Courtesy babacita.com
Fast Company Magazine published a terrific article in this week’s Co.Design section called “7 Steps for Creating New Retailing Experiences.” True, its ideas and innovative examples are aimed at retailers, but what I found extraordinary is how these “7 Steps” are just as valuable for individuals keen on boosting their own self-marketing.
The article begins, “To truly design a great experience that’s right for your company, we need to look beyond the field of design to sociology, economics, organizational behavior, and even theater. These seven principles will help you be strategic about the experiences you design and choose the right script for your company.”
Take a look at their tips and see if you don’t think they might apply to your image experience as well as Starbucks:
1. Experience design is not about luxury. Southwest Airlines, for example, applies a combination of heart, humor, and efficiency as a distinctly Southwest script for air travel that’s different from the norm.
The “Premium” is what separates you from the rest of the pack – no matter if you’re a chincilla or a chipmunk. See our posting, Creativity and the Power of Imagination – for CEOs as Well as Wizards!
2. Start with empathy. Understanding and challenging social scripts requires stepping into your customers’ shoes.
Remember Leonardo’s “Working Resume?”
3. Do your own thing.…. People will value originality as long as you continue to serve their needs.
Take a look back at our Your Originality: How to Capture and Market It
4. Utilize all elements of theater. Create an immersive world with consistent rules. To reinforce the script, think of the whole experience as a “play,” including the cast, costumes, set, and props.
Details, details, details – or as we posted earlier: Rabbits, Privet Hedges and a Planters Peanut Bar: How John Updike Brought What Is Peculiar to the Moment to Glory
5. Use different incentives to create different behaviors. Align your people, including their incentives and motivations, with the desired experience.
Remember our contribution from Australia, Color Your Way to Success: Learn What Colors Reveal About You and The Organization Where You Think You’d Like to Work
6. The devil is in the trade-offs. The experience you offer should have a clear point of view.
Focus, focus, focus –
Thanks Be To Shakespeare: Those Telling Details in the Story Behind Your Resumé Really Do Matter
7. Evolve to stay relevant. Never stop prototyping and testing changes to make the experience better and to change in step with people’s needs.
Reinventing yourself – You Have to Step Out of the Batting Cage to Hit A Home Run!
