The CSUF Startup Incubator was fortunate to have Leila Entezam come in to discuss the nexus between emotional intelligence (EQ)-centered design and brand engagement. Leila is a “solution-oriented leader with extensive experience in business consulting, implementations and project management. Expertise include psychology, human behavior, neuroscience, and strategic development while advancing business innovation. Possess successful track record of advising companies on emotional intelligence through behavior analysis in order to increase engagement, including in the tech/AI/VR space. Frequent public speaker on the topic.”
Leila’s talk focused on creating brands that were unforgettable. For Leila, creating an unforgettable brand is all about tapping into a consumer’s emotions. Knowing and understanding why they are making the decisions they are making and tapping into that is paramount to creating an unforgettable brand.
In other words, a lot of decisions are influenced or made solely on emotions. Leila cited a study performed at Harvard that showed that 95% of purchasing decisions were made subconsciously. To provide further evidence for her thesis, Leila also cited an article from Harvard Business Review: “Research across hundreds of brands in dozens of categories shows that the most effective way to maximize customer value is to move beyond mere customer satisfaction and connect with customers at an emotional level – tapping into their fundamental motivations and fulfilling their deep, often unspoken emotional needs.”
This is great, and all, but how do entrepreneurs and marketers reach consumers on this kind of deep, personal level? One way to increase a person’s emotional intelligence (EQ) is by experiencing new things. Here’s a quick snippet from Leila’s talk discussing this.
Other actionable advice that Leila discussed was the importance of creating a feeling in your customers and keeping in mind that everything matters when it comes to messaging, including “word choice, color, images, sounds, feedbacks.”
Besides that, one of the things that we wholeheartedly endorse and have talked about many times on this site, in the classroom, and with clients is the importance of really getting to know and understand your customers. Simply knowing who your customers is not enough, you have to understand why your customers are making the decisions that they are making and have the ability to formulate winning strategies based off of that knowledge.
CSUF Startup Incubator
Entrepreneurs who are accepted into the CSUF Startup Incubator work with our entrepreneurial experts over a six month intensive launch period that includes: access to office space, quarterly investor pitches our entrepreneurs can participate in, free events, a dedicated one-on-one coaching relationship with one of our more than 700 startup experts, and so much more! If you are ready to learn the right way to go from concept to launch, please go to this page or contact a CSUF Startup Incubator representative at csufentrepreneurship@fullerton.edu.