore important that one keeps such mental barriers away. How does one do this?
It is a step-by-step process wherein, firstly, one should identify what triggers certain habits that put up mental barriers. Next, one should transform these ‘bad’ habits into virtuous cycles. One can even take the help of close friends and loved ones to help.
Say, you are trying to avoid eating junk food. But you know that after a long day at work, you want to relax in front of the TV. You end up with a beer and a bag of chips in hand.
Therefore, it is essential to realize what is triggering the habit that you want to avoid (sitting in front of the TV). Next to turn the habit into a virtuous cycle, one can opt to relax by picking up an activity like learning music, exercising, or even simply playing with the kids. One can seek the help of a roommate or partner to distract them from their trigger. It is important to make an effort to avoid the trigger on a daily basis.
Inculcating a self-retrospective habit (even with the help of others) can go a long way. Succeeding in pulling down mental barriers also helps in instilling confidence.
Conclusion
You have to instill a sense of competition in yourself and keep ‘upping the bar’ to be a champion time and again. Optimism, confidence, and maintaining a positive self-image are interconnected and interrelated. Building these positively depends on breaking mental barriers and adopting a virtuous cycle in life.
The human conscious mind is merely the tip of an iceberg. The subconscious that lies hidden, like the large mass of an iceberg beneath the water, is a vast resource that remains untapped. The subconscious mind has immense power to influence the human mind. It can be the secret to unlocking true happiness and success in all aspects of life.
The Power of the Subconscious Mind (1963), by Joseph Murphy, shows how to unlock the vast potential of the subconscious.
Suggestions From The Subconscious
It is said that once you learn to ride a bicycle, you learn it for life. While the conscious mind focuses hard during the learning process, the subconscious works in the background retaining all the information learned, thus making it an automatic task. This phenomenon called conscious-to-unconscious learning is a fantastic tool that humans have.
The mind merely needs learning by repetition for conscious-to-unconscious learning to take place. This applies to all processes of repetition. For example, the repetition of positive thoughts will lead to harnessing positivity into the subconscious.
Case 1: Enrico Caruso, the late nineteenth-century Italian opera tenor, used to perform at famous European and American opera houses. He often found himself sweating profusely and having throat spasms just before his performances. He feared the crowd would laugh him off the stage. He eventually took control of these negative thoughts by reinforcing the thought that his conscious mind has to stop influencing his subconscious.
This positive repetition helped his subconscious to ignore his fear and provide energy to his voice box.
The subconscious mind has the power to manifest any thought or idea that one trains it to do.
Case 2: Dr. James Esdaille, a Scottish surgeon, had an extremely low mortality rate for the 400 or so operations before anesthesia was developed, between 1843 and 1846. He used to hypnotically tell his patients to not be afraid, as they would not get any infections after the operation. This hypnosis prompted the patient’s body to trigger the subconscious into activating a response in their bodies to build immunity.
The Power of the Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy
The Power Of Visualization And Positive Thinking
In the 18th Century, priests would treat people by simply convincing them that God would heal them and make them well. The method worked due to the workings of the subconscious mind, rather than any divine power. It is known that positive thoughts can empower the subconscious to heal diseases.
Case 1: A relative of the author contracted tuberculosis. His son was determined to help his father recover. he gave his father across and told him that he got it from a monk who had visited a European shrine. He had, however, picked it up from the street.
He told his father that the cross had the power to heal people if they touched it. His father slept with the cross in his hands. The next day, he was cured. The belief of the father had triggered his subconscious to heal his body.
His belief was so strong that no one told the man the truth about the cross. Breaking his belief would have led the disease to resurface. Thus truly believing and imagining what one desires as reality, will make it real.
Case 2: The Church of Divine Science, a weekly radio show conducted by the author, gives a good example, where the author discussed the concept of the mental movie method. The author was advising people on the process of selling their homes. He told people to visualize and create a mental image until the subconscious made that image real.
The methods involved people having the confidence that they had set a good price for the house, and then imagine that they were celebrating its sale, while they were sleepy. This method of visualization worked well and the author received a number of letters thanking him for helping sell their homes.
The Results Of Passion And Visualization
The power of the subconscious and visualization can help achieve more than just property sales. It can even attract wealth. One has to simply imagine what they want and let the subconscious work its wonders.
Case 1: An Australian boy wanted to become a surgeon. He, however, did not have the money to fund his education and dream. Every night, the boy would create an image of a diploma with his name, hanging on his wall. Over a period of time, a doctor recognized the potential in the boy, taught him to sterilize medical instruments, and administer injections. The doctor later paid for the boy’s tuition.
Case 2: The subconscious mind works best when visualization is augmented with passion. A young passionate pharmacist known to the author would dream of owning his own pharmacy. He visualized himself giving out prescriptions. He got a job at a big chain store and worked as passionately as he always imagined.
The pharmacist was soon promoted to manager for his hard work, and four years later, he opened his own pharmacy with the money he had saved. Thus the pharmacist combined passion with visualization to achieve his dreams.
The Subconscious, Career, And Love
Humans sleep for one-third of their lives. While asleep, the body reenergizes and heals itself. Functions of the body such as digestion accelerate while the body relaxes and rests. During this time, the subconscious becomes active, and its intuitive powers work to guide us.
Case 1: A Los Angeles listener of the author’s radio show, had gotten a job in New York at two times the salary she currently drew. She was, however, unable to make the decision to relocate.
She heard on the show that meditation would help guide her, and she meditated on her decision as she dozed off. The next day, she had a strong intuition to decline the offer. Months later, the company filed for bankruptcy and her intuition was validated. Her subconscious had guided her through her decision and she got her answer in her sleep.
Case 2: A teacher theauthor knew had 3 failed marriages. All her ex-husbands had a weak and passive nature. This kept happening to the lady, despite the fact that she has attracted to the opposite qualities of a partner. Why was this happening to her?
It was her dominant masculine personality that was attracting people of the opposite qualities. To overcome her dilemma, she used mental visualization and concentrated on the personality of her ideal partner. Soon she got a job as a receptionist at a physician’s clinic. The doctor was a smart, successful, healthy man like what she had been visualizing. The teacher soon got married to him and they lived happily together.
Thus the subconscious can also help focus on the type of partner one desires.
Driving Negative Thoughts Away.
We have seen many examples of how conditioning the subconscious to think happy thoughts can actually help manifest reality. Happiness comes to people anytime. Even finding a ten-dollar bill on the sidewalk can bring happiness. However, these moments of happiness are fleeting.
One can actually use the power of the subconscious to bring long-lasting happiness in one’s life by changing the way one thinks. They simply need to choose to be happy.
Envy is a negative emotion that can thwart one’s dreams. This emotion often rises when one sees the success and wealth of others. Being a negative thought only precludes one’s potential affluence. By hoping for more wealth and success for others, one can train the mind to think of success and wealth for themselves too.
Case 1: Once, a salesman sought advice from the author. He never received recognition for his work, even though he always outperformed his colleagues. He started blaming the fact that his manager did not like him and thus treated him poorly.
He then learned from the author the real reason for his problem. The obstruction of his success was due to his hostility towards his situation, jealousy for his colleagues, and anger towards his boss, which constantly created negativity in his mind.
He soon began practicing visualization and imagined receiving congratulations from his manager, shaking his hand, and smiling at him. He chose happiness instead of his negative thoughts and began to genuinely wish for the good of his boss and his colleagues. Soon, his boss promoted him, and he got a big raise too.
Negative thoughts can take away one’s peace of mind.
Case 2: An associate of the author was a workaholic, who was neglecting his family, and ended up with high blood pressure. Digging deeper, it was found that his habit was to avoid being with his family because he was racked by guilt for not doing right by his deceased brother. It was his way of punishing himself.
