Do brands confuse ‘conversations’ with ‘communications’?

Harvard famously conducted a study where they discovered that talking about yourself stimulates the same parts of the brain as sex, heroin and cocaine.

When I first read this it made me laugh, but then more worryingly I had the sudden realisation that as someone who’s in the realm of branding, talking about yourself is something I actively promote and help clients to do. More to the point, isn’t what I’m doing now, sitting down to write this entirely self-gratifying? Are blogs, podcasts prime examples of hogging the mic?

Most brands will typically have conversations with themselves. Marketing teaches about the importance of communication as part of a brand strategy but it’s typically a very interior dialogue. The emphasis is entirely reflected on their brand, their values, products, services, everything they’re told their customers ‘want’ to hear. So it is then entirely self-gratifying.

So do brands need to learn better conversations skills as opposed to communication skills?

Talking separates us from the animals

It’s sort of an obvious statement, sure but if you consider that we managed to evolve purely through our ability to communicate with each other. OK, it may have been a mouthful of grunts at first, but over time (a…