#Advertising 3.0

I recently came across an interesting article on #DigitalPsychology. Here's an excerpt from the article that conveys the crux of it.

Quote

"So when it comes to advertising — if advertisements are based on psychographics it is hard to argue that the decision to purchase something is a free choice — in effect we are being controlled and manipulated through the exploitation of our psychology which is why I used the term Digital Psychology in the title of this article."

Unquote

Advancement in technology, #NeuroScience and availability of customer level data, has changed the game for #DirectMarketing. 

Today successful companies are applying these 3 things for their cross sell Campaigns

1. What to Sell: #AnalyticsPropensity models help identify potential customer base who have high likelihood to buy the product that the company offer.

2. How to Pitch: Intelligence about a customer's likelihood to buy, doesn't mean he/she will buy your Brand. So  #Psychographic #Segmentation on analytical propensity base.

3. How to convey your story in 6 Seconds: Customer has reducing attention span. So by applying #BehaviouralEconomics to craft communication for the psychographic Segments that is

- Energy Efficient (easy & quick to comprehend)

- Motivation for a positive responce by exploiting #Behavioural #Biases

Using above approach, helps deliver high ROI for cross sell campaigns

https://blog.usejournal.com/digital-psychology-why-privacy-is-so-important-for-self-determination-5221908b94ea

Tell #stories. Do not #advertise

Ever wondered why we are able to recall and narrate the story of Mahabharat and Ramayana written ages ago but not the actionable from a meeting that happened a week ago?

Just imagine, if you have to teach your toddler the value of being honest and never lie, which option will you choose?

#Argument - One should be honest and always speak the truth (never lie) because it's good value.

#StoryTelling - The story of a sheaperd boy who cried wolf and when actually the wolf came, the villagers didn't come to save him.

Here are 3 reasons why storytelling works

1. Stories are more persuasive than arguments

2. Stories that match the belief n values of an individual gets registered in brain and is used as input for action

3. When we communicate using stories, we harness the three power of stories -

a) Stories makes complex emotions and messages easy to understand

b) Stories are easy to remember

c) Stories are easy to recall and share

Here's an interesting article that shows how it's being used by advertisers

https://lnkd.in/fWDkg6S

#behaviouraleconomics #decisions #marketing

3 Secrets of Human Mind

Discovery of new frontiers in #Neuroscience has opened up newer dimensions to understand our #mind and it's decision making process.

Here are 3 interesting findings that you can use to achieve success.

1. Conscious thought & emotion (feelings) are a two way street. Happy thought triggers emotion of being happy. Emotion of fear trigger thoughts related to fear. We act basis our emotions.

A communication that triggers a desired thought in the consumer's mind, generates predictable outcomes.....it's the secret recepie for any successful advertisement.

2. According to Harvard Psychologist Amy Cuddy,  when we meet someone for the first time, in our subconscious mind we quickly  try to answer these two questions

- Can I trust this person?

- Can I respect this person? (judging competence)

It's linked to evolution and survival instinct ingrained in our subconscious mind. During stone age, man would first try to guage "Can I trust this person" and then seek an answer to "Is he competent enough to hunt/protect the clan?"

Hence it's important to understand that while competence is valued but only after trust is established. Focussing only on competence backfires.

Trust is established through non verbal cues (body language & behaviour) because sub conscious mind doesn't understand logic and language (because our Sub Conscious Mind is a Pre Language Brain)

3. According to Cissi Williams, a Neuro Liguistic Programing expert, 

Breathing (affects) ---> Posture ---> Inner State/Feelings --->  Behaviour

                    and vice versa

Behaviour (affects) ---> Inner State/Feelings ---> Posture ---> Breathing 

So they are all linked.

Since behaviour and inner feelings generate nonverbal cues that convey message of "Trust", we can influce it by two ways

- Generate a genuine conscious thought/visualise in our mind about trusting the other person, it will trigger corresponding emotions and feelings

- By changing our body posture (& putting a genuine smile) we can change our inner feelings and behaviour.

Say you hate a person, but when you come across him, if you consciously adopt a body posture of expressing warmth and a smile on your face, it will automatically change the inner feeling and consecutively the thought in your mind. You will end up conveying warmth.

Going for an important business deal or trying to sell your product, remember the above insights and it will help you achieve success.

Behavioural Economics (BE) and Poverty

One big insight that Behavioural Economics has provided us is that we have 2 minds

1. Sub Conscious Mind (Auto Pilot) Pre Language Era Mind - Energy efficient. Quick to take decision basis past info/experience, beliefs & emotions
2. Conscious Mind (Pilot) Post Language Era Mind - Energy Guzzler. Slow to take decision basis logic.