The associate needed to forgive himself first and let his mind heal in the process.
Fears, Obstacles, And Staying Young
The subconscious has the power to help us over our fears, obstacles in life and even to stay young. Many children fear monsters lurking under their beds. But when their mother puts on the light, their fear melts away, and they know that they are safe. Similarly, fears, like those of failure and powerlessness can be countered as they are mostly supported by false thoughts.
Case 1: Mr. Jones was a compulsive drinker and constantly failed at quitting his habit. His failure had made him think that he was powerless against the urge to drink and thus he had given up trying to quit too, losing his family in the process.
He decided to face his fears and visualized his daughter praising him for finally quitting. By doing this, Mr. Jones was able to finally quit alcohol once and for all and was reunited with his family.
Many people fear aging. The subconscious can help one overcome this fear as well. One truly ages when one stops having the passion to dream and learn.
Case 2: An executive known to the author had spent most of his life working and studying. When he retired at 65, he perceived his retirement as a chance to do all the things he wanted to and could not find the time to. His way of thinking and his hobbies kept him young at heart. With his mind active and young, his body followed suit.
Conclusion
The subconscious, though dormant has immense power to help one attain true happiness in life. Whether it is a matter of career, love, facing one’s fears, tackling obstacles, or even remaining young at heart, the subconscious mind, with the powerful tool of visualization and positive thoughts can help unlock the secret to success in all walks of life.
Frans de Waal’s ‘Our Inner Ape’ brings forth a comparison between human and their closely related ancestors the apes. He shows the relation (and differences) between characteristics such as violence and sympathy, greed and fairness, community spirit and dominance, and sexual behaviours vis-à-vis morality.
The great work of Charles Darwin in 1859 On the Origin of Species, puts light on the fact that all species had evolved over a period of millennia. He showed that ‘survival of the fittest and ‘adaptation’ was elemental to the preservation of all species and that those that didn’t, disappeared.
Furthermore, Konrad Lorenz, in his 1963 On Aggression, augmented Darwin’s work by theorizing that the purpose of evolution was to pass on one’s own genes – even if it meant to hurt and kill the members of ones own species for dominance – and not only to preserve the species.
Richard Dawkins in 1975 added to this line of thought. His theory stated that it is the ‘selfish gene’ and not the individual that wants to make sure that its copies are passed on. The selfish gene, he said, behaves socially only when it gains the benefit for individuals of the same genes. He argued that the distinguishing factor between humans and other animals is the fact that they use their intellect and rationale ( their cerebral cortex) to act morally and help others who are not related to them.
There have, however, been many types of research conducted since 1980, that contradict earlier theories and have shown documented proofs of sportsmanship, selflessness, ability to reconcile, and even have a sense of fairness in animal behaviour. Research conducted on bonobos (a chimpanzee species), especially on their social life that differs greatly from their violent cousins changed the way we perceive primate research.
Frans de Waal, through his works showed that apes have morals too.
The Hippies Of The Primate World – Bonobos
Bonobos, though are the same size as chimps, are also known as pygmy chimpanzees. They have smaller heads and longer hair and are more delicate and sensitive than chimps. They even walk upright and have a higher voice than chimpanzees. These differences in physicality were noticed even before they were studied in the 1970s. An important example can be seen in Munich Zoo, when all the bonobos died of shock during the bombings of WWII, whereas all the chimpanzees survived.
A study on bonobos in Congo conducted by a Japanese research team, threw new light on the social life of the primates when they were studied in their natural habitat. They found that unlike gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and humans, bonobos do not rape each other or fight to the death. They are more sexually active and the females are more dominating of the species. Sexual they are pansexual – they indulge in sex with all genders. For bonobos, sex is a social indulgence, not only meant for procreation.
Our Inner Ape by Frans de Waal
The Dominant Sex
Bonobo females are physically weaker than bonobo males. Yet, unlike human females, they are the dominant sex of the species. The female bonobos stick together and are able to stand up to males (who are not as socially cohesive), whereas, chimpanzee males are more dominant than chimp females. This difference is due to differences in their natural habitat. Bonobos are found to the south of the Congo River, which is lusher than the north where chimps are found. This enables bonobo females to stay together and form stronger social connections with other females while gathering food.
The lack of vegetation in the north requires chimp females to wander in search of food, often alone with their young ones, whereas the males hunt in the steppes in groups, increasing the power imbalance between male and female chimps.
On the other hand, studies on chimpanzees in zoos have shown that the power imbalance decreases amongst the chimps in zoos, due to the fact that females have more contact with each other, can stand up to the males, and even have been known to disarm fighting male chimpanzees. The disarming is mostly a form of self-protection from the losing male chimp that could end up taking it out on the females later.
This shows that dominance within a species is hardly dictated by physical strength. It is more about having a stronger group cohesion.
Contradictory Reconciliatory Behaviour
In 1980, Frans de Waal discovered an interesting fact about chimpanzees. He witnessed an incident where two male chimps gave each other a heartfelt reconciliatory hug after a bloody and vicious fight.
He found that chimpanzees, unlike orangutans and gorillas (who either drive away or kill the loser of the fight), publically reconcile. On further studying this strange reconciliatory behavior, de Waal found that chimpanzees ensure that all chimps have a clear understanding of the hierarchical structure in the group. Since they all hunt together they have to cooperate with the alpha male.
De Waal saw clear phases of cohabitation that began with a cycle of one alpha male ruling, until one young male challenges the alpha. This challenger starts looking for supporters. Gathering followers is done by grooming and scratching each other, cleaning fur to gain favor, and make friends.
The boss, on the other hand, tries to keep his friends closer. Once the challenger male chimp gathers enough support, the two chimps fight, until one of them admits defeat. Unlike other apes, the fighting chimpanzees make up in public, where the males get to stay together in the group, and the supporters of the winning chimp get special privileges, especially with access to females. The new hierarchy then gets accepted and established until the next cycle begins.
Sexual Behaviour Among Chimpanzees
Amongst the male chimps, sexual activity is determined by a male’s strength and power within the group. Basically, the more females the powerful chimp mates with, the higher the chances of reproduction.
Male chimpanzees however have a very small mating window. This is because female chimpanzees bear only one child in pregnancy, and breastfeed for about 4 years during which they cannot reproduce. Therefore, there is more competition between males.
Females, on the other hand, compete for food and not for sex. Often, they don’t get enough to feed their babies and keep them alive. Therefore, only those young ones who make it into adulthood and end up with their own progeny can pass on genes.
Females make their own decisions with respect to male partners, and mostly have sex with the alpha male. They are very choosy when it comes to the friends of the alpha male and decide to have sex with the chimp distributing food, only if she receives a bigger share. Other male chimps that aren’t part of the alphas close circuit have sex with females behind the alphas back.
De Waal once observed a limping male whose limp instantly vanished as soon as the other males left for hunting. The chimp then started making passes at the females in the group. If another male is caught trying such antics, they are given a good beating. Thus male chimps avoid such strategies and prefer to try and stay within favor of the alpha male, or support the winning male during a shift of power.
Physical Differences
The differences in the physicality of apes show connections between the evolutionary patterns of humans. For example, gorilla males are about thrice the weight of females. Chimpanzee males, though only a few inches taller than females, have stronger muscles and can weigh about 1.5 times more than females. The difference between the two is that level of dominance between male and female chimps is lesser than that of gorillas, where the females have no power at all.
In bonobos, males are slightly larger and heavier than females. Even though today, males are smaller in size, and physical strength no longer determines sexual activity among bonobos, it can be assumed that earlier, the male bonobos were dominant. Strength and physicality did not yield evolutionary benefits and thus the dominance dynamic must have changed over time.
