DIY AT HOME - For Marketing Success - Six Tips on How to Think Like a Designer ###

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If you want your marketing to truly succeed, one of the smartest things you can do is to look at your business or product from a designer's point of view. Sure, you can spend hours thinking about how to fine-tune your company's services or trying to devise ways to upgrade your product - but more often than not, when it gets down to the customer's moment of decision, he or she will make a choice based on how your company "feels."

That's right. A feeling. While most of us like to imagine that we make rational buying decisions, studies have shown that consumers respond strongly to visual and emotional stimuli and make their choices accordingly (then justify their decisions as practical ones later.) Add to this fact that consumers are bombarded with so many messages, that your company or product must stand out and connect with the consumer at a defect level. And that's where designers come in.

You see great design is not just about looks or style. Nor is it art. Art is subjective, and based on personal expression. Design is objective, based on well-organized performance criteria.

Design is a problem-solving process that can be used in every part of your business - and a survival tool for those who want to compete in this challenging economy.

Design focuses obsessively on "What's in it for the customer?" and fosters positive emotional connections by ignoring the most sublime details (this is where professional designers earn their pay.)

Here are 6 handy tips to help you think like a designer:

1) Define the problem: Gather all the criteria by bringing together all the stalkholders. Design is a collaborative process. The more brains you involve in problem-solving, the more effective your solutions - though someone should always clear lead.

2) Put yourself in the place of your customer. It seems so obvious, yet is so easy to forget. You've got to intentionally focus on the user, at all times.

3) Inquire: Ask these important questions: What are my customer's desires / needs / fears? How can I address these wants / needs or anxieties and foster positive emotional connections. How do my products and services make people feel? How can I connect with them on a human level?

4) Anticipate and Innovate: Anticipate change. Study consumer, cultural, media and technological trends and consider how your product or service might intersect with these shifts down the road.

5) No idea is a bad idea: Everyone has a creative gene, from the Creative Director to the intern. Never be overly critical or dismissive of a new approach. Consider all ideas thoughtfully and respectfully.

6) Never be satisfied. Test your ideas, measure their results and never stop refining.

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