Read here to understand the above referred concept.

So all innovations, strategy, new discoveries, critical decisions about career or investment choices requires application of Conscious Mind (Pilot). But remember, it's energy guzzler and limited bandwidth.

Let's get a better perspective how smart people and organisations use this knowledge.

1. I read an article about #SteveJobs. It is said he had limited set of clothings in his wardrobe because he didn't wanted to consume his energy on deciding what to wear to work.
2. Best employees like #Google & #Facebook provides such good office infrastructure and facilities to their employees that takes care of their mental bandwidth consumed for daily personal life decisions like Child's daycare, preparing lunch box to office, commute etc.

Similarly in the life of a poor person, his/her conscious mind (Cognitive ability) bandwidth gets exhausted in daily life decisions like should I buy bus ticket for Rs.10 to reach the local train station 1.5 km away or walk down and save it to eat a Vada Pao?

Hence they are constrained to take decisions that will help them move up the ladder in life because their daily life decisions consume up their Cognitive Ability.

So by application of BE we can make critical decision making easier (energy efficient) for them that will help them make better choices easily. Like simpler & easy to access career councelling / Investment products/Health initiatives etc. Simple and easy to access Govt Social Programs.

Making MEE 5 🌟 Energy Efficient Marketing Communication for Human Mind

#UI/#UX is the science and art of offering an energy efficient experience to our #consumers. Like gadgets, our human brains also runs on energy.

So UI/UX which are #Energy #Efficient (Easy) will be preferred just as we prefer a BEE 5 star device over a BEE 1 star device.

Our #subconscious mind or system 1 or auto pilot is our energy efficient brain (understand feeling/ emotions, beliefs).

Information Processing Capacity - 1,20,000,00 Bits / Sec

Our #conscious mind or pilot or system 2 is an energy guzzler (understands logic/rational).

Information Processing Capacity - Only 40 Bits / Sec

Note: During a day we use 95% SubConscious Mind and only 5% Conscious Mind.

So UI/UX and Communication that gets easily comprehended by our sub conscious mind/auto pilot brain/system 1 (energy efficient one) and have lest involvement of conscious mind/pilot/system 2 is naturally preferred by consumers. Because nature has ingrained in us to be energy efficient.

Let's understand it from this example

5 Super Deals vs 5 ka Dum as headline for communicating about 5 offers.

Which one do you find it easy to comprehend or energy efficient?

Yes you understood the difference.

#BehaviouralEconomics guides us how create UI/UX and Marketing Communication that is energy efficient for your consumers.

Here's a 5 steps framework to create MEE-5🌟 Marketing Communication

Step 1: Identify your Consumer's  beliefs/emotional Triggers

Step 2: Apply Motivation (BE Principles/ human sub conscious mind's biases that you can use)

Step 3: Identify words, images, things, concepts that Consumer's sub conscious mind understands and doesnt have to rely on conscious mind

Step 4: Try how much of it can be said visually (sub Conscious mind comprehends visuals easily and for text it requires conscious mind's involvement)

Step 5: Reduce Psychological Pain

Reduce Behavioural (percieved effort) Cost - if one feels the pain of effort i.e. realisation of standing in a queue vs keeping Consumer engaged while in queue so he doesn't realise the pain

Reduce Money Cost - Our brain feels the pain when spending money. Rs. ,999 doesn't give same amount of pain as Rs.1000

By applying these 5 steps, the output you get is MEE 5🌟 

Modi 2.0 Embracing Behavioural Economics for Growth

#EconomicSurvey draws on #BehaviouralEconomics to lay the roadmap for #growth.

I was happy to read this news:

https://lnkd.in/eBwc6cW

Behavioral Economics is an emerging science embraced & institutionalized by #Governments and #Corporates across the globe since #Richard H Thaler won the #Noble for Behavioral Economics in 2017.

The power of Behavioral Economics:
Once you understand how our brain works (its inherent biases), you can successfully (and ethically) move people towards taking an action you want them to take.

Here are 2 #global examples to help you appreciate the emerging trend

1. UK Govt Cabinet has a Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) to improve government policy and service as well as to save the UK Govt Money.

2. #DanAriely (author of NYT Best seller "Predictably Irrational - The hidden forces that shape our decisions)as its chief behavioral officer, Lemonade is the first peer-to-peer insurance company rapidly gaining “crazy market share” by building on fundamental principles of behavioral science -

https://lnkd.in/eFaXMKx

Why these things hurt us more?

