“𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆 👀 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆!”—it’s the magic phrase🪄 It means your marketing/branding has taken root. I’ll elaborate:

When somebody’s casually surfing the web, they’re hardly paying attention to banner ads, popups, or call-to-action buttons. They’re just browsing.

Seth Godin said: “𝘐𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧.”

To his point, smarty-pants neuroscientists tell us 11-million bits of information are literally pounding each and every person over the head, vying for attention, every waking moment of the day. Trouble is our brains can only process roughly 50 bits of data at a time—which means, we’re neglecting 99.99999995% of everything happening around us.

But consider this: 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 ad campaigns, on average, generate 𝟭𝟬-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 the click-through-rate as 𝘯𝘰𝘯 retargeting ads. So, evidently, breaking-through to an audience takes time and repetition. (Obviously.)

Back to the brainy 🧠 neuroscience stuff… The 𝑹𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 (RAS), a function of the human brain, filters out anything that doesn’t align with one’s 𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜. In other words, it’s how we cope with infinitely more going on around us than we can possibly absorb at any given moment. It’s how we decide what to pay attention to—hence the saying, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝐞-𝐱-𝐩-𝐚-𝐧-𝐝-𝐬.

Now, from a marketing standpoint, that means if I see your ad, or a post on social, or even an email—in a way, I am consequently predisposed to notice your future ads, posts, and/or emails. Why? Because by seeing the first one—even if it was a passing, hardly conscious act—it still entered into my frame of 𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜 (drip💧drip💧).

From there, the more often I see your ads, posts, and so forth, the more likely that my RAS will start to prioritize future occurrences -- meaning, I’ll become (in a manner of speaking) 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒅 to watch out for your marketing.

𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗿: this is why it’s important, as I’ve said in prior posts, to get “𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝘆-𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝘆”—meaning that your photos, fonts, color palettes, and so forth should be consistent across (and off) the web. Because if a person doesn’t intuitively make the connection that “This ad over here is from the same person who sent me that email over there”—then it’s all for nothing.

One step deeper 🕳 if you please. There’s a special (and complex) part of the brain, called, the Fusiform Gyrus, that’s activated when recognizing another person’s face. It also switches on when examining objects relevant to your field of expertise. So for example, if you’re an architect, you may look at a building with far more scrutiny or nuance than some average Joe. It’s the Fusiform Gyrus powering that analysis.

On to the point 👉: if people are scarcely paying attention to your marketing (and they’re not!—organic or paid), it seems all-the-more sensible to make use of more photos and videos featuring 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 😊. Why? Because that’ll will trigger the Fusiform Gyrus, and thus, raise the brainpower with which an individual is, quote-unquote, “processing” your marketing. In short, it’ll help your brand stand out.

Key takeaways: do lots of marketing (never stop, ever!) and incorporate 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 (𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍) 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. Now get to it, friends 👊