For a 169 page, small format book, Tom Asacker’s A Little Less Conversation packs powerful profundity. In my last post I recounted the five major trends Tom foresees. Today I was planning on tackling his next profound topic: happiness. Since I just read Immanuel Kant’s treatise on happiness, my head is spinning too much to assimilate those two thinkers. However, I’ll take a shot at giving you enough to get your head spinning, too.
Facing an overwhelming, dizzying amount of information (often contradictory, remember), we become expert ignorers and make guesses about what’s likely to increase our happiness—based upon our “guts.” How we expect to feel after the choice drives making the choice. As a result, “rational man” is an illusion. Emotional man rules.
Though I’m sorely tempted to explore the philosophical rapture hidden in Asacker’s and Kant’s view of happiness, I’ll resist the urge and simply say, today’s consumer is turning more and more to marketplace interactions as both a definition of and a display of who he or she is as a person. We no longer do things for the merely utility of them; the things we purchase and the activities we engage in are unambiguous proclamations of the essence of our humanity. Asacker says we make such statements NOT based upon rational considerations, but upon purposefully ignorant emotional impulses.
What does that mean for marketers? First, it means you’ll have to relearn what you think you know about why people do what they do. If you’re thinking a buy-one-get-one-free moves people to action because it’s in their best economic interest, don’t transfer any assets over $5,000 to any relatives. Your bankruptcy trustee will want to get it back. Being top-of-mind or having the best unaided recall probably won’t do you much better either. People aren’t pursuing economic gain; they’re pursing “happiness,” which is the identification of something worthwhile to them for their own reasons.
Second, that means marketing will (get ready for a surprise here) be more profitable for you when focused on listening and understanding than frequency and reach.
Third, it’s a boon for small business! Small businesses, the mom-n-pops, the independents, are in a better position to get close enough to their marketplace to understand their customers’ search for significance. The Big Boxes must focus on efficiencies, economies of scale, logistics, and a host of non-customer focused challenges. You can focus on your customers.
I’ll leave you with Tom’s words on why people do what they do in the marketplace
They’re defining themselves, as well as seeking meaning, security, and a sense of solidarity, by owning and experiencing particular things and experiences, and thus associating themselves with particular groups. It’s how they affirm who they are, as well as how they signal their specialness to others (p. 46)
How are you helping people find meaning and signal it to others?
(here’s a fair summary of Kant’s thoughts on happiness. I’m still struggling through his thoughts as they are presented in The Philosophy of Kant edited by Carl J. Friedrich)
My radio interview with Tom Asacker for the Social Media Professor program.
Subscribe to the Social Media Professor podcasts
PS. Here’s a link to a PDF: How to Beat the Big Boxes—an article I wrote several years ago to encourage independents to stay in the fight and leverage the opportunities CREATED by the “Big Box” stores.
