Marketing often involves embracing counterintuitive approaches, and one of the challenges in marketing is the necessity to incorporate elements that defy conventional logic. It's essential to continually test unconventional strategies, as your competitors may not be doing so. Rather than immediately altering the core reality of a product or service to enhance consumer perception, consider the intricate layers that shape how people perceive, interpret, and emotionally connect with that offering. I think the process is multifaceted, involving the objective essence of a product, the context in which it's placed, the perceptions that arise from that context, the emotions or meanings derived from those perceptions, and the emotions ultimately driving consumer behaviour. Unlike the neat and predictable mappings seen in physics, human behaviour encompasses a more complex, non-linear journey through several stages. One has to recognise and harness the complexity of human behaviour and perception can be a key to successful marketing, even if it requires embracing counterintuitive strategies.
How do we differentiate?
Image c/o The NY Times
Control is a major human addiction, and thinking we have control by keeping everything in our heads is deceiving. When we combine money and psychology then we’ll begin to understand that there is more to a rich life than just numbers in a spreadsheet. During my study of human behaviour and psychology, I became fixated on this question: "Why do we know what we should do but still don't do it?" I think that regardless of our backgrounds, we can lead a fulfilling life. While a higher income can be a significant aid, similar to improving fitness, we all have the potential to enhance our lives starting from where we are now.
Making a mark
We can measure time, units like cost and value, metrics and temperatures, but we don’t know how to measure feelings. And as a result we focus on what we can measure and not on what’s important. I think most people operate on primary motivations and the two default modes of human behaviour are habit and social copying. In other words, do what I have done before and do what everyone else does. Therefore, any new behaviours will take longer to adapt than you think. There are an awful lot of technologies that take a long time to penetrate or to become adopted but what’s really important is how sticky they are.
““If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” ”
When is the price right?
Price has always been one of the deciding factors for making purchasing decisions. Nowadays consumers are more willing to shop around the internet for “cheaper” prices across retailers and marketplaces rather than going directly to the brands website. I think in the world of algorithms, hashtags and followers, it’s important to understand the true importance of human behaviour.
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Love, empathy and kindness
Taking care of our mental health during a pandemic has not been easy. In times like these we deserve better for ourselves than fear, paranoia and conspiracy theories. Be grateful if this virus hasn't touched you, your family, friends or colleagues. Let's all simply make choices which accommodate the needs of society.
Professor Steven Reiss (psychologist) has found that 16 basic desires guide nearly all meaningful behaviour. These desires are what drive our everyday actions and make us who we are. Reiss said, "What makes individuals unique is the combination and ranking of these desires."
The 16 desires are:
- Power
- Independence
- Curiosity
- Acceptance
- Order
- Saving
- Honour
- Idealism
- Social contact
- Family
- Status
- Vengeance
- Romance
- Eating
- Physical exercise
- Tranquility
Many researchers who have tried to reduce all human behaviour to just one or two basic desires, for example, pleasure, pain or survival. I think people know that other people have different values and pursuits, but they cannot understand how this can be. Self righteous people waste an enormous amount of effort trying to change people who do not want to be changed. As I believe that every person has a unique desire profile, hopefully, this pandemic has taught us that we are all connected.