The Science of Communicating & Marketing Your Business

I wrote a response to Christopher's Part 3 and, being a Luddite, couldn't post it to his blog hence am posting it here and hoping he'll once again quote the parts he feels worthy.

Hello again,

Nice thoughts here!

I hope it is understood that my use of "fiscal conservative" was not from a socio-political perspective (NextStage has worked for politicians and political parties and I don't follow politics much), it was from a neuro-economics, psycho-socio-linguistics perspective.

That offered, it seems the two overlap based on your comments. Funny how often that happens, yes?

"The power of the status quo" -- very well stated although I'd never heard the phrase before. I'll be sure to use it liberally and reference you as the source.

"Every single amendment to a bill permanently changes it." Someday remind me to give you the semioticist's version of that statement. So close it scares me.

Do I agree with what you've written? Some of it, yes, and purely from research and observation as well as another set of paradigms.

Thank you for suggesting that necessity is the key. I'm not sure that's the entirety of what I meant, though. I believe I wrote "...there is not a strong enough case made for adoption...". Necessity is part of the mix, I'm sure, and I would be failing you if I encouraged the thought that necessity was the sum of it.

I'm also quite sure logic (at least as we're using it here) isn't the answer because the language of analytics (as exemplified by this blog, June Li's, (oh, just pick any one but not Stephane Hamel's or mine because Stephane and I use different language models, me all the time and Stephane much of the time) is to effect action, not promote logical processes. Effecting action rather than promoting logical processes is not specific to analytics although analytics really enforces that former aspect of language.

I would offer that effecting action rather than promoting logic is another reason why (pulling from some other disciplines I study) this type of analytics is all over the place in the States and catches on more slowly everywhere else (with exceptions being Asia, India and Australia, probably).

Is it a combination of all three? Let me offer the following for example purposes; "if any of you are interested in putting NextStage's analytics on your own sites we could probably tell you in a relatively short period of time exactly what your customers (potential and otherwise) are thinking, tell you their objections and hot button items, and provide methods for overcoming conscious and non-conscious objections (if any) as well as activating their "buyer" mental states."

I offer the above for example purposes, not as a sales pitch. The above paragraph is a demonstration of a "sales" methodology that works very well with Canadians (has so far, anyway, and everywhere from Atlantic Canada to the Pacific). The case for adoption (in the above paragraph) has little to do with necessity, much to do with understanding and usability of the information supplied. To date one Canadian client (just one!) asked us to provide an idea of ROI on their investment in us. This is extremely revealing as we know they ask it of others (and we've worked with large and small businesses, in educational settings, politics, ...).

Readers who've seen my eMetrics presentations might remember my emphasis on the {C,B/e,M} or Cognitive, Behavioral/effective, Motivational matrix. These posts/discussion are/is an example of interpreting a behavior (reluctance to adopt) through a set of filters that may not be the same filters (that's the cognitive and motivational parts of the {C,B/e,M} matrix) used by the target audience in their decision making. "Necessity" to a pioneering mentality is a much richer concept than most people are trained to recognize. I once explained to someone that no farmers I know of or farms I've worked on have snowblowers or even snowplows. What they have are tractors with CVDs and PTOs. The CVDs and PTOs allow the farmer to attach an amazing variety of apparatus to their tractors, hence one purchase -- the tractor -- allows the farmer to accomplish a great deal and variety of work. Yes, the apparatus must be purchased (or are often made by the farmers themselves in the off season from spare parts) and again, only as the need arises. (and who would recognize that the tractor-apparatus concept is based on a biologic, anatomic paradigm? ie, sell what is familiar)

What I'm suggesting is that analysts start selling tractors with CVDs and PTOs rather than snowplows and snowblowers. I believe one reason NextStage can get in to companies that are ignoring, doing away with, reconsidering their investment in, etc., traditional analytics is because we're offering them a tractor with CVDs and PTOs along with a set of apparatus that not only thresh the field but also plow, plant and accurately predict the harvest all in one operation. If there's something a (potential or otherwise) client wants to know we can usually fashion that apparatus in our off season (many of our reports came from specific client requests). None of what we offer falls under "necessity", me thinks, because the separate pieces can probably be found elsewhere with a little work. It definitely falls under "understanding and usability" because our tractor also determines optimal field size, fertilizer spread, sowing pattern, etc., and then calculates harvest after being driven across the field once.

Canada is much more a networked society than the US is (again, a perceived weakness is actually one of the country's great strengths) and recognizes that "understanding others better" has value. Is it an analytics sale? No, it's a "better understanding/networking/usage" sale.

To me (emphasis on "to me") this comes under the category of understanding how the customer thinks and tailoring the sale to the customer's thought processes. I know you're all shocked that "understanding how someone thinks" would be my take on it. I know you're all also shocked that I'd work a farm metaphor into this. Hey, at least I didn't write it all in Gaelic.

Thanks again - Joseph

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