|
This week, I saw firsthand the power of speaking to people in a way that resonates with their own experience and inner landscape....
A post I wrote on my blog last week about marketing to introverts seems to have made a connection with many people, landing on the front page of Reddit and netting thousands of new visitors to my site. What was amazing was watching the introverts come out of the woodwork to leave comments and marvel at the fact that someone finally understands them.
Here is an excerpt:
I have found that introverts and extroverts have a Mars-Venus thing going on. It's hard for an extrovert to get inside the mind of an introvert and understand where they are coming from. This article by Jonathan Rauch explains it better than I ever could (and might help you understand the introverts in your life better). We're just hard-wired differently.
This got me to thinking about whether marketers might need to take a different approach to be more effective in reaching introverts, who make up 25-40% of the general population (but 60% of the gifted population!). That percentage is large enough to think about taking the needs of introverts into account in your marketing, even if you are not trying to specifically reach engineers, writers, researchers, lawyers, programmers, college faculty or Star Trek fans, all of whom are more likely to be introverts.
Here are some tips for marketing to introverts (or just dealing with my people effectively):
* Use e-mail, blogs, message boards and other asynchronous online methods of communicating that allow an introvert to take time to think about what to say, then write and edit a thoughtful response.
* Be aware when you are conducting research, such as focus groups or interviews, that introverts think carefully about what they are going to say before it comes out of their mouths. If you do not give them enough time to think about their answer, you will miss out on their insights. Use a minimum 5-second rule of silence after asking a question or between other people's questions to give the introverts a chance to respond before you move on.
* Do not expect an immediate purchase or change to be made once you have laid out your case. Introverts need time to process information before making a decision, and will wait until we are sure before letting you know. Don't rush us or put us on the spot.
* Realize that introverts may have a few close friends, but not necessarily an extensive social network. We may not be comfortable recommending your product to others we don't know well, but be very happy to have something to talk about with our best friends. You won't see many introverts with thousands of "friends" on MySpace.
* Introverts hate small talk. We say what we mean and we mean what we say. And don't make us say it again. That means that you should also get to the point as quickly as possible.
* Introverts love to read, so give us written information we can look over and go back to as we think about it.
* Introverts may not tell you what we are thinking. Our innermost thoughts are private and not shared easily. Don't assume that we agree with you just because we are being quiet. But if you give us an opportunity to give you asynchronous feedback once we've had a chance to think things over, we can provide lots of thoughtful comments.
(Read the rest of the article here.)
As an introvert myself, I can vouch for the fact that we live in a world geared toward extroverts. That means that we introverts often assume that when we are not comfortable doing "normal" things like brainstorming in a group or engaging in small talk, there is something wrong with us. The people leaving comments on the post, primarily introverts, seemed surprised that they were not alone in their preferences and modus operandi. My favorite comment: "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
And the clue for all of you extroverts to realize that this is a chunk of your target market you may not be reaching is how much the point of my article resonated with this and other commenters:
What are you doing??? I was glad that introverts are not easily reached by marketeers so they'd more or less leave us alone. Why give them the tools to reach us. I'd rather to be left alone and missed by marketing.
I seem to have broken the Introvert Code of Silence. In a discussion of the article on a message board for introverts, I was called a "damn traitor" for revealing these closely held secrets. Ouch.
So, at the risk of being excommunicated from the Most Quiet Order of the Introverts, I am going to continue to encourage you to give this sizable segment of your audience special attention. Learn how they think and how they need to interact with information. Look at your marketing design with a new eye to see whether you may be turning off introverts with your approach. Because when someone feels like you really grok them -- not just giving them lip service, but designing your marketing in a way that speaks to them personally -- that connection gives you a huge advantage over the other "extro-centered" brands. You may find yourself with a whole new group of customers you never knew you were missing.
|
Comments
Great post, Nedra! I remember running a conflict resolution workshop for a university class and noticing that a couple of the more outgoing boys decided to play at being introverted. Seeing this, I took a special interest to make sure the girls weren't uncomfortable with what was going on.
And as I watched I was fascinated ... through their quiet consideration and conversation they were able to really engage the boys. The boys in turn quietened down and began listening rather than talking and became more inwards focused in their conversation.
In fact, the boys were able to enter into this other world -- to find (to their surprise) and get to know a very different kind of person.
In many ways introverts are just waiting for someone to listen before telling their stories.
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | 12.21.06
My wife of 32 years is an introvert; I am an extrovert. I still struggle with achieving the patience to listen and to wait for her thoughts to appear.
Like many extroverts, I am impatient and want your ideas and opionions yesterday. Add that to a manic passion for whatever I am doing, and introverts around me most likely are seeking the nearest exit.
However, my wife and I seem to be working it out: We're still together after all these years.
Posted by: Lewis Green | 12.21.06
As an introvert, sometimes I think people mistake silence for stupidity or slowness. Of course, (at least in my case) it's neither. I'm "processing" and the hamster is actually on the wheel--turning quite rapidly!
Nedra, thanks for the reminder on marketing to introverts and welcome to the DailyFix!
Posted by: Paul Barsch | 12.21.06
Welcome to the Daily Fix Nedra (women bloggers rock and no, I'm not biased :-).
