This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Innovative marketers invent new solutions that work with old
emotions

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While the seven billion people on this planet are each unique, each a
different collection of wants, needs, pain, and joy, in many ways we’re all
the same. We share a basket of dreams and desires, all in different
proportions, but with a ton of overlap.
Here’s the list, the foundational list, a shared vocabulary that each of us
chooses from when expressing our dreams and fears:
Adventure
Affection
Avoiding new things
Belonging
Community
Control
Creativity
Delight
Freedom of expression
Freedom of movement
Friendship
Good looks
Health
Learning new things
Luxury
Nostalgia
Obedience
Participation
Peace of mind
Physical activity

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Power
Reassurance
Reliability
Respect
Revenge
Romance
Safety
Security
Sex
Strength
Sympathy
Tension
You could probably add ten more. But it’s unlikely you could add fifty
more. This core basket of dreams and desires means that marketers, like
artists, don’t need many colors to paint an original masterpiece.
And this is where we begin: with assertions. Assertions about what our
audience, the folks we need to serve, want and need. Assertions about
what’s on their minds when they wake up, what they talk about when no
one is eavesdropping, what they remember at the end of the day.
And then we make assertions about how our story and our promise will
interact with these wants and desires. When someone encounters us, will
they see what we see? Will they want what we think they’ll want? Will they
take action?
Don’t begin with your machines, your inventory, or your tactics. Don’t
begin with what you know how to do or some sort of distraction about your
mission. Instead, begin with dreams and fears, with emotional states, and
with the change your customers seek.