The dynamics of being dominant among the species also determine life expectancy. Fighting for power leads to earlier deaths. This can be seen in the drastic differences between male and female lions. While female lions live up to an average of 30 years, males live only till seven. Similarly, chimps, as well as human females live longer than males. Apart from surviving conflicts (and wars), the stress of constantly maintaining power positions leads to elevated levels of cortisol among males, leading to shorter life spans.
Bonobos, on the contrary, live healthier lives and live as long as females. Unfortunately, humans, being more like chimps in this respect, evolved with males dominating. If humans were a matriarchal species, human bodies would have evolved in a manner similar to bonobos.
Reproduction Competition
Considering the physicality and size of testicles of various apes, it is observed that despite the size of the gorilla, it has small testicles, as compared to chimpanzee males. This can be attributed to the level of competition they face. Among gorillas, other males do not dare mess around with alphas females and their friends. Thus facing no competition, gorillas need very little sperm for impregnation (and thus have smaller testicles).
Chimpanzee alphas, on the other hand, play a political role in the chimp group and need to grant favors to loyalty. Additionally, the males in the lower order will try to have sex with females behind the alphas back. Therefore, while there is no dispute about the position of the alpha male, his sperm still has competition, thus resulting in the evolution of larger testes.
Bonobos, being the ‘happy hippies’ have a lot of sex with multiple partners. Therefore in their case, the male with the most sperm wins the reproduction competition.
Humans in comparison to chimps and gorillas rank in between with respect to testicle size. The reason could be that humans, like bonobos and chimps, are a multi-male society. Additionally, considering women don’t have sex constantly with multiple partners made stable heterosexuality the dominant system.
Promiscuity, Fidelity, and Infanticide
It observed in many animals such as lions, bears, dolphins, rats, and all primates – except in bonobos – where males indulge in infanticide, to make a female ready for mating faster.
In bonobos, infanticide is not only pointless, but they are the only primate species where infanticide does not happen. This happen for four reasons –
The females’ interests are often up against those of the male bonobos
It is the genes that compete, and not the primate itself
Females also protect the lives of their children and thus their own genes, and,
Since females have sex with all the males, there is no way of telling who the father of the young ones is.
This, evolutionarily, has led to no infanticide among bonobos.
Humans work in the other way. Women guarantee men paternity and get the men to protect their young. Yet, there are still traces of the ancestral urge to partner with attractive others that can still be seen.
The Human ‘Sense Of fairness’ And Solidarity
Till before de Waal’s documentation, the characteristic of ‘fairness’ was only considered a human trait. De Waal conducted an experiment with two capuchin monkeys. He taught the two monkeys to give pebbles from their cage to the scientist. Both the monkeys were rewarded with a slice of cucumber on success.
After about 25 repetitions, one monkey was given a sweet grape instead of the regular slice. De Waal saw the second monkey cried out loud and checked if his pebble was the problem before handing it in the next time. When he received a slice of cucumber again, the monkey threw it back and refused to play the unfair game.
De Waal found this behaviour so incredulous that he had to repeat the experiment a number of times. He deduced that an aversion to unfairness is embedded into the genetic makeup of primates. He conducted the same experiment with chimps. He found the same result. He also saw that the chimps that were favoured rejected their special treat out of solidarity towards their unfairly treated friends. While this behaviour differed from personality to personality, every unfairly treated chimp refused to play the unfair game.
Such behavior can be attributed to the hunt. If a primate would not get his fair share of the hunt, there would be no point sticking around. The sense of fairness is genetically ingrained in primates, where all, even the sick and old get something from the hunt, even if the best parts go to the alphas.
Higher Level Thinking Order
We can establish so far that there is more to primates than we believed earlier. Primates are not only able to understand the feelings of others in their own species and of other species; they are able to imagine how others feel too.
This could be seen from an experiment conducted, wherein one chimp is blindfolded and the second chimp is watching him. The researchers then hid food from the blindfolded chimp. The second chimp watched the event. Once the blindfold was taken off, the researchers observed the behavior of the chimps. It was evident from the behavior of the second chimp that he expected the blindfolded chimp to not have knowledge of the hidden food.
Another proof of higher-level thinking among animals is the fact that along with humans, elephants, primates, magpies, and dolphins can recognize themselves in the mirror.
Observation of primate behavior shows that they are able to help others consciously because they are able to deduce what the others could be thinking and out themselves the shoes of the other.
This was seen when an injured bird flew into the glass enclosure of a bonobo female. At first, she tried to help it fly. When I couldn’t, she nursed it and cared for it until it was well. The bonobo then climbed to the top of a tree, gently spread the wings of the bird, and threw it high up. She had sensed what the bird had wanted to do.
Opposing Forces Of Empathy And Cruelty
Hostility is an inherent trait among all primates. This was seen by Jane Goodall, the British ethologist in 1970. She observed behavior among a group of chimps, which she called murdering.
The group, during patrolling one night, caught an enemy male chimp at the border of their territory, dragged him into the bushes, and beat him to death. Over a few months, they did this to most of the males in the enemy group. The alarming behavior was different from the fights they had with those in their group. This murdering was almost like that of prey.
Next, they raided the enemy territory, killed all the young, raped the females, and took over. Among chimpanzees, such wars are not uncommon. Bonobos are different in this respect too.
While fights do break out among bonobos with strangers, the fights are broken by the females with the prospect of sex. However, tension still exists. Though no one is killed, there is no sharing of food or grooming within the two groups.
While it seems the xenophobia comes from evolutionary factors, and there is no ignoring it, ethologists should target studies towards the opposing force of xenophobia: empathy. They need to address the fact that why are chimpanzees (and humans) unable to exercise empathy towards strangers of their own species?
Morality And Its Ties To Our Ape Ancestors
Humans have been under the misconception that morality is based on one’s free will and rational thinking. However, if one studies the brain during moral decisions, one can see that rather than the cerebral cortex (that deals with rational thinking), deeper parts of the brain are activated. This phenomenon is common among primates.
This was studied when 2 scenarios were presented to test subjects.
Scenario 1: What would you do if you are in a trolley on a rail track that is about to collide with five rail workers?
Option 1: Throw the track switch sending the trolley on another collision course with another trolley with only one person.
Option 2: Stay on track.
Scenario 2: What would you do if you are on abridge with a heavy-set man, and you see that a trolley beneath is out of control heading for five workers?
Option: Push the heavy man down, so that his body obstructs the trolley, saving the men.
Note: Sacrificing oneself is pointless as you are too light to stop the trolley.
The working of the brains of the test subjects differed in the two scenarios. While contemplating the solution to the first scenario, it was seen that the cerebral cortex was activated, with about 90% choosing to throw the switch of the trolley.
However, in the second scenario, it was observed that deeper sections of the brain were activated. Very few subjects chose to push the man. This was because the prospect of killing someone brought up morality roots that reside deep within our brains, and that deeper than mere rational thinking.
Humans And The Apes Within
All the comparisons between the primates and humans help deduce that humans have 2 types of apes within – the competitive ape and the collaborative ape.
The Competitive Ape: Competitive aggressive behaviour is the inherent trait that enables all primates and humans to survive and multiply. It the base of evolution. It is the reason why especially the males of all species have an inherent urge to conquer and prevail.
The Collaborative Ape: The collaborative ape represents the inner traits of showing empathy, maintaining social instincts, needing fairness, and having a natural impulse to help others. This collaborative inner ape has developed much later, with empathy at the forefront.
It is however noted that one inner ape does not suppress the other. Both the inner apes become more complex as the inherent apes and social lives become more contradictory, making cohabitation increasingly difficult, yet more substantial.
Reactions to friend or foe are natural and ancestral. They determine which impulse (empathetic or competitive) prevails in situations of conflict.