It's that time of the year when we eagerly wait to recieved our bonus and increment letter.

A couple of years ago, my #team #member having recieved the best rating with a double digit increment was still unhappy because her colleague got an increment 0.3% higher than her.

Let's decode this from the lens of #BehaviouralEconomics.

1. We humans percieve #conspicuous and #inconspicuous consumptions differently.
2. Conspicuous consumption are such things that are visible to others and a consumer treat it as a symbol of their stature or success. i.e.  Salary Increment, the Car you drive, Credit Card you takeout to pay when your friends are around, mobile phone you carry, the Brand of clothes you wear etc
3. Inconspicuous consumption are such things that are consumed more privately. Hence Consumer believe in the absolute value, irrespective of someone having better than them. i.e. Grocery,, Parenting efforts etc.
4. Diminishing value of conspicuous consumption. In early 2000 when I started my career, owing a Credit Card was a big achievement, even though it was silver one. Over time I kept climbing the tiers to Gold, Titanium, Platinum, Signature & flet better. What consumers didn't realise was that Credit Card companies kept debasing their platforms. So today's Platinum platform is early 2000 entry level platform Silver/Gold. Credit Card companies like #Visa #MasterCard kept adding new levels to meet the consumers Conspicuous Consumption needs.

This topic reminds me of the famous Onida Ad

"Onida, neighbour's envy owners Pride"

When life throws shit, turn it into fertilizer

It was Radhika's first month at ABC Company. Hailing from Dhanbad, this job at Mumbai was a path to her career growth, she couldn't afford to loose.

During the morning huddle meeting she got a message from Rakesh her super boss and a vintaged senior employee "Hey Radhika, you are looking gorgeous today. Couldn’t take my eyes of you. Also, let’s discuss your target in the evening."

She felt quite awkward and couldn't believe that she has to face such a situation. Being the only lady in that sales team, she didn't know how to react. Initially she was boiling with anger. So her mother advised her to ignore as it's the best cure for such things in life. But it didn't nip the issue in the bud and she continued to recieve such messages. Rakesh being her super boss, she felt she couldn't afford displease him too.

Now internally, Radhika was going through a turmoil. The pressure of proving yourself in your first job coupled with this situation, started affecting her work. She went into a state of depression. She didn't know how to handle this? 

Finally one day she gathered the courage and wrote to Prevention of Sexual Harassment unit. The experienced hands there took her into confidence to understand the depth of the matter. Post investigation, a resolute action was taken and Rakesh lost his job.

Today, reading her promotion letter, Radhika feels proud about her professional achievements and happy that she took the right step three yeas ago.

According to Kubler Ross (a Swiss Psychiatrist) model of Grief Cycle, we humans experience these states

1. Denial 

2. Anger

3. Bargaining

4. Depression

5. Acceptance

Radhika also went though these states, except that she didn't accept and choose to fight it out.

In our lives how we handle 'Acceptance', really defines us.

Zero Second Branding on Digital

Zero Second Branding on Digital has arrived

6 second exposure is passe. Latest #cognitive research (#Mobile #Cognition #Study) by Mobile Marketing Association proves that customers absorb n takes a decision on mobile ads within 400 milliseconds.

Here's a 4 step framework for #ZeroSecondBranding

1. Use BIG Data (Analytical propensity) to identify audience likely to buy your product

2. Divide this data basis  #BioPersonna into Segments and craft unique story (using personna insights) for each.

3. Tell your story with 80% visual and 20% text

4. Apply #behavioralscience / #nudge Principles to ethically make customers say YES

#digitalcampaigns #marketingstrategies #behav #behaviouraleconomics #mantras #buildingbrands #campaignstrategies #campaignmanagement #bigpicture2019 #bigpicture

True Story - "I sell Trust & Honesty because everyone else sells medicines"

#TrueStory

Anil uncle is my Dad's friend at Jabalpur. He is a very well respected man known for treating diabetes through ayurvedic medicines. Today he has patients from all over India and a few residing abroad too. New patients come to him through word of mouth.

It was in Dec 2018, when Radhe Shyam a 45 yrs old farmer from Narsinghpur, visited him for diabetes treatment.

Radhe had traveled over 200 Kms to attend a court case at Jabalpur that day.

He bought medicines for 2 months costing Rs.2000 and realised that he doesn't have the money. Unfortunately he was not even carrying his ATM card.

Looking at his situation, Anil uncle smiled, made him relax and gave him the medicines asking him to deposit the money to his SBI A/c from Narsinghpur.

