Creating a pure signal
What you see is a picture of the datasphere from my desk. It shows all the radio signal sources around me, from local WiFi stations to satellites in space.
We are constantly bombarded by these signals, the whole EM spectrum for that matter, but unless we have a way to receive them, they are invisible to us.
Our vision is a good example. We only see a small portion of the spectrum we designate as visible light. This doesn’t mean other light isn’t hitting our eyes, just that it doesn’t get picked up.
In certain circumstances, no signal is the most satisfying. Take water, for example.
Try to describe the most satisfying drink of water you’ve ever had.
While you know the feeling, it’s not described like food (salty, sweet, spicy). It’s the lack of taste that makes it satisfying.
The temperature of the water has an impact on taste. Cooler water will be rated higher, but in taste, unless we are looking for sparkling or flavored water, what is satisfying is tastelessness.
This lack of signal is by biological design. It makes us more sensitive to what may taint the water.
Next time you go on a trip, try the tap water and see what you notice. You’ll find it different because you’ve calibrated to zero on the water you typically drink.
The noticeable taste is a signal to protect you from getting sick. For most of our existence on Earth as a species, waterborne disease was more likely to kill us than lions.
We evolved to be sensitive to that which was bad.
So, there are some signals we can’t see because they don’t provide relevant information and some we are designed to ignore so we can filter for bad signals. Finally, there are other signals that, when identified, snap us to attention.
We’ve all experienced this. You’re driving, and suddenly, some driver does something bizarre. You snap out of your trance state and become acutely aware of that behavior and all the other vehicles on the road.
Even before you fully comprehend what’s happening, your body has unconsciously triggered an autonomic response to better prepare you for action.
Your senses take in billions of data points and filter what is and isn’t essential. You have no conscious control over this reaction. Your brain unconsciously pushes that signal to the forefront while preparing you to react.
Logic tells you that you should create more signals like that lousy driver. One that disrupts and gets action—clickbait.
The problem is that’s what everyone does, and the group consciousness we are looking to trigger begins to filter out those signals as noise.
I’m suggesting you develop a pure signal like the taste of water. One denoting safety and satisfaction. One that other signals are compared against.
Your signal is what you have control over. It starts with your brand signal and how it attracts and influences the individual.
Better still is when we make this signal trigger the unconscious and emotional. Emotion drives behavior and action fast and efficiently.
Think about a book or a song that influenced you. Why? How did it make you feel a certain way? Do you think the author or songwriter understood how you felt? That they expressed just how you were feeling?
That signal they sent didn’t result in a logical experience. It was deep and connected with you beyond what can be expressed in mere words. You then applied meaning through logic.
We seek to refine and transmit that signal for your work.
Next, we collect individuals to multiply and amplify our signal.
We will face issues in the amplification process. Like any signal we look to amplify, there will be the risk of creating a noisier signal. It will be necessary to design methods to make the group signal coherent while strengthening it enough to influence the larger market. Think of this like a pre-amplification process.
The last step in this amplification process is inducing that signal into the market amplifiers, those being search and product recommendation engines and advertising.
This is the opposite of what prevailing wisdom suggests. You’re told to send lots of signals, find the one that works, and then scale it until it doesn’t work. Rinse and repeat.
Make all kinds of racket to find the noise that works.
If this is the prevailing wisdom, what if you provide the un-signal?
Your transmission is received and recognized as the pure water they seek rather than the tainted fluid others provide.
To be able to do this, we will need to dive deeper into how individuals receive and interpret signals. Let’s get clear as to how most people are triggered emotionally and then act. To do this, we will shift our focus to the individual.
Next week’s article starts our investigation of the individual’s behavior and how we can influence that behavior.
We will take our time to understand an individual’s psychology and behavior. We will learn how we can connect and influence this behavior in your marketing messages and when you have our biggest influence on a reader—during the reading of your book.
One more thing…
Begin to think about your signal so that you can define it.
It’s not that you want to sell a book. That’s your desire, not the receiver’s desire.
What does your ideal reader desire? How can you show that those with this desire will have it satisfied by your product?
That’s the signal you’ll need to transmit. Like a bird’s mating dance, you need to communicate that you’re the ideal mate able to fulfill the unmet desire.
How can you attract the right customers if you don’t know what desire your product fulfills?
Read: What this Notorious Scam Reveals About Human Psychology