Humanity is a falsification that has become the basis for many social theories like communism. It assumes that competition can disappear if there is no exploitation. Contrarily, believers of a free-market economy think that people act of their own free will and then find incredulity in the irrational manner in which people behave. Humans too, like other primates have a willingness to help and a sense of fairness that trump egoism.
It is not possible to get to the root of all behaviors and feelings, however, it is possible that these feelings are inherited via evolution. One can however rationally determine which feelings and behaviors are anchored in one’s genetic makeup, how one will tend to impulsive act in any given situation. That doesn’t mean that we can’t change it. Considering we have strong evolutionary and ancestral impulses, to change these impulses will need equally strong countering efforts.
Conclusion
Humans have a deep-seated morality, just as they have aggression and competitiveness. These inner conflicts make humans, humans. It is the gift of intelligence that enables humans to see and understand these conflicts in themselves and others. These abilities to understand the difference between free will and the impulses of the inner apes are the keys to understanding and improving society.
We have all heard of the proverb ‘Jack of all trades and master of none.’ Moreover, we have been, since our childhood, told that there is no value in being a ‘jack of all trades’, and that ‘mastering one thing’ takes us towards success. This has brought about the focus on early-life specializations and getting an early head start to our careers.
On the contrary, Range (2019) by David Epstein shows that curiosity and a more generalist outlook has more benefits than specialization. Epstein takes examples from sports, science, business, medicine, academia, and human psychology to prove that broadening one’s range gives more power than narrowing one’s specialization.
While it is true that generalists tend to find their calling a little later, it is also true that generalists tend to be more creative due to the increased ability to make connections. Keeping one’s interests broad can lead to innovation and open minds to curiosity, excellence, and ultimately success.
Specialization – Fashionable And Dubious?
Tiger Woods has for some time now, been the poster-boy for specialization and early focus on a career in golf. He has embodied the concept of getting a head start and intense practice since the age of two. While such early-life focus on specialization is most common in the world of sports, it can be seen in other fields such as academia, medicine, finance, etc. For example, oncologists now consider cancer as a general area and specialize in organ-specific cancer studies.
Though specialization is the fad of the century, there are studies that prove that it isn’t the yardstick that defines successful performance. Psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Gary Klein, in 2009, studied how performance and experience are connected. They found that experience is essential to some professions such as firefighting, where years of experience can train firefighters to understand behavior and patterns of flames, enabling them to make eye-blinking decisions. Yet in many other fields, experience holds little value.
Kahneman studied recruitment trends and predictions of recruiters, versus assessments and feedback of Israeli Defence Forces. He found a complete disconnect between experience and performance, as recruiter predictions based on physical and mental abilities at the time of recruitment were a far cry from actual performances. He saw that many fields such as the armed forces need the flexibility and creativity that can be found with generalization.
Range by David Epstein
Expertise With Experimentation
There is no doubt that specialization has its merits. Tiger Woods is an example of that. However, there is ample proof that sampling and experimentation is a reliable route to expertise and success. Let us take the example of Roger Federer.
His path to tennis success began much later in life. Despite his mother being a tennis coach, she never pushed him towards the sport. As a child, he tried his hands at skiing, wrestling, skateboarding, squash, badminton, basketball, and tennis. In due course, he found that he preferred sports with balls. He started playing tennis in his teens though not instinctively. He later acknowledged that his skills in tennis, athleticism, and hand-eye coordination were because of his wide-ranged experience in playing different sports.
This applies to other fields as well. Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist began his career in music at a young age with the violin and piano. He moved to the cello simply because he did not like the first two. Yo-Yo Ma isn’t an exception. John Sloboda, the music psychologist studied students in British boarding schools who were taking structured music lessons. He found that children who had tried that hands at two or more instruments were identified as ‘exceptional’ whereas those focusing on one instrument were ‘average’.
Even Vincent Van Gogh jumped from job to job, from preaching to teaching and working in bookstores to dealing in art before he found his calling in painting and made a mark in history!
Increasing IQ’s And Abstract Thinking
In 1981, political sciences professor James Flynn from New Zealand stumbled upon reports that led to a study, which has changed the way we think about thinking today. In his study, he saw that the IQ test scores of American troops had drastically improved between World War I and II.
He found that based on IQ, a WWI soldier in the 50th percentile would be placed in the 22nd percentile in WWII. He then compiled data from 14 other countries that showed similar improvements from generation to generation. This phenomenon was named the Flynn effect. He propounded that every decade people’s IQ increases by an average of 3 points. He found the same trend in over 30 countries.
This brings us to another research conducted in 1931 by the Russian psychologist Alexander Luria. In a time when the Soviet Union was undergoing rapid change, pre-modern, remote villages that had been functioning unchanged for centuries, were seeing planned development, production, and division of labor with industrialization.
Luria took the opportunity of the change to conduct some experiments. In one experiment, he asked villagers to sort some wool into groups. In some of the modern villages, the villagers sorted the wool into different categories such as shades, types, quality, etc. however, in the villages that were still remote, the villager was simply unable to categorize the wool because they saw each piece of wool as different.
Luria’s experiments showed that people are able to make better conceptual connections between abstract notions and objects as they were further exposed to modernization.
Based on these studies, it is clear that in today’s modern world, our minds are better equipped to make abstract connections and diverse ideas all at once. Yet, a wide majority consider narrowing down specializations and conceptual focus to be the only way to succeed!
Learning Shouldn’t Be Easy And Fast
We often remember our harshest teachers better and with more fondness later on in life. Why is that the case?
A group of economists conducted a study of the long-term results of about a thousand Calculus I students at the US Air Force Academy. The observation found students with better grades giving higher student evaluation ratings to professors, whereas those with lower grades gave harsher feedback. The long-term study found that students giving positive feedback had a net negative effect. Moreover, those giving harsh feedback were more inspired towards better performance in the long run. These professors who chose desirable difficulties were actually imparting a better way to learn.
In addition to difficult learning, it is seen that learning at a slower pace or using the concept of ‘spacing’ yields better learning. In spacing, there should be some time given between learning and practicing. In a 1987 Journal of Experimental Study, Spanish students were separated into two groups. One group was tested on vocabulary they had learned the same day and the second group was tested weeks later. After a span of 8 years, the two groups were tested again. It was found that the second group had a success rate of about 200%. Similarly, there have been benefits of short-term spacing as well, proving that slow and difficult learning is more effective than quick and easy learning.
An Outside Viewpoint Is Better Than A Specialized One
In a 2015 study, Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Anupam Jena found that heart failure and cardiac patients were more likely to survive if they were admitted when the top cardiologists were not available. For example, specialists such as cardiologists are so good with their work – like placing stents in blood vessels – that they start performing these surgeries reflexively. Even in dangerous situations, they come in with a mindset that ‘we have done this a million times before’.
The concern here is that the narrow and detailed focus makes specialists too conditioned and reflexive. For specialists, repetitive functioning can lead to making extreme judgments and narrow-minded to view only what they specialize in.
University of Sydney professor Dan Lovallo conducted a study involving private equity investors. They were told to conduct a detailed assessment and return on investment (ROI) estimates of ventures they would consider investing in. Next, they were told to write notes on other broadly similar projects. The results showed that for the businesses the investors were actually planning to invest in, the estimates of ROI were about 50% higher than the other projects.
Narrow focus and specialization can put up blinders that prevent a holistic viewpoint. At times, an outside view that isn’t colored by narrow focus and specializations can save people from making bad calls.
The Value Of Having A Breadth-Wide Experience
Innovator of the year 2013, Andy Ouderkirk from 3M has his name on about 170 patents, conducted research on the members of innovative and successful teams. His study revealed that to win the innovation-recognizing Carlton Award at 3M, he needed a team of polymaths rather than specialists. Polymaths are those who have specialization and depth in one area but have diverse expertise in other areas too. These inventors used their knowledge from other areas and applied it to a different field altogether.