Watching all this, I couldn't resist asking "Uncle, you met this person for the first time & took the business risk of Rs. 2000?"

He said "I have not sold him medicine but earned a relationship for life. Even if he turns out to be one off those who will not pay, it still outweighs the benefit my business will reap from 99 other lifelong relationships I have earned. " 

Last month when I met Anil uncle, I asked him about Radhe's incidence. I was surprised to learn that not only did he received the money but now Radhe regularly buys his medicine from him.

His business motto is "I offer trust & honesty to oblige my customers and they reciprocate by offering a life long relationship."

Let’s decode this story from a brand building lens

We love brands and buy them because it offers something more than just the product or service (that everyone offers).

• Brand shares a belief I believe in

         or

• Brand offers me empathy “Makes me feel it understands my problem & offers a solution through its offering” 

The experience Radhe had with Mr. Anil, made him feel obligated. (Remember we feel obligated when we recieve something that we do not expect).

When we feel are obliged, our sub conscious mind compels us to repay it. So Radhe did a repeat purchase which made the brand “Mr Anil” familiar to him.

Our sub conscious had another bias – ‘familiarity heuristic ‘(decision made in the past are good to be repeated when faced with similar situation)

Repeated purchase of a particular brand makes it a habit and leads to developing neural pathway (shortcut) in our sub conscious mind (Medicine = Mr. Anil).

So whenever there is a need for medicine, Radhe’s  sub conscious mind will compel his conscious mind to contact Mr. Anil and all this will happen at cognitive level without Radhe realizing it consciously.

During the course of repeated purchases, Radhe will become a brand evangelist of “Mr. Anil” and he will propagate the brand (unconsciously). Reason, during our evolution we learnt to share information (gossip, knowledge and experience) and oblige our clan members. It helps survive.

That’s how Mr. Anil today has customers all over India including a few residing abroad.

Click here to read more about why we feel compelled to return an obligation through the lens of our Behavioural bias #Reciprocity

Secret revealed: Vengence, Reciprocation & Marketing

“(Hu)Man is a social animal”

Have you ever thought what makes everyone in a society work in a cooperative way? I am sure; most of you would have not. So let’s understand it from the lens of Behavioral Science.

Vengeance and Reciprocity (gratitude) are the 2 key emotions in our behavior which forms the pillars on the basis of which cooperative relationship in the animal kingdom was born. 

• In a colony of bats, if on a given day one of them goes hungry, he will borrow food (blood) from that particular bat to which he had earlier shared his extra food. Now if the latter doesn’t reciprocate, vengeance will follow and he will be boycotted.

Vengeance & reciprocity helped ensure a fair play in which no one loses and everyone stands to gain (remember the Game Theory of zero sum game). 

• Archaeologist Richard Leaky says “We are humans because our ancestors learned to share their food and their skills in an honored network of obligation”.

• The process of evolution tell us what helps a species to survive gets passed on genetically (and socially too through culture)

• i.e. as kids, if we go to any kids birthday party, we were taught to invite them to our birthday party. Remember how bad we felt if were not invited to a kids birthday party who had attended ours? 

• We humans have a much evolved sense of fairness and it’s got imprinted in our subconscious mind. We view our world from this lens.

Gratitude & Reciprocity: When we receive something from someone, we develop a feeling of gratitude and our sub conscious mind makes us act to return that obligation (reciprocity).

Vengeance: Just as we reciprocate a favor (good behavior or act), we also payback for bad ones (tit for tat) going down to the extent where it can cost us or we stand to gain zero benefits. (i.e. “Hum to doobenge sanam tumko bhi le doobenge)

Let’s understand this concept better from a few real life examples: 

• Last Saturday, I went with my wife for a late night drive at Marine Drive (Mumbai).  Unfortunately there are no public toilets around so I suggested her to visit the Oberoi across the road. Hesitantly she agreed and ended up ordering a cup of coffee at their coffee shop (Gratitude and reciprocity at work).

• Last year, I was in my car stuck at a 3 min long traffic signal when an ISKON devotee approached me and gifted a copy of Gita. A little later during our conversation, he subtly asked if I would like to make some donation for the charity. Guess what? I couldn’t refuse and offered him a donation.

