Would you like to gain market share, increase sales, and improve profits? Are you looking at what is going on in advertising and marketing today wondering whatever happened? Do you want to somehow capitalize on these trends without destroying your integrity?

One way would be to understand the basic factors underlying the reasons people buy, and apply advertising and marketing techniques that address these factors. Four of these factors are: emotions, credibility, music and direct-to-brain transfer.

Ignoring these factors could cause you to lose image, will do nothing for sales, and most assuredly will eat up profits at an enormous rate. Let's show how they work, and then explain how you can use them in a constructive manner. These factors work in print, radio, TV, in-person, or the Internet. They are universal.

EMOTIONS
Tying products or services to emotions is not new, but the elements of logic and abstraction have been discarded in favor of flashy, fast moving, sex filled ads. Let’s take perfume for example. Today’s advertising firms no longer feel it necessary to build a chain from using a perfume to smelling great, to attracting others, to relationships, to romance. Now it's blatant. Use this perfume and you will achieve the sexual pleasures you desire. The sexual ties are much more direct. Get what you want by using our product! Eat our cereal and have a great body! Drink our wine and have instant romance!

Yes, it’s important to stress the benefits, but why not add in a little honesty? If there are real benefits of using your products or services, talk about those! Start with the results your customer can achieve using your product or service, then work backwards to the actual product. The ‘sell’ of your product will be almost automatic! You can win by appealing to emotions honestly. Keep it positive. Does sex play a part? Of course it does! Just keep it in bounds!

CREDIBILITY
Unfortunately, it's to the point where we believe a Hollywood personality to be an expert just because they once played the part of a lawyer or a detective. Who the entertainer is in real life just doesn’t seem to matter. For example, if Joe Entertainer played the part of a homeless person in a major cable flick, in the eyes of many, Joe is a de-facto expert and spokesperson for the homeless. Organizations with a "cause" have been using this factor for some time, tying celebrities to topics for which they want to gain support. This is not a new advertising method, but it has considerably evolved over the years.

You and I don’t have the megabucks it takes to hire top talent, but we can hire local talent our industry knows and respects. For example, a disc jockey, television host, well-known writer, or any of a number of other local personalities come to mind as a possible spokesperson. Have them tell your advertising message while staying in character. To have maximum benefit, the personality should be connected in some way with your product. For example, there is a national home improvement show where the star advertises building supplies and tools -- in the character he plays on television. You can use this same tie-in for your local products and services!

MUSIC
Psychologists tell us our brain absorbs information first from images, second sound, and third text. What is not commonly known is that every one of these absorption methods is enhanced by music! Did you every wonder why you bought that special greeting card with the tiny music box? For further proof, try this. The next time you watch or listen to a commercial you particularly like, ignore what is being said and listen closely to the ebb and flow of the background music. It will open your eyes to the power of music!

DIRECT-TO-BRAIN TRANSFER
You've heard stories about people who can glance at a page of text or a picture for two seconds, then tell everything about what they've just seen? Everybody's brain acts like that to some extent. Most of us "see" or 'hear" at a rate of about 7 units per second, but your brain can "see" and "hear" at about 30 units per second. This means those commercial messages that jump seemingly at random may be acting directly on your brain, bypassing your normal perception. The technology of MTV works! Don't believe it? Record a popular commercial that seems to jump around, and then play it back slowly.

Understanding how the brain processes information can lead to better commercials. For example: downplay words, use pictures and other visuals, appeal to your reader’s emotions, use the brain transfer factor, and add music! This works whether you are advertising on radio, television, or the Internet.

Modern technology can tremendously speed-up the transfer of information about your product or service. If you decide to use these methods, be fair. Use them to get your points across in a straightforward manner. Use the techniques, but use them honestly!