Similarly, Norwegian School of Management’s Alva Taylor and Henrik Greve studied the success of comic creators post-1971. They too found that breadth of experience is vital to success. While they predicted that more comics created, would lead to honing skills and thus more success, however, they learned that it is the wide range of exposure to different comic genres that decided success.
Therefore, at times, it is essential to do away with the ‘perfect fit requirements’ during hiring, and that recruiters should consider people who don’t fit in one category, and whose has more breadth-wide experience in all areas.
Why Experts Don’t Have Active Open-Mindedness
Forecasting expert Philip Tetlock assessed the predictions of 284 experts during the Cold War. Tetlock’s study revealed that experts are very bad at making predictions. In fact, his study showed that an expert’s ability to have access to classified information, years of experience, and even their academic degree made no difference to their (lack of) ability. They suffered from having a narrow focus and outlook towards their predictions.
Psychologist Jonathan Baron attributed their disability to a lack of active open-mindedness – ability and willingness to question one’s own beliefs. He said that it boils down to the fact that experts’ opinions get laced by their own existing beliefs, a problem most people face.
Yale’s Dan Kahan conducted a study where he asked anti and pro-Brexit voters to decipher statistics about the effectiveness of skin cream. Next, they were given the same statistics as the link between crime and immigration; their interpretations of the statistics were influenced by their political beliefs. This did not happen during the first task with the skin cream.
The concern lies in the fact that expert opinions are often based on existing beliefs to the extent that one can tend to disregard existing evidence. How does one stay impartial then?
According to Kahan, the difference lies in pursuing scientific curiosity where one desires to learn more, accepts new evidence, and analyses with an open mind, rather than scientific knowledge where one is focused on what and how much they know. There is therefore a need to change one’s attitude and the way one thinks about success and learning.
It’s All About The Range
How does one ultimately expand their range? The answer lies in accepting failure and more importantly embracing it. While being patient, taking a wider route, a more disorderly experimental path may delay success; it is a more successful route to success.
In addition, experimentation, applying out of the box thinking to concepts one is already an expert at, and trying to achieve a wider range of knowledge, and applying it can make all the difference. In other words, having a generalist attitude can add immense value to specialization.
Creativity is the new buzzword in the world of work today. Everyone is looking for creativity in every department, every employee, and every job description. With so much resting on creativity, how can one truly be creative?
Firstly, everyone can be creative. It is an ability that is inherent in everyone, and only exercising it is a matter of choice and learning. The Myths of Creativity by David Burkus throws light on some of the common myths surrounding creativity that many believe. He debunks these myths and offers a practical guide to letting creativity flourish, by changing perceptions.
The Myth Of The Out-Of-The-Blue Divine Inspiration
We have all heard how Newton discovered gravity while sitting under an apple tree. His sudden, out-of-the-blue experience led to the realization of gravity. It’s true that he saw the apple fall, but he didn’t actually discover gravity while sitting alone under the tree. He was with someone else.
His observation sparked a scientific discussion with the person, and that led to immersing himself in years of study and research, finally discovering the mathematical formula for gravity.
The first myth that creativity comes in sudden, out-of-the-blue experiences is simply a myth. Even creative, lightening-bolt, inspirations need some amount of hard work. According to the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, an idea is born when successful creatives move through the center of a number of insightful steps.
A seed of an idea needs to germinate with the help of the water and sunlight of hard work and deep thought, often on a number of things simultaneously. For example, Da Vinci and Edison worked on a number of projects and ideas often, because their ideas needed to develop over time.
The Myths of Creativity by David Burkus
The Myth Of The Creative Breed
Many believe that creativity is in our genes. However, creativity is neither divinely bestowed to special people nor is an exclusive resource that only a few can tap into. Scientists have been studying Einstein’s brain to ascertain if his intelligence was genetic. While they found that his brain was remarkably small in size, they found no proof of genetic markers showing creativity as genetic.
To study creativity in genes further, scientist Marvin Reznikoff studied creativity in twin children. He divided them into two groups, fraternal twins and identical twins, and gave them creative tasks to do. He found that there were differences in creativity between both, the fraternal as well as the identical twins, ruling genes out as a carrier of creativity.
Unfortunately the ‘Breed Myth’ creates prejudiced perceptions, and organizations tend to classify employees and roles into creative and non-creative. However, with changing trends and the need for creativity in all aspects of the organization, companies are giving equal importance to creativity in all areas. This bucking of traditions has shown an increase in innovation, as so-called ‘non-creative’ employees are given chances to showcase their creativity as well.
The Myth Of Timelines In Creativity
Organizations are hardwired to work in timelines and deadlines. However, to nurture and foster creativity, one has to let go of the timeline concept. This is because creativity hardly flourishes within timelines. Many organizations are now turning to a more democratic form of structure versus the traditional top-down organizational structure. This change has shown encouragement to creativity and innovation.
Semco, the industrial manufacturer is a great example. Ricardo Semler took over the wheels of Semco from his father at a time when the company was near bankruptcy and needed innovation desperately. He immediately moved to remove the old structure of fixed teams and assignments and top-down management. By 2003, after a decade of following the new structure, Semco has made more than $200 million in revenue.
When it comes to creativity, rigid timelines restrict creative outflow and thus, innovation. In fact, creativity is known to develop better when one mulls over the job at hand and lets the mind wander.
The Myth Of The Creative Loner
People have prejudiced perceptions about creative people as ‘loners’, and that creativity and innovation as the output of one single mind working in isolation to spin yarn after yarn of creativity.
This is, however, ‘the myth of the creative loner’, and needs to be debunked! Creativity in fact gets a boost when there are many minds focussing on innovating. Moreover, it is a known fact that the people who surround you can be a source of inspiration. Therefore, having a like-minded, creatively inclined, the social network can have a catalytic effect.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, despite their differences over the personal computer, influenced each other with the Alto Computer and the PARC Company. While Jobs found his inspiration during a tour of PARC, Gates found his inspiration while working for Jobs for a short time.
Creativity and innovation need collaboration for success. Even other inventors and geniuses like Edison had a team of ‘muckers’ – a mix of engineers, machinists, physicist, etc. – that brainstormed together on some of his best-known inventions like the light bulb.
The Myth Of Characteristic
People often associate creativity as a characteristic or an ability that creative people have. However, research has shown that creativity also depends on the physical connections in the brain.
Our brains have ‘grey matter’ and ‘white matter’. The grey matter is the brain tissue that stores the information that we think, whereas white matter is the connectivity tissue that’s responsible for transporting electric pulses. Creative people have a better ability to connect the information stored in the grey matter. Therefore, it was found that creative people have more white matter that helps in connecting ideas and blending them with thoughts from different areas of the brain in a more creative way.
The truth of the matter (pun intended) is, that white matter grows the more we use it. That is why it is often seen that old ideas, existing innovation, and known information are often the basis of new creative innovative ideas.
If we take Edison’s ‘muckers’ as an example, they worked on existing ideas and technologies, stripped-down other’s machines and ideas, and gathered a whole lot of knowledge to create things of their own.
So what if one isn’t naturally creative! Creativity can be practiced and just like one exercises to build muscles, one can exercise their creative thinking skills to build more white matter!
The Myth Of Creative Freedom
People also believe that creativity needs freedom and that any constraints can restrict the flow of creativity. However, too much of anything is bad and this is true for creativity too. Too much freedom can lead to ideas running amok. Too many ideas without direction will lead to many incomplete ideas that keep piling up.
Restraints help in keeping creativity on the right path. Some amount of constraints and restrictions on time, processes, and resources can propel out of the box thinking.
Japanese Haiku is a form of poetry that restricts the poet to a limited number of syllables. The creativity and beauty of a Haiku is brought out by the restriction placed on the process of writing. It is the same with European Sonnets.
