The Human Element In Building A Googlicious Profile

The key to building a sticky Googlicious profile lies in how well you understand human decision-making. When you understand how and why people buy, connecting is no longer a mystery. 

Marketing then moves from what WE like and feel comfortable doing, to how we can better CONNECT with the people who need what we're selling. Marketing what we do is not about us, it’s about our audience.

Your Audience Is More Than An Avatar

To connect with your audience, your marketing activities are like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs leading back to you. 

Your audience as people, not just a target group. They want to know you, understand who you are, and form a connection. This connection is crucial, because without realising it, you're building a relationship.

Our target audience is more than just an avatar or collection of demographic information. Our audience are people. People with their own experiences, preferences, and values, driven by emotions, and come from different backgrounds and cultures. They are more than numbers of your screen spruiking engagement and likes. Connecting with your audience must go beyond surface-level data and understand the intricacies of their lives.

Your Googlicious Brand

Building a Googlicious profile is the art of being everywhere at once by strategically dropping storytelling breadcrumbs. This means creating a reputation for being helpful and solving problems. When you use tools like videos, awards, articles, and repurposed content on social media and your website, you're not just showcasing yourself; you're showing genuine interest in your audience and providing evidence of your skills, expertise and knowledge.

It's not just about making money or selling; it's about solving your audience's problems and making a positive impact on their lives.  The catch is there's a fine line between selling and telling. If you're always selling, it becomes all about you. Understanding human psychology and how buying decisions are made is crucial. We like to think we make logical decisions, but emotions often lead the way. That's where storytelling becomes a powerful tool in building your profile.

Your audience doesn't want to be sold to. They want to know you care about them. Every piece of content you create is like a breadcrumb. These breadcrumbs serve as reminders, creating emotional connections and helping your audience remember you when it's time to make a decision. It's not about instant results, but about building a lasting relationship.

Time Is On Your Side…Yes, It Is

Building a solid profile takes time. Every piece of content you drop, every story you tell, is a step closer to someone wanting to do business with you. By tapping into the emotional aspects of the limbic system, you become memorable. Just think about those emotive ads that play repeatedly—annoying, yes, but effective. When it's time to buy, you want to be the one your audience thinks of. So, keep dropping those relationship-building breadcrumbs, and when the time comes, you'll be the person they choose.

Why Are You In Business?

There are two reasons we start businesses - the first is to make money. No one goes into business to make a loss or not benefit their life in some way. There is nothing wrong with making money. There is nothing wrong with selling what you do. The other reason is that we have a solution to our audience’s problems. We can improve their lives. We want to make a difference.  When you combine these two reasons and understand that your audience needs to hear from you regularly, marketing what you do isn’t a chore anymore, it's an imperative.

Why We Hand Over Our Hard Earned Money

We like to think we make buying decisions logically - weighing up the pros and cons, the features and benefits. While that factors into the buying journey, emotional attachment to what is on offer leads the way. That is why understanding storytelling in the profile building journey will help you better connect with your audience. People don’t want to be sold at. They want to know you care about them and what they want.  We use our limbic system to make decisions.

Think of your brain like a control centre. In this control centre, there's a special area called the emotional hub or the limbic system. This hub is in charge of our feelings and emotions.

Amygdala (The Guardian): It’s our brain's personal guard. It looks out for anything that might be a big deal – like danger or excitement. When it senses something important, it signals the rest of your brain to react. For example, if you see a scary movie, your amygdala might make your heart race or your palms sweaty.

Hippocampus (The Memory Keeper): It's the memory manager of our brain, helping us remember things, especially the stuff tied to our emotions. Ever notice how you remember special moments, like a birthday or fun day out? That's the hippocampus at work, making sure those memories stick.

Hypothalamus (The Regulator): It’s the brain's traffic cop regulating important things like hunger, thirst, and body temperature. It also helps with our body's stress response. So, when you're hungry or feeling hot, you can thank your hypothalamus for sending out the signals.

Make The Limbic System Your Ally

When it comes to purchasing decisions, emotions often play a crucial role. Here’s how the limbic system is influential:

Emotions: The limbic system generates emotional responses to stimuli. Advertising and marketing often aim to evoke positive emotions, such as happiness, excitement, or belonging, to create a positive association with a brand or profile.

Memories: The limbic system, especially the hippocampus, is vital for memory formation. If a profile or brand can create a positive emotional experience, it is more likely to be stored in our long-term memory. This can influence future buying decisions, as we tend to gravitate towards familiar and positively associated products.

Motivation and Reward: The limbic system, including the hypothalamus, regulates motivation and reward. Pleasurable experiences, such as acquiring a desired product, can activate the brain's reward system and reinforce the behaviour. This positive reinforcement can create a cycle of repeated purchasing.

Decisions: The emotional input from the limbic system can influence decision-making processes. While logical reasoning is also involved in making buying decisions, emotions often play a role in tipping the scale towards a particular choice.

Loyalty: Emotional connections formed through the limbic system can contribute to brand loyalty. People choose brands or people to work with, not just based on rational considerations, but also because of the positive emotions associated with it.

Instant Gratification Is Not Your Friend

The challenge is that we live in a world of instant gratification. We think doing a few months of ads or posting on social media will drive sales and interest, leading to sales. But building a solid profile takes time. You can’t build a relationship with your audience over the short term. Relationships do not work like that.  

Understanding organic profile building and how human brains work means you know that every little tasty breadcrumb you drop that serves, educates, understands and delivers value is one step closer to someone wanting to do business with you.  

By tapping into the emotional aspects of the limbic system to create compelling stories around what you sell. With regular content, your audience gets to know you. When it’s time to buy, guess who is front of mind? You.

Why do you think advertisers create such emotive ads played over and over? We find them annoying, but think about a time you were hungry or looking to book a holiday. What brands pop up for you? I bet they spend a good proportion of their marketing budget on storytelling and repetition of their stories.

People are looking for the magic bullet to get more sales and be seen, but there isn’t one. That is why having a plan, mapping out a profile building timeline is key. It allows you to test and measure, see what content works well, and over time, you WILL see the benefits. We all want a quick ROI from our marketing, but the truth is there's no quick ROI. Even those ‘overnight successes’ and entrepreneurial unicorns had to do the hard yards of building trust with their audience.  

If you want to connect deeper with your audience, drop those relationship building breadcrumbs. Remember, your audience are people, and if you treat them with respect, kindness and care, when it comes time to buy, you're the person they think of.