Really great subject, especially in a time where we need to get away from profiling our audiences through mere demographics and look more to preferences and psychographics--and invest more time overall in understanding how people are wired.
P.S.: Speaking as someone who is labeled "extrovert" I can attest that I require loads of leave-me-alone time. Many introverts may not know how quiet we can be :-).
Posted by: CK | 12.21.06
"Introverts hate small talk. We say what we mean and we mean what we say. And don't make us say it again."
LOL! Love this quote! Very thought-provoking post Nedra, and welcome to Daily Fix!
Posted by: Mack Collier | 12.21.06
Great post! I can't figure out which one I am! No I'm not a Gemini. I think I'm a partially reformed introvert. I can remember having intense social anxiety when I was younger but I don't have it much anymore. I am a writer so I prefer to write my thoughts down. I am often misunderstood when I open my mouth. But then again I think I'm misunderstood when I write my feelings down sometimes. I can chat with anyone, anywhere and feel fine about it but don't asked me to remember what we talked about...another reason I'm misunderstood...I've insulted people by not remembering our chit chat. I guess I'm a "Misfit Toy" (lol holiday reference.)
I think introverts can be taught how to fake being an extrovert. Just spend a couple months doing outside sales. No matter how much you hate it, if you force yourself to do it you'll never be the same. But then again is it a confidence issue with introverts? or is it truly only hardwiring?
Posted by: Tammy Strnatka | 12.21.06
Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone! I'm excited to be an official part of the Daily Fix community now.
"In many ways introverts are just waiting for someone to listen before telling their stories."
I love this, Gavin! So often I have interesting news or information to share but the opportunity to bring it up doesn't present itself naturally in a conversation. I always feel uncomfortable about tooting my own horn. Luckily, my husband is my #1 PR guy and he gives me the opening to talk about myself.
Posted by: Nedra Weinreich | 12.21.06
Tammy -- Introverts can definitely "train" themselves to be extrovertED, but not truly extroverts, in my mind. In other words, they can "act" extroverted. (I am actually pretty good at this.) The difference between "acting" and "being" is that a true extrovert would feel energized after intense social interaction or another "fake" -- instead, I feel like a bus just ran over me: I gotta lie down. It's just a lot of work!
I love the "Island of Misfit Toys" reference...! I refer to it often in my life, believe it or not, in various scenarios.
And Gavin -- that is a killer quote. You are on fire this week, you know that?
Anyway, this is a great topic, and a great reminder that your audience is a million shades of gray, as CK suggests.
Thanks, Nedra! I am thrilled to have you here!
Posted by: Ann Handley | 12.21.06
Ann,
You may feel introverted and anxious, but some of us extroverts, especially those raised Catholic by Sicilian moms, do to.
After we met last week, I ruminated for hours that I wasn't as kind to you or as bright as I could have been or I was rude or Lord knows all the other guilty thoughts I had.
Being an extrovert doesn't mean we can always get out of the way of the truck roaring down the highway of social interaction.
Welcome aboard Nedra! Great first post and conversation starter.
Posted by: Lewis Green | 12.21.06
Lewis -- Oh boy...you ARE hard on yourself. Believe me, you were charming as a Frog Prince. And even if you weren't (and you were, just to restate like a practiced "extrovert")... I think everyone is allowed amnesty for social interaction at events surrounding their own mother's death.
(For those of you who don't know, that's where Lewis and I actually met... at the funeral home, specifically, the wake of his 91-year-old mother.)
Posted by: Ann Handley | 12.21.06
I'm an introvert then. It is exhausting to be social sometimes.
Lewis, you don't have to be raised Catholic to feel like that.
We've watch Rudolph twice this week. I was actually in a band named the Misfit Toys in the early 90's
Posted by: Tammy Strnatka | 12.21.06
Here's a shameless plug for Tammy. I think her music is hot. Check her out!
Posted by: Lewis Green | 12.21.06
Nedra - What a great post and right on the mark. Years ago, my company's ad agency asked a group of us from marketing to look at a bunch of technology ads and tell them which ones worked. I was the only product marketing type invited - and apparently, the only introvert at the meeting as well. I picked all the "bad ads" - i.e., the ones that provided a lot of information. I pointed out that our market was techies, and that, as an introvert, I probably thought more like the average techie than the ad agency and marcomm extroverts in the room. I was told I just didn't "get" advertising.
Posted by: Maureen Rogers | 12.21.06
Lewis,
I'm so sorry about the passing of your mom. You should absolutely get a pass for anything you may have said or done at that very painful time.
Tammy,
Where can we hear your music? Do tell!
Maureen,
Sounds like your ad agency didn't "get" marketing. Whatever happened to asking the target audience themselves about what they think of the ads? Marketers are not going to look at a technology ad the same way a techie will, so their input beyond putting together the initial ideas to test out is beside the point. That's a great example of the difference in thinking between introverts and extroverts.
Posted by: Nedra Weinreich | 12.21.06
What a fascinating concept. We introverts need time to process information. Actually, I was sort of enjoying not being targeted by marketers since they had no idea how to find me.
Does this have to change? I was rather enjoying spending life under the radar screen.
Posted by: Carrie Shearer | 12.31.06