The Brainstorming Myth
We have seen or been part of brainstorming sessions at the workplace. While a large group of people sitting together, throwing ideas at each other seems like a great way to be innovative and creative, it is, in fact, a melting pot of half-cooked or useless ideas that often get tossed into the corner.
The reasons could be many. The idea could be absolutely useless, it might not appeal to some of the group members, it could be half-cooked and might need some more thinking and working on. Often great ideas get discarded because they need time to develop, and no one sees them.
Brainstorming works, but only if there is a creative process set around it. Moreover, it needs a leader to oversee the session, set creative restrictions and constraints, and revise stormed ideas. Finally discarded ideas need to be revisited, restructured, reframed, and shaped in order to work.
The Key To Creativity
There is no inherency or genetic make-up of creativity. No one is born creative or is naturally creative. In fact, creativity can be cultivated, nurtured, and practiced by everyone. The myths that have been debunked above, prove that all one has to do to be creative is to first understand that their knowledge about creativity is incomplete. Only then can one open their eyes and their mind to learning to be creative!
Not everyone is good at saving money. While there are people who have mastered the art of managing their accounts, a majority of us fall prey to the inherent human nature to be bad at saving money, despite a number of efforts. Additionally, we can be pretty irrational about expenditure.
Dollars and Sense (2017) by Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler point out the reasons why rationalism with our own money eludes us. They touch upon fundamental human characteristics, emotions versus common sense, and other flaws that are at the crux of bad spending habits.
No One Considers An Alternative to Expenditure
A few years ago, Dan Ariely, asked a few Toyota customers at a dealership, what purchases were they giving up in order to buy a new car? Most of the customers did not understand what his questions meant. Upon explaining further, many said that they were giving up on the opportunity to buy a different car. However, out of those few who did make the connection, answered that were giving up on a vacation, or eating out, etc.
What most people do not realize is that while money might be an abstract concept, its value enables our choices. However, humans do not naturally think of alternatives to what their money can get them. These alternatives, in economics, are known as Opportunity Costs. Most do not even consider these opportunity costs, making massive expenditure errors.
Dollars and Sense (2017) by Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler
Enticing, Misleading Value Cues
As customers, we tend to place importance, and rely more on ‘value cues’. ‘Value Cues’ are external signs and hints that are suggestive of an item’s real value.
In a utopian situation, rationality would make people consider ‘opportunity costs’ while making purchase decisions, rather than focus on value cues such as, “limited offer” or “end-of-season-sale”. Salesmen often use such value cues to entice customers to make their purchases now, or miss the opportunity forever!
Yet, value cues can be helpful too. They can provide a true sense of the value of any commodity, and help in making practical purchases. However, they are used by companies to mislead customers into making buying decisions. Additionally, misleading value cues are used to skew a customers’ sense of value.
Value Cues, Comparison Shopping, and Decision Making
If we are susceptible to be misled by enticing value cues, how do we really make buying decisions? Do we understand the value of the things we buy? If we do understand, then why do we not consider opportunity costs?
Actually, it is difficult to ascertain the value of any product by simply looking at it. For example, if we want to buy a phone, we do not look at other factors such as the cost of labor, materials, shipping, manufacturing, etc. affecting its overall value. Instead, we use comparison with similar products, a mental shortcut, to determine the value of the phone we want to buy.
Such comparison-shopping can be misleading too. Nevertheless, humans, as customers, need value cues to guide their buying decisions. In 2012, Ron Johnson took over as the CEO of JCPenney, the department store. The routine practice there was to increase the prices of products and then introduce sales, discounts, and coupons, to bring the prices back to retail value. Johnson did not like the practice of misleading customers and decided to discontinue the practice, with good intentions. He discontinued all discounts and retained original retail prices. This made customers unhappy, and within a year, JCPenney lost $985 million.
Consumers needed the enticing, misleading value cues for the feel good factor of getting a bargain.
What If’s, Mental And Emotional Accounting
Everyone uses mental accounting to make financial decisions. Mental accounting is weighing out one’s options while making financial decisions. Therefore, mental accounting is a very subjective concept and differs based on one’s circumstances, understanding of the situation, and of course, financial understanding, and its implications. Mental accounting can be irrational by nature.
For example, lets look at two ‘what if’ scenarios –
What if the $100 bill concert ticket you bought, flies out of the bus window on the way to the concert? Would you buy another one for the same price? And,
What if you lost a $100 bill on the way to buying the $100 concert ticket? Would you still buy it?
Different people do mental accounting differently. For example, for someone, the money has already been spent on the ticket that got lost. The feeling will be different from when the $100 bill is lost, as the value for the $100 is not assigned a category (in one’s mind) yet.
Many who were asked these ‘what if’s’, chose to take out a new $100 bill and buy the ticket, however, not buy a new ticket if the one already purchased gets lost. Such is the irrationality of mental accounting.
However, there is a purpose to mental accounting too. Rationally, in both the scenarios, the value of the lost ticket and the lost $100 bill is the same, and therefore, the loss of value is the same. However, we all get countless opportunity cost options every time we think of any expenditure. How we choose is another thing altogether.
That is where emotional accounting comes into place. Emotional attachment to money and value greatly influences buying and spending decisions. Emotional accounting can be bad and one has to be wary of it. For example, when someone deals with money that comes to us from a source that we do not like, they try to add justifications to the expenditure of that money only to make themselves feel better. They might donate a small part of it to charity, feel better, and then frivolously spend the rest of it.
Perception Of Value
Our perception of the world around us and our experiences with our surroundings are hugely influenced by language. Let us try to understand the differences between the following two sentences –
Living with 20% lesser salary
Living off of only 80% salary
There is no difference between the two! Nevertheless, in 1988, a Journal Of Consumer Research study showed that people were more interested in spending their retirement with 80% of their income rather than 20% less of it. it was just a play of words.
Similarly, language is used as a key for advertising and influencing customer choices. For example, in restaurants, a wine with ‘earthy notes of oak and tobacco’ will easily sell for $80, whereas it wont even sell for $30 at a grocery store.
This phenomenon is known as ‘consumption vocabulary’. It links a word to the superiority of a product in consumers’ minds. For example, the word ‘artisan’ gives one the feeling of superiority, handmade, and thus more expensive.
Another way by which our perception of value increases is by adding a ritual around a product. This ritual can improve the experience. For example, the ritual of swirling wine in a goblet, taking in the heady fragrances, and finally tasting it, creates an experience that increases the value of a wine tasting.
Self-Control And Resisting Expenditure
Often people look for new ways to budgeting their money and reducing expenditure simply because we are irrational. Yet, despite efforts, they fail to save their money. This happens because they are unable to exercise their self-control while spending, making bad decisions.
It is essential that people start to consciously exercise their self-control by connecting emotionally to their own futures. This can be done by thinking of your future self. For example, one can see their future selves as fat couch potatoes binging on ice creams. While they know that their current habits are leading them towards that future, they choose to give in to the temptations because that future-self is remote, far, and un-relatable. Additionally, the fact that our future-self is a probability, we dismiss it.
One way to work around such temptations to spend, according to UCLA’s Hal Hershfield, is to write a letter to your future-self and forging an emotional connection. Additionally, one can also create visions or imagine your future-self appreciating past efforts of saving and enjoying the benefits.
Setting a tangible fixed date to retirement is another way to encourage yourself to save for it. for example, saving for use after ‘10 November 2050’ makes it more real than saving for ’30 years later’, which sounds like a generalization.
Concluding With The Ulysses Contract
According to the famed Greek legend, Ulysses had to be tied to the mast of his ship by his crew to avoid the Sirens’ alluring and deadly songs. Similarly, a Ulysses contract is setting up a structure or a process where a bad decision is not an option at all.
