Preempt Stereotypic Image
Recently, I have had an increasing number of opportunities for lecturing to an audience. Truthfully, it is still occasionally a bit awkward for me to prepare my lectures and stand behind a podium. It is also true that since I am not actually a professional lecturer, do not have more specialized knowledge than other professionals in the field, nor am very well-spoken like the others. In the beginning, I felt the burden of conveying exceptional knowledge to the audience who took precious time out of their schedule to see me.
However, once I finished the lectures, I would meet many good people and make more connections than I thought I would. There were also people who remembered me after a long period of time. It may be because of my unique clothing fashion, loud accessories, or even my blunt way of speaking what I felt. There was, however, something else in common that people who listened to my lectures remembered. They remembered the stories I told that other experts in the field did not share.
“I am not actually an expert. However, I do have more experience than other specialists out there.”
In recent years, I was able to meet many SME representatives that had a passion for success. I was also able to see their efforts as they poured their enthusiasm into making the best product or service. However, as I learned about their passion and their good products, I felt a bit of sympathy for them. I often wondered why they insisted only on good products rather than making a product that would last in the consumer’s minds.
Do consumers simply purchase better quality products or services after comparing with competitors?
Over the past decade, online sellers have been delivering good experiences to consumers rather than simply selling good products at reasonable prices. Even if it was a bit tiresome to write hand-written thank you notes or communicate separately with consumers, the goal was to remind consumers of the long-term experience and deliver experience as well as quality, rather than simply making a sale. In recent years, consumers prioritize emotional consumption rather than simply consumption of good quality or even cost-effective products or services. A good experience can help a brand grow and I am convinced that this is the only way to remain long-term in the minds of consumers.
When I first started my lectures, I would binge-watch other famous lecturers. At first, I thought that if I could talk like them and get the same reactions, I would succeed. But as I watched the videos, I felt like I had heard these stories before and could easily search their contents on Google. At which point, I really wondered if I should take the time to continue watching these videos. Obviously, a lecture is something people go to in order to teach and learn something from. I thought how it would be if lectures were communicating with the audience rather than how things used to be, up until now. I must first understand the point of view of the audience and their reaction to lectures and, through this, I can change the existing method of lectures little by little. Rather than a simple transfer of knowledge, if I gave the audience the passion of my own experiences, the audience will be infected by my passion and come to empathize with these experiences. Creating my own method is a way for remaining a memorable brand to the audience.
"The key to branding is to preemptively enter the consumer’s memory through competitive branding and stereotypical imaging."
It is important to do something memorable in your field. So, if the listeners have a similar experience, they will remember what you said and remember your brand. If someone thinks of another person other than yourself for a lecture in a particular field, it probably means that you have not been able to set the stereotypical image for that field. Ultimately, if you first differentiate your brand and are able to deliver an experience that will last in people’s minds, it is not that hard to be the best in your field. In the end, creating a distinctive brand value is the closest way to reach out to consumers.