• In a behavioral science experiment (published in the journal of Applied Psychology)-  at a restaurant, when customers were offered just 1 mint along with the bill, the amount of tip received by the waiter was say x. To other set of customers, 2 mints were offered instead of 1. This time tip received by waiter was more than X. (People reciprocate unconsciously)

• In 2015 my dad had a heart attack and I had to fly him to Mumbai for a by-pass surgery. Expected surgery cost was Rs. 5 lac and while had a 3 lac insurance cover, I needed to borrow Rs. 2 lac. The SBI branch manager whom I had met for the first time, when he got to know why I am taking the loan, gave me Rs. 5 lac loan and said, “Sir I suggest you to carry extra money, return it after a week if you don’t require it.” Today if that manager asks me to make my investments through SBI, I cannot say no to him. (I will reciprocate).

Now let’s understand how marketers exploit this Behavioral Bias:

• Car workshops offer service checkup camps with free car wash. Post you having availed of the free service, they introduce you about car servicing they can offer, you are more likely to get your car’s next sub servicing done there (your sub conscious mind makes you reciprocate).

• Reciprocal concession – When you bargain with the shop keeper on MRP, at first he relents and then ask you how much are you willing to pay? He then offers to reduce the price just for you.  You feel obligated and are more likely to buy the product.

• Oblige through Knowledge: Content marketing is an excellent way of sharing relevant knowledge to people for engaging and developing positive disposition towards the brand.

• Emotional Reciprocation: Purposeful Brands connect with you at an emotional level and you reciprocate by buying their products i.e. share the load campaign was based on the insight that modern women believe that men should also contribute in the household work. When the brand talked about it, the target audience felt obligated that someone is talking about them. Hence they are likely to buy that brand of washing power

3 step simple framework on how to apply this knowledge to your marketing initiatives

1. Who is the target audience (Behavioral Segment?)
2. What is their need state and mindset? 
3. How can we oblige them? 

• Give them knowledge if that is what they are looking for? (i.e. customer is in their product buying journey)
• Give them perceived value (Monitory or non-monetary i.e. status, exclusiveness) if that is what they want?
• Show that you believe in their cause (brands supporting LGBT) or their belief (share the load) if that is what they want

Key learning: “Brands oblige the customer and the customers reciprocate”.

1. When a customer is repeatedly obligated by a brand, it leads to development of emotions for the brand.
2. These emotions translates into development of neural pathway (choice shortcut or imprints the brand choice in the sub conscious mind)
3. Makes your brand the first choice for the customer (Apple, Amazon are classic examples)

3 Simple steps to achieve HIGH Click Rate

Working on designing a direct marketing Campaign?

Just follow these 3 simple steps framework and be assured of a good customer responce.

Click here to view the framework

Liked it? Share this knowledge with others too.

How to alter customer's behaviour in 6 seconds to make them buy your product

Yes, it’s possible if you understand the science behind the human mind’s biases.

1. In human mind there is a 2 way street between emotion and conscious thoughts. It means
a. If you have an emotion of fear, it will trigger conscious thoughts related to fear
b. Conscious thoughts of love will trigger emotions related to love

2. So how to use it in personal life?
Last week I annoyed my wife and was preparing myself for a roast session.  I entered my home and saw the expression on my wife’s face.
Even before she could say a word, I said to her, “Darling, I have good news to share with you” I paused to see her body language mellowing down. “Your sister n kids are coming to spend their vacation with us next week” …..Well I did get her feedback but was not roasted.

3. In your customer communication use visual Metaphors to do trick–
a. Visual Metaphor evokes emotions faster than reading text because language skills evolved very recently in our evolution. Hence our brain takes longer to comprehend text than a visual
b. Emotions via visual metaphor will generate conscious thoughts

4. Example: Campaigning to a TG who is likely to get married soon, if you visually show an exotic and attractive honeymoon destination with your travel deal, it will work for you.
Simple framework to help you achieve it
1. In a creative ensure 80% image and text is max 20%
2. This will automatically force you to say your story visually

Decoding 6 second attention span

Let's decode the 6 second attention span from a consumer's decision making lens.

1. THE FIRST SNAPSHOT In Malcolm Gladwell’s brilliant book Blink, he proves conclusively that humans make decisions *on almost no data*—and then stick with those decisions regardless of information that might prove them wrong.

2. Answer lies in our Evolution - The only chance our ancestors had to survive in the jungle was to make accurate split-second assessments. If you needed a week or even a day to decide if another Neanderthal was friend or foe, you were pretty dead. We inherited the ability to make accurate snap judgments.

3. In order to survive the onslaught of choices, consumers make snap judgments (in 6 seconds n data has no role to play)

Hence if you talk the story people believe in (consumer Insight), they will listen to you n take action in that 6 second exposure. 

REMEMBER - Rationality in communication doesn't help. 

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