For example, if a person is habitually bad at managing credit cards that person should best avoid keeping credit cards and stick to debit cards. Or if a person cannot seem to save money, they should set up a standing instruction to directly put an amount in savings from their monthly paycheck.
Automated savings have shown to help people save about 81% more yearly.
In conclusion, even though we are wired to be bad at spending money, and make irrational expense decisions, we should stop making excuses and take efforts to save more and make better spending decisions. While changing spending habits doesn’t come naturally, nor happens instantly, one can definitely try and use methods such as Ulysses Contracts to help them save.
Creativity is a buzzword these days. Every artist, businessman, executive, manager, professional, etc. wants to be creative. In other words, creativity is a virtue today that is at the crux of every job profile. Creativity, unfortunately, can fall prey to lack of inspiration, disillusionment, doubt, be susceptible to dry spells, and even creative blocks.
Keep Going (2019) by Austin Cleon is a push to all those needing to fall back on creativity, whether personally or professionally. It is a guide to fuel, rekindle, and persevere when there is a shortage of those creative juices. It helps all those who need to keep their creativity fires kindled and burning, and even to understand when they need to be put out!
The Daily Routine
Many people take the concept of the ‘daily routine’ lightly. They don’t fully understand the importance of it.
For many creative minds, their creativity is like the ebb and flow of the waves – sometimes gushing out or at times, out like a flashbulb for days! While these ups and downs of creativity cannot be controlled, one can surely control making the most of it!
Establishing a daily routine, a schedule, or even a habit that triggers – irrespective of whether the creativity is gushing or trickling – is the best way of harnessing whatever creativity one has. For example, Sylvia Plath always wrote in the mornings, early, before the family was up.
On the other hand, Franz Kafka found his creativity after the family was in bed, at night. An example of establishing a habit, John Steinbeck would sharpen a dozen or so pencils before writing and Goethe needed to smell rotten apples. There is really no ‘one’ solution that fits. Where creativity is concerned, routines vary from person to person, suited to their own personalities, needs, and circumstances.
Often, establishing a regime seems off-putting, arduous, and frustrating to some. However, one needs to remember that routine isn’t intended to sap-off freedom, but to give one the freedom and the specified time to pursue creative interests, without having anything else disturbing that time.
Keep Going (2019) by Austin Cleon
Time, Space And No Intrusion
To be creative, time, space, and no intrusions are very important. However, with a million distractions bombarding our senses every second, it is very difficult to get the much-needed peace and quiet.
Literary scholar and writer Joseph Campbell used the concept of a ‘bliss station’, a quiet and isolated place where one can sit and work without any disturbance or distractions. This ‘bliss station’ can be a place like a study or a garage, or if one has space constraints, it could be a scheduled time of the day or week, when one is alone.
Once the ‘bliss station’ is identified, one has to ensure that there are no disturbances of any type. This essentially means that one has to get into the ‘Airplane Mode’.
Just like our smartphones enable us to turn on the ‘Airplane Mode’, one needs to create an environment where distractions such as emails and messages are turned off. Additionally, one can use earplugs or earphones to keep sounds and other distractions at bay. Another addition to the ‘Airplane Mode’ is to disconnect oneself from the daily news that can make the mind wander away from the tasks at hand.
Sleep, Tidy-up, And Make Lists
There are a million ways to get organized. Making lists, or to-do lists is one of the ways that one can use to help enhance creative thinking. While it is a known fact that many creative people are disorderly, many others tend to get not only distracted by chaos but also lost without order.
Visual artist David Shrigley maintains lists of things that he wants to draw. Therefore whenever he gets to work, he never wastes time thinking and always had ideas at hand. Steven Johnson, the writer writes and reviews his writing lists every few months for inspiration, and the rock band ‘The Wire’ have a list of the things they wouldn’t do – like ending their songs with a chorus, do solos, or rocking out.
Mary Kondo the tidiness expert has revolutionized the war on clutter and mess. Yet, at times, some amount of mess can be conducive for some creative people, especially when it comes to creating interesting juxtapositions inspired by the unrelated mess. However, there is a limit to ‘messy’, and it should never come to a point where one’s tools get lost in the mess.
Tidying-up can be a great inspiration to creativity, especially when one experiences a creative block. Many use tidying-up to contemplate and reflect, and even to look for inspiration in some old lost things and ideas.
In addition to tidying-up one’s workspace, creativity flows when one de-clutters the mind. The most effective way to de-clutter one’s mind is to get a good amount of sleep. Many creative people find that they get refreshing new ideas when they have slept over them. The famous Salvador Dali used to sleep as an effective way of refreshing the mind and getting great ideas.
The Perils Of Monetizing And Popularity
In today’s world, ‘doing what you love’ is the new mantra. It has also opened up the world to pursue careers in creative interests. Many even consider it as a dream job come true. However, at times, pursuing careers in creative interests can backfire, and one can end up hating their passions, simply because of the pressures of monetizing them.
The joy of a creative interest can get crushed due to the fact that it simply becomes a job to sustain the roof over the head, rather than what one loves to do. Therefore it is essential to keep a job and a passion separate. However, if one still intends to pursue a passion for a living, they should avoid monetizing their entire creative output and do some creative work simply for the love of it.
In addition to money, obsessions with popularity are perilous to creativity as well. The need for social gratification in today’s times, such as getting more likes, shares, and followers can make creative people lose focus. It is therefore essential to ignore social media metrics from time to time.
To keep one’s creative-self grounded, one can use the method of gifting. This essentially entails using one’s creative skills to create something and gift it to family, friends, or even an online follower. For example, A.A. Milne’s Winnie The Pooh and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit were actually written for their children. These ‘gifts’ are world-famous today!
Do Creative Vs. Be Creative
‘Making it big’, ‘Arriving officially’ or, ‘finally being best’, are measures of success that many creative people fall prey to. Whether it is a writer, artist, photographer, or singer, people in the creative lines focus too much on their creative titles as nouns rather than as verbs.
To put it simply, people tend to focus on becoming the nouns (dancer, painter, singer, writer, etc.) rather than focusing on mastering the verb (the actual activities – dancing, painting, singing, writing), making it counterproductive. Additionally, when one focuses too much on being the noun, they simply restrict themselves from trying on other things. For example, if a painter is too invested in being a creative painter, he might not explore other avenues he could be better at, such as a good interior designer.
Many creative people tend to forget that being creative isn’t a journey from point A to point B (or from being a painter to becoming the best A-grade, certified painter on earth) rather it is a never-ending, forever-learning journey. At the end of every painting, the painter should be able to ask himself, “What’s next?”
Therefore, it is essential to understand that focusing on ‘doing’ is more important than ‘being’.
Enjoy Your Creativity
Since ‘doing’ is more important than ‘being’, it becomes essential to understand how to focus on ‘doing creative’ than ‘being creative’. Let us take an example of children indulging in art. They never focus on becoming artists. In fact, honing their art skills is the last thing on their minds. They truly enjoy the action of drawing, and hardly care for the final outcome.
Why and how are children so indifferent towards their creative skills? The answer lies in play. They consider art a form of enjoyment, play, or fun. External considerations such as money, popularity, or fame are of no consequence to them. This is exactly what the author realized when he saw his son Jules drawing. It simply didn’t matter to Jules if his father tore up his painting or hung it in his study!
When one attributes external considerations to their creative work, they get lost in the worry of whether their creative work is good enough for others or not. It is therefore essential to incorporate playfulness in creative work. It helps in letting the creativity flow with abandonment, helping the creator to detach from the outcome and actually enjoy their work.
One can even indulge in playing with kids or playing like kids. Lawrence Wechsler, the writer would play with a set of kid’s building blocks to help unleash his creativity.
