CHOICE.

If you run a business, or if you are thinking about running a business, this is how to get your brand chosen.

In his book, Branding with Brains: The science of getting customers to choose your company, Tjaco Walvis formulated an ‘algorithm in the brain’.

He suggests that the brain makes brand choices in much the same way Google uses an algorithm to search the Internet.

This brain algorithm has three criteria that inform consumers as they seek to choose one brand over another.

Here’s what the brain looks for:

1. Relevance. The more distinctive and uniquely relevant a product or service is, the greater the chance it will be chosen by the customer. Relevant brands are better linked to the dopamine, or reward, system in the brain (part of the limbic systems), which strongly influences our behavior.

2. Coherence. The more coordinated the branding efforts are over time and space, the greater the chance the brand will be chosen. Coherent branding means repeating the same message over the years and across all customer touch-points. This makes it easier for the brain to retrieve the brand and make it a winner in competition with others.

3. Participation. The more interactive the branding environment created for customers is, the more likely it is that the brand will be selected by the brain’s algorithm. The brain forms numerous new cell connections in response to interactive environment, improving brand memorability.

Here’s a summary

1. Be different, know who you’re for and tell them why.
2. Be consistent.
3. Be connected and nurture interactivity.

I really like this.

Because it’s simple.

And because I know it’s true.

How does/will the behaviour of your brand stand up against this 3-step check?