When learning new things, there are always moments of clarity where all the variables in the equation present a clear picture of what is in front of us. After that there are only two situations that arise from the new found knowledge; either to exploit it for personal gains or help the world understand it the same way that you did.
The latter is exactly what happened with Coral Puig, Co-Founder of TheLoveComes and Coralpuig.com.
And this moment came into her life after observing Simon Sinek’ TED talk “Start with why”. This epiphany of sorts where there is no mention of the functionally or technical details when it comes to create “lovemarks”, helped Coral realize that an effective marketing strategy is all about just being simple, humane, and genuine; which leads to efficient, relatable/trustable and memorable marketing.
Things such as Apple not talking about facts and features stuck in her mind igniting the question of how this type of marketing works without boasting about the features of a product. Intrigued by the question, Coral went back to school to study what governs our existence, our decisions, our actions, i.e. the brain.
As a closet geek who devours learning, Coral reskilled at 42 years of age and connected the dots to the success of marketing. She learned that our emotions control 80 percent of our daily decisions. Hence, she realized why telling customers about rational rating does not work, where emotions are the controlling factor.
Quote: “I have learned that intentions don’t drive behaviors, the pursuit of unmet psychological needs does. Fixing the climate crisis, for example, is difficult because it’s not necessarily fulfilling a psychological human need. But this problem can be re-framed, in a way that becomes like the veganism movement”
In 2014, she established a business ‘couch’ boutique consultancy firm to support business founders and senior managers to build trust and loyalty by understanding consumers’ fear, psychological needs, insights, and emotions.
Connecting People
Coral applies cultural anthropology, neuro-marketing, and consumer psychology for brands and consumers to understand where they were let down and how to fall in love again. She leverages universal psychological triggers and behavior to help companies adjust their strategy to be more effective and create a better impact in their communities.
“I believe trust is what creates brand equity, business growth, and ultimately “love brands”. And there is a lot of research on how to build trust in psychology that can be transferred for businesses. And human trust is built through vulnerability, consistency, transparency, experience, sharing… essentially, brands and companies can build trust with their communities in the same way people build trust with each other. The interactions are remarkably similar,” she asserts.
Therefore, she and her consultancy add value to marketing departments, communications, and PR departments, start-ups, and founders by helping them understand how to build trust and love from the consumer psychology perspective and to understand what comes first: to have a purpose or to build trust.
She comments, “You cannot have a purpose-led strategy without building trust first. A lot of businesses are jumping into endless workshops and seminars ‘to find their purpose’ to fine-tune their branding strategies and then nothing happens. In my experience, the best business tools to rely on during these unpredictable times, during a global crisis, like a financial crisis or covid19 pandemic, are trust, performance, consistency, delivery, authenticity… and anything that has been proven to work to comfort people and release stress, things we have been learning for decades from human behavioral sciences research.”
Further, highlighting the modern e volving world and its demanding challenges, Coral highlights the fact that we need to be on the move continuously. Hence, she depends most on the human universal psychological needs and social anthropology. She also emphasizes the reliance on practices that have been deemed dependable before and be vigilant to shift, adapt, and predict things on the run.
Expertise at Hand
Twenty years of corporate marketing strategy and innovation experience, social anthropology, and consumer psychology studies, and passion for social innovation, shaped Coral to come out as a brands’ and consumers’ ‘couple therapist.’
She mentions American professor, Doctor Brené Brown’s The Power of Vulnerability to discover the answers for effective brand architecture and healthy business growth. Moreover, she is quite confident about her uniquely positioned place to approach things from a completely different perspective than most marketing professionals.
She asserts, “I’m fortunate to be able to combine my two decades of work experience, with the tools provided by my formal education with my ongoing learning to deliver a very different approach to any project or job. Additionally, I have a very personal passion and commitment to providing the best insights and viewpoints I can for my clients. There is nothing more rewarding than working well with one client that leads to referrals to another. I practice what I preach by building trust with my clients and that can only come from a place of genuine authenticity.”
Coral is also a fan of Singularity University webinars and TED talks. She stays curious, open-minded, and fully aware that no one can be an expert in all the domains. Hence, for personal curiosity, she keeps tabs on everything she can and for the professional side, she focuses on her area of expertise.
Future Lookout
Coral cites her future plans to be as simple as the fundamentals of marketing. For the forthcoming years, she wants to help companies and brands to realize the big opportunities that building trust can bring to their business and how that is indeed the best ‘purpose-led strategy’ they can think of. She concluded the interview with a powerful statement, “A purpose, a mission, a set of values, do not mean anything if they are not sustained by trust, transparency, and authenticity.”