How To Be Extraordinarily Creative
What really makes people extraordinarily creative? Is it having an extraordinary life, or an extraordinary job, workplace, or friends? If one had to upgrade one life to extraordinary, would it help in making their creative work more creative?
Many people tend to think that if their lives were extraordinary they would be better. They think that the ordinariness of their work holds them back from being extraordinarily creative. However, it isn’t so.
There are many extraordinarily creative people living ordinary lives, finding magic even in the most mundane things. Everyone can, in fact, mine his or her ordinary lives for that magical, creative element that can transform ordinary work into extraordinary.
Harvey Pecker noted comic book writer is a perfect example. He worked in Cleveland as a file clerk in a hospital. He used excerpts from his experiences at his mundane job to create his comic content. Thus, one has to find creativity in life by paying attention to the details in one’s surroundings.
Our fast-paced lives today, however, do not allow us the time for paying attention to detail. Therefore, we have to slow down a little to observe what is around us.
When To Step Away From Creativity
What does one do when their actions make them or those around them unhappy? Change it, right? The same goes for creativity. If your creativity is causing you or someone around you pain and misery, it is time to re-evaluate it, or even step away!
Many creative artists believe in the myth of the ‘tortured artist’. The myth states that some form of unhappiness or misery is warranted, can be used as an excuse, or even be compensated for great creativity. This myth, however, is simply a myth.
Any form of creative work serves but one purpose – to make lives better. However, if it’s causing anyone unhappiness, it is always better to re-evaluate or even step away from the creativity that is causing harm. Take a break, try another job, do something mundane and totally disconnected.
It is essential to understand and know when to, and when not to ‘keep going’.
Summary
All creativity is subject to ups and downs. Creative people can use certain tools to enhance, promote, and revive their creativity, by establishing routines, habits, maintaining tidiness, avoiding distractions, and using the help of lists.
Additionally, one can use creative inspiration from the details in the most mundane surroundings and incorporating play in their work. Finally, all creative people should bear in mind that creativity should make their lives better. If not, then it’s simply best to step away!
What makes customers take notice of a brand? How do brands make it to the top? How do they fail? Did all the top brands in today’s market start out with huge marketing budgets, unique concepts, and a pre-existing, ever-loyal customer base?
Definitely not!
Then how do brands occupy premier market positions, bringing their companies success?
The answer lies in telling a great story.The Fortune Cookie Principle (2013) by Bernadette Jiwa focuses on building successful brands that have a clear purpose and a compelling vision while making a brand add meaning to the buyer’s choices.
Jiwa takes us through the art of crating great brand stories that resonate with the customer, ultimately influencing their choices.
Making A Fortune Cookie Company
Let us consider an example of Company A with a new product – a razor. It is no surprise that within a few days, there will be a Competitor B, with better features. Therefore, how will Company A, make their product a success, and set themselves apart from the crowd?
These days there’s more to marketing than selling bigger, better, and cheaper. That’s simply because there will always be a competitor waiting to outrun you. The factor that really pushes a brand to the forefront is the story of the brand. Therefore, if we consider a fortune cookie, the service or product is the cookie, whereas the fortune inside the cookie is its story.
The product or service comprises of the tangible aspect and the story is the intangible aspect that makes customers believe in the story of the product or service. It resonates with their values, vision, and purpose, and forges a connection between buyer and brand.
For example, Apple can be called a fortune cookie company. Their iPod revolutionized the market of carrying music in the pocket in a more compact, smarter, and stylish manner.
The fortune cookie principle is all about turning a company into a fortune cookie company by means of creating a valuable, purposeful, visionary brand story.
The Fortune Cookie Principle (2013) by Bernadette Jiwa
What’s The Purpose Of It All?
Every company should have a clear purpose. It should define the vision and the values of the company.
Does the company exist to make money? Or does it exist for some other purpose?
This purpose – whatever it is – defines the operations in the company, right from the vision and mission, to the business model, product specifications, design, recruitment style, etc. In addition to defining a purpose, it is essential to stick to it. Many brands fail because they either set a purpose and are unable to follow it, or because they do not have a clearly defined purpose and end up with poor decision-making processes.
For example, Proctor & Gamble’s Jim Stengel, along with Millward Brown found that in the past decade, there has been fifty business that has grown three times faster than their competitors. Google and Jimmy’s Iced Coffee are examples. They found that these companies had a clearly defined, set, mission that they carried out to the tee. For example, Google gives its customers more than just a search engine; they give them the satisfaction of curiosity. The fortune in the cookie!
Lego, on the other hand, was facing a whopping $300 million budget deficit in 2003. They lost sight of their mission with projects such as the Lego Land theme park, and computer game ventures. This led to an irregularity in their supply chain and poor customer service.
When Jørgen Vig Knudstorp joined as CEO in 2004, he managed to turn the ship around with a $110 million profit. How? By simply adhering to the mission of the company – to inspire creativity in children across the world. He stuck to his mission and carved a vision for the future from it!
Having Vision With Openness To Change and Growth
Having a strong vision makes a company strong. It powers successful marketing strategies and guides a company towards the bigger picture – how does the company/product/brand impact the world?
To understand the concept of vision clearly, companies should answer 3 important questions –
How does the company/product/brand affect the future?
Does the day-to-day working in the organization align with the vision?
How will these changes impact customers?
The answers to these questions will be a guideline for making decisions that will support the vision and define the focus of the company. For example, the Californian not-for-profit company Room to Read follow their mission of ensuring that children all over the world have access to decent education, and are able to contribute to their respective communities. They help to construct schools and libraries in developing countries.
However, one should be prepared for changes along the way and make space for growth too. Airbnb’s initial vision was to create an easy way for people to book and advertise accommodation while traveling to conferences in the United States. The popularity of the website grew to the extent that they had to change their vision to include the world! Soon, anyone could book right from a bunk in New York to an exotic hotel in Bali!
Getting Those Elusive Loyal Customers
When it comes to building a strong brand story, values play a very important role. The values of the company should reflect in each and every aspect of the brand and its marketing. Values tell the customers what the brand stands for, and resonates with their own beliefs. Once they have that common connection of shared values with the brand, they start expressing these beliefs via the product or brand.
The outdoor gear company Patagonia actually urged their customers to think of the ecological implications of purchase with their ‘Don’t buy this jacket’ campaign. They resonated the values of sustainability with their customers.
However, while creating values, companies should be wary of lying to customers and of steering away from setting values. Such actions can make customers question integrity.
Consider an example of a quaint café on a street corner, catering to loyal customers. These customers come in for authentic home-baked goodies and fresh coffee, as well as to enjoy the cozy ambiance. All of a sudden, the owner decides to revamp the interiors, introduce outsourced bakery goods, and installs a coffee machine to increase the speed of service and thus, profits.
In an instant, the café loses its old-world charm. It no longer resonates with the once-loyal customers who walked in and stayed for hours enjoying the ambiance and the freshness of home-baked goodies.
Location, Location, And Content!
Let us, once again look at that quaint café. Now imagine placing that café in the middle of a swanky, hi-end mall. While the café would still meet its numbers, it would lose its story of quaintness that resonated with customers. It would lose its localness and its ambiance of having coffee on the street.
Location is essential to a brand story. It should align with the story, or ‘the fortune in the cookie’ will get lost. Similarly, the content that surrounds the brand and the story should be aligned as well. If a brand’s content – text, video, audio, etc. – isn’t in sync with the story it wishes to tell, the brand, the product, and the company won’t sell. The customers won’t resonate with it.
So if the quaint café on the street uses industry jargon for a newspaper ad, they wont be able to attract loyal customers.
Conclusion
When it comes to branding, having a unique selling point no longer makes the cut for success. Creating a successful brand depends on a great brand story that is intact with a resonating mission, vision, values, purpose, and clarity. It takes more than just a cookie to make a fortune!
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