Imagine closing your eyes for an entire day and experiencing the life you live through your other senses. Do you think you would discover something new? Would you feel like you would acquire a more detailed understanding of the people, places, products, services, objects, and even your own profession or hobbies you interact with? How about your emotional response to a day in the life of you with your eyes closed; do you think the experience would evoke different emotions or opinions about your world?
I am a professional who is visually impaired, and I do all of these things every day. Where some people might view the lack of eyesight as a weakness especially in the workplace, I see it as a strength and a unique asset. In order for me to fully understand something, my other senses must compensate for my lack of eyesight. Touch, taste, smell, hearing, a sliver of light contingent eyesight (less than 10 degrees of visual field), and the emotions produced by these senses form a sensory package that allows me to experience life from a holistic perspective. Since I do not have a primary sense, all of my senses work together, allowing me to be aware of my surroundings, and providing for a sensory perspective.
This is more than just a method for being aware of my surroundings without the use of eyesight. My sensory package is a well-refined set of tools that gives me strengths in a variety of people-centered professional roles. I have chosen to apply this unique asset to the sometimes overlapping fields of marketing, public relations, and corporate or nonprofit storytelling. Before these roles, I discovered this skill set which I call Experiential Communication from my work in tourism and hospitality. It’s a well-refined and complex skill-set that I’ve developed. Simply put, Experiential Communication has two parts:
First, I interact with a product, service, or just about anything else while using all of my senses. You do this to, but the difference between you and I is I don’t have an established primary sense, so I must use all of my senses together to experience something.
Second, I develop an emotion based on sensory feedback. The combination of detailed sensory feedback, and the emotion it evokes produces detailed knowledge about the very thing I’m interacting with.
This body of knowledge gives me an advantage in the professional world. It’s more than simply seeing the product or service and generating several factual bullet points; instead my strategy provides a holistic approach to marketing something. Sure, I can produce several bullet points for today’s consumers who want quick facts now, but it’s what’s in those bullet points that connects people with products, services, and experiences in a very real way.
Let me give you a couple of applicable examples:
Alaska Airlines Premium Class
In early 2017 Alaska Airlines rolled out premium class on it’s mainline flights. Think of premium class as a step between coach and first class.
Let’s say that I’ve been tasked with promoting this new onboard feature. Sure, I could look at a quick mockup or even a high definition photo and generate some facts, but that would not give me a full understanding of the service. Instead, I would take the time to experience premium class from a sensory perspective. Answering such questions as “what does the food taste like?” How does my body feel relative to the space around me?” “What does it sound like sitting in premium class?” “Spatially, how does my body feel sitting in this space?” Even “what does it smell like?” After answering all of these questions, I would condense this sensory knowledge down to the appropriate communication, marketing, or sales channel to tell people about this service from a holistic and sensory perspective. All while informing them about what they will get in this new class of service.
A Tour Of Hells Canyon
My parents own and operate a business that gives tours of Hells Canyon by jet boat. I grew up working in the business, and know what it takes to give a good tour. Especially when describing or pointing out things that I can’t physically see. My success in achieving this was to take a sensory approach while interacting with the features of Hells Canyon. For example, instead of reading about the challenges early pioneers faced when traveling through Hells Canyon, I hiked a crossed the rugged and sometimes treacherous landscape that makes up Hells Canyon. The intensity of walking along a trail carved into a 400 foot high bluff, or sliding a crossed large slippery boulders gave me a very real, detailed, and emotional perspective of what it was like for early explorers.
The sensory experiences of interacting with Hells Canyon, along with emotions evoked from these experiences has allowed me to bring features of Hells Canyon alive to tourists. Sure, I could read a script, or I can take my already sharpened sensory knowledge base and tell a story that is unique and tangible.
The Moral Of The Story
The reason I believe Experiential Communication is valuable is because people today want to feel emotionally connected to a product or service. Gone are the days when people responded to “buy this now!” Instead, people appear to be more interested in forming a brand relationship. It’s not enough to simply sell a product, service, or experience anymore; consumers want to know that both the organization creating the thing people want to buy, as well as the thing itself alines with customer values. Most people like a good story, and good corporate storytelling sells.
My life long sensory perspective and craft of experiential communication is a unique asset that can be applied to a variety of settings. Experiential Communication has been an amazing personal and professional discovery, and I look forward to sharing this wonderful asset with others.
