How Mnemonic Devices Can Create Marketing to be Remembered
Mnemonic is another word for memory tool. Mnemonics are techniques for remembering information. The whole idea behind using mnemonics is to using unique ways to encode information so that it is easy to recall when needed. The best way to accomplish this task is to be creative, use vivid mental images, use video scribing, or involve other senses.
Mnemonics make the information more meaningful to a person by using associations or creating a pattern. Often times, if the information is a list, the first letter of each item on the list will be attributed to a word that is then put into a sentence. An example of this would be the planets in the solar system:
Or, for example, take the colors, where you take the first letter of the word and create a name instead of a sentence.
Mnemonics help to organize the information in a way that is easier for your brain to retrieve it. The best kind of mnemonics are ones that create a visualization of what you’re trying to remember. Visual stimuli are much easier to retrieve than abstract words. The more vivid or abstract the image is, the easier it will be to recall.
Here are a couple of steps that will help when you are marketing or advertising.
1. Use positive images and not negative ones. With so much negativity in the world today our brains tend to hold positive information better.
2. Use vivid color and graphics. Involve as many senses as possible.
3. Exaggerate the important parts of your message.
4. Use humor. People like to laugh and smile.
When creating a video scribe or a presentation use these steps. Be creative and your message will be remembered. Let us know if you have any questions about how to create mnemonic devices or how they can be useful to your marketing approach.
Great Example of Video Scribing. This was done by the LDS church not sure who did the Video Scribing but we wanted to show a example of its uses plus we like the message
More often then not we have the tendency to complicate rather then simplify. We assume that sophistication equals results, brilliance, performance, and intelligence but it doesn’t. More information, more choices, and more products is not better. In fact it is the exact opposite more is actually less and can cause your audience to disengage. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
In the book Paradox of Choice, Schwatz did a study that showed when presented with many choices consumers would often times become paralyzed. “Many of us labor under the impression that providing customers with a wide selection of products of a certain type increases customer satisfaction. After all, we think, if we provide them with 200 brands of peanut butter, they are more likely to find a brand that suits their taste. Schwatz cites surveys done in supermarkets that showed the reverse. When customers were presented with a huge selection of brands of a certain item, fewer customers bought the item than when fewer brands were displayed. The wide selection led to a paralysis of choice – the customers could not decide which brand to choose. As a result, they went away without choosing any.
Take this study and move it over to presentations, business plans, and teaching. Too much information can cause confusion and misunderstanding. The audience might forget or miss your point entirely because you have over complicated everything. Here is a simple solution:
Start with the main idea first and build everything around it.
Take a look at this article. The main thing I wanted the audience to get is: We tend to complicate rather than simplify. I want the audience to simplify their presentations, business plans, websites, mission statements, and scripts thus increasing their results. Everything else I write will either build on that point or prove why that point is true.
Here is an email I received the other day from an old friend she said:
This picture was found in a camera during cleanup.
This is a fantastic photo!! Amazing that the film was still good – or memory stick.
Either one, this really tells the story. Look at how high that wall of water is!! ½ a second before tsunami
This picture was taken on the banks of Sumatra Island (the height of waves was of approx. 32 m = 105 ft).
It was found saved in a digital camera, after the disaster.
We cannot know for sure, but very likely the one who took the picture is not alive any more (it was just a matter of seconds).
Today we can see the last image he/she saw before ending life on Earth
When I first saw this picture I was stunned. That would be so crazy to see in real life. Then I looked at the picture closer and realized that it is fake. Come to find out this email has been traveling the globe for years and has been passed around to millions of people who have pass it on to their contacts. It has spread like social media fire.
The original photograph has a date stamp of “12.11.2002” (November 12, 2002). The prankster who launched this hoax apparently removed the date stamp because it would have immediately destroyed the illusion that the photograph was taken during the 2004 tsunami.
That is funny! How is it that something so ludicrous and fake can spread like wildfire yet something that is true and interesting can not seem to make it past the firewalls of your closest friends and family. Although this story is made up there is something about it that people want to spread. Some of you reading this blog might be tempted to copy this picture and post it all over Facebook. Try it and see the responses that pile in. Why stop a good urban legend when there are so many people out there that just want to believe? All joking aside, some ideas are inherently interesting and some are just flat out boring yet it doesn’t need to be that way. It is all in the way we present it. The words to the email above are not what sales. It is the picture! Its the emotions that trigger inside when one looks at this picture. A huge wave that is about to wipe out a city, very interesting. This story will stick and spread. It is our job to show you how your story, your presentation, your ideas can stick and spread. Making impressions with explainer videos is what we do! Your good ideas needs to be presented in a way that will make people spread it.
How To Win Friends and Influence People is a great book that helps you improve your life by giving you practical advice and techniques to get out of a mental rut and make life more rewarding. The following mind map is a perfect way to remember the book.
Mind Mapping can go hand in hand with Video Scribing. It is a way to take written and verbal messages and create a more visual stimulating message. A mind map is a diagram that usually starts with a single concept which will take place in the middle, and then things and ideas will branch out from that one concept.
This can help with video scribing, as a company has a specific point they would like to get across to their viewers. From that main point, or single concept, we are able to expand on that concept. Branching off with ideas of how this main point can help the viewers, why they need this in their lives, why the company or product is better than any other one on the market, etc…
According to Tony Buzan, the psychologist and television personality who made the mind map popular, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind when creating a mind map. Here they are.
Start in the center with an image of the topic, using at least 3 colors.
Use images, symbols, codes, and dimensions throughout your mind map.
Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters.
Each word/image is best alone and sitting on its own line.
The lines should be connected, starting from the central image. The lines become thinner as they radiate out from the center.
Make the lines the same length as the word/image they support.
Use multiple colors throughout the mind map, for visual stimulation and also for encoding or grouping.
Develop your own personal style of mind mapping.
Use emphasis and show associations in your mind map.
Keep the mind map clear by using radial hierarchy or outlines to embrace your branches.
I decided to build a Mind Mapping Resume to show a little different way to present a resume. If you have any questions about mind mapping please let us know.
