I was recently in London with my mum for a little day trip out. We had a great day planned. Catch the train down to London, go and see the poppies at the Tower of London, get in some shopping and lunch and then head to the theatre before a matinee performance of “The 39 Steps” a quick meal and the train back home!
So, we arrive in London and head to the underground to catch the tube to Tower Hill. While we are standing on the platform an advert catches my eye. Now, being involved in marketing, I tend to read adverts and check out what is happening but never has one advert got me so excited or attracted my attention.
I know what you are now thinking and what you would like to ask me….”Well, go on Jenni, tell us what the advert was for and what company it was!”
Well, I would love to but that wasn’t the bit that caught my attention. I can’t actually remember what the company was promoting and who it was for. I know, I know! That little voice inside your head is saying “Well, it can’t have been that good an advert if you can’t remember who it was for!” and yes, that little voice is probably right. But what caught my attention was how they had used the language in the advert to speak to the 4 different behavioural styles that exist under a DiSC profile!
The DiSC Model of Behaviour was first proposed by William Mouton Marston in 1928 when he published a booked called Emotions of Normal People. In the book he explains his theory on how normal human emotions lead to behavioural differences among groups of people and how a person’s behaviour might change over time. His work focused on directly observable and measurable psychological phenomena. He was interested in using practical explanations to help people understand and manage their experiences and relationships.
Marston theorized that the behavioural expression of emotions could be categorized into four primary types, stemming from the person’s perceptions of self in relationship to his or her environment. These four types were labelled by Marston with the acronyms of D I S and C
As you can see from the diagram above, we divide the 4 into a quadrant Continued. “D” or the dominant style is fast paced and outspoken. The “I” which is Inspiration is Accepting and Warm. “S” for steady or sincerity is cautious and reflective and “C” which is competent or compliant is Questioning and Sceptical.
Now, we are all a blend of each of the styles but we do show and exhibit particular ones that resonate more with us.
DiSC is mainly used in business from an HR role or in team development and how you can communicate with your colleagues, your managers or your team.
However, I love to look at DiSC for business development and how we can use it in marketing and in sales.
The advert in the tube that I saw, spoke to each of these four styles directly so no matter what style you were there was a message for you in the one advert and it went something like this:
| I only have 1 minute before my next train, tell me quick! | I have 3 minutes before my train and you can give me some info | I am on the night train and I have 10 minutes before my train | I am really interested and prepared to have more information and miss my train |
| Under this column was a one sentence description of the service and what it did
|
Under this column there was some further information and it was a longer piece of text | Under this column there was even more information with features and benefits and was longer still | Under this column there was a full page description of what it did how it helped and what features and benefits and it filled the entire light of the advert. |
| Relating to a D | Relating to an I | Relating to an S | Relating to a C |
Genius!!
Not only is it relating to the language that you will speak but it is also targeted in that it was an advert specifically used in the tube stations around London.
My only disappointment is that I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo and I can’t remember what the company was to try and find it!!
So, think about your own marketing. How is the language in your marketing written? Do you write from your own style or do you try and write from how your customers would like to be spoken to and attracting all of the different styles that they may have!
If you want to find out more about DiSC and the different styles and how to write messages for them then please get in touch and I’d be happy to help.
