What Motivates, Communicates

Image by şυωαίđίά ♥ ولعتني via Flickr

Change is hot topic.
Everyone talks about the change. We want the change, as change usually brings something new. The change is desired state of affairs and mind nowadays and in this ever-changing world, one thing remains constant – human motivations.
Humans are motivated to do things, which satisfy their emotional needs.
Motivation is the key. It sets the chain of events into the motion. Motivations are the main drivers of human behavior. There are to powers that influence our choices – how we do relate to others and to ourselves.
You can imagine yourself human behavior as a horse carriage with 4 horses: emotional needs, personality, self-image and relations with other people. Those 4 horses create the social context where we take decisions and act.
Think about yourself – advertising or media agency employee. Your behavior is driven by one the basic motivations – control. You do everything to avoid chaos that could be lethal for you. You never leave your eyes off mailbox, you check mails either on your PC or iPhone or Blackberry. You want to prove you are in charge, you are always on, you know always what’s going on. You want to prove you have control over what you do. What about the other motivation - the recognition? You want to stand out, be better and be different (thanks to Apple it is easier to fix the latter one). You want to impress your clients with your knowledge and qualifications. Think about the jargon you use to describe the simple things. Think about the titles you aim for to put on your business card and your resume. You do it because it works. It satisfies your self-image and helps you with the professional relations, as it stages the context for your interactions.

Behavior isn’t quite rational
Humans take decisions having one goal – to be rewarded. The bigger emotional reward brand can deliver, the stronger position it can build. Therefore, it is not only the product features should be at the center of communication, as marketing is about fulfilling consumers emotional needs, satisfying their motivations. Vanish – stain remover product isn’t about removing stains. Vanish is about being a good mother and take care for children to have a decent and clean clothes. 
Human behavior isn’t rational as it is driven by emotional needs and as long as you can deliver means to satisfy those, you open the chance for your brand to enter people’s life for longer than a moment of weakness while standing in the shop.

Marketing is a service
It shifts the understanding of marketing function from selling to giving people reasons to buy, to being a service. It requires deeper look into what’s behind human behavior, identification of motivations and creating tailor made products, services and solutions that satisfy those. It is important to align brand with one primary motivation, which will become the compass that will guide you through marketing and communication decisions and take you further on to creating strong brand experiences by linking you brand with secondary and/or tertiary motivations and placing it all within the relevant social context.