Psychological Marketing – Part 1
You have 3 brains and two of them are very picky about what gets into your system making change and marketing difficult. We talk here about the process of getting your message heard and remembered.
This is the first in a four part training series that will feature the idea of marketing to a person’s subconscious mind.
Once upon a time, there was a young man who was seeking wealth and fame.
“That young man was told that the secret to all riches was found in a temple in the land he lived. Inside the temple were all the secrets of universe.
The secrets of success, the secrets of joy, and the secrets of happiness could be found in that temple.
In order for the young man to find these secrets and to claim them, he must first enter the temple.
“The problem was that the temple was guarded by two ancient and powerful gatekeepers, who limited access to the temple. These gatekeepers have evolved to protect and guard the temple from unwanted intrusion. They are very good at their job and make it difficult for people to reach and enter the temple.”
The first is a ferocious lizard named Spike.
The lizard was the first of the guardians to be created.”
“The young man approaches the temple and Spike stops him in his tracks. ‘Where do you think you are going?’”
“‘I want to enter the temple,‘ replies the young man. ‘I hear the temple hold the secret to riches.’ “
“The lizard replies, ‘It does indeed, but I do not know you. You may not pass. You want to fight? I’ll fight you! By the way do you have anything to eat? I missed lunch. I’m hungry. I would just love a cupcake. Do you like cupcakes? I like cupcakes. Do you have a cupcake?’”
“The young shook his head no. He tried to explain how badly he wanted to enter the temple, but the lizard just ignored him. So he decided to go and see if he could find a cupcake and maybe the lizard would let him into the temple.”
After wandering the village he found a baker who had cupcakes for sale. He bought one for himself and one for the lizard and headed back to the temple. He walks up to the lizard guarding the gate and says. ‘Look what I have, a cupcake. Can I get into the temple now?’”
The lizard looks at him and yawns, ‘I just ate. I’m really full right now. Oh by the way, do you know the phone number to any cute girls? I’m kind of horny right now and would love to meet a cute girl. Do you have a girlfriend? Can I meet your girlfriend? Does she have a sister? Did I say I’m horny?’”
“The young man shook his head no. He tried to explain again how badly he wanted to enter the temple but the lizard just ignored him. So he decided to go back to the village to meet some girls and maybe the lizard would let him into the temple.”
“He wanders the village and happens to run into a girl that tells him she is really into lizards and would love to have the lizard text her.”
“The young man runs back to the temple and hurriedly goes up to the lizard. ‘Look what I got, the phone number of a beautiful young woman who wants to meet you. See, here is her picture. She’s a real looker, you are one lucky lizard. Can I get into the temple now?’”
“The lizard takes the phone number and the picture. He stares at the photo longingly. He stares and stares all the while ignoring the young man. The young man decides well, I might as well make a run for it and see if I can get in while he is distracted. So he takes off for the entrance of the temple. Just as he is getting close, another guard appears.
“The next guard is in the form of a wolf.
Shera, the wolf snarls at him and he falls back in fear. From the ground he says meekly, ‘I just want to enter the temple.’”
“The wolf takes one look at him and smells the fear on him. She says, ‘I don’t know you. You don’t look like you belong here. Be gone!’”
“The young man retreats to a safe distance. He made it past the lizard, but now what is he going to do with the wolf. As he sits there licking his mental wounds he notices another person who is entering the temple. That person has a gift for the lizard, a nice game to keep him occupied. He then strides up to the wolf. His posture is straight and authoritative. His demeanor is bold and yet commanding. He looks like he is in charge. He tips his head to the wolf and walks right by into the temple.”
“The young man is amazed. This man went right past the guardians without any trouble. Then he remembers the wolf saying, ‘You don’t look like you belong here.’ Maybe the way in is to act like you belong.”
“So the young man picks himself up and dusts himself off. He stands up straight and tall. With all the courage he can muster he begins walking toward the wolf. He breathes deeply and feels strength fill his body. He says in his mind, I belong here. I belong. He keeps walking and repeating the phrase in his mind. With every step he feels stronger and more purposeful. And as he reaches the wolf he tips his head and walks right past her into the temple.”
The temple is the mind of others
“We have three brains not just one,”. The oldest brain, the lower brain, we call the paleo cortex, the lizard brain.
“The lizard brain is very primal in its pursuits. It worries about the basic survival instincts, food, safety, shelter.
“Its life revolves around the 5 F’s – Food, Fear, Fight, Fun and Fornicate. It constantly asks can I eat it, fight it, mate with it, or have fun with it. Most everything else is boring with a capital B. When it is boring, the lizard tends to ignore it and look for something else.”
“This is the first brain we meet when we try to communicate with someone else. If something is complicated the lizard brain will generally ignore it completely or greatly abbreviate it to pass the message on. Do you understand?”
“So what we are saying is that when someone is speaking to others, their lizard brain, most of the time, will ignore me or minimize what I say just to get rid of me?”
“Exactly.“
“So how do I get past the lizard?”
“To get past the lizard you must either feed its passions or intrigue it.”
“Why do you think most advertisers use sex appeal or glamourous models to sell things when they have nothing to do with their product? The reason is to get the lizard brain’s attention. Influencing someone else is not about getting them to agree with your ideas. It’s about getting them to like you or your product or ideas. If the lizard brain feels good about you, you get access to the next level. If not you get ignored, resented, or a fight breaks out. Now we are much too polite of a society to actually fight, most of the time. But we do it on a subconscious, passive, aggressive level. Whenever we are told to do something we don’t like, we react to it with resistance. We drag our feet, we ignore, we belittle or we make fun it. It’s a natural reaction.”
“Ok so once I get past the lizard then what?”
“Next you encounter the wolf brain or the mammalian brain. The wolf is the keeper of order and habit. In an instant, the wolf will size you up and see where you belong. Are you an alpha, beta or omega, a leader, a follower or the lowest of the low?”
“Based on where you fit in, that will determine when and if your message is heard. Leaders get attention. They are catered to and deferred to in pack life. They get the biggest share and their message is heard and heeded. Others are listened to in order of their hierarchy in the pack. In a wolf pack this order usually doesn’t change unless there is a death or a challenge. Everyone is content with their place in the pack.”
“With humans, our wolf brain quickly reads and scans those around to arrive at the pack hierarchy. It is done automatically and involuntarily. The interesting thing is that we can change our perceived place by a variety of methods. We can literally become someone else.”
“Not only is the person scanned and categorized but so is the message. Does the body language, the tone of voice or actions match the message? Does message fit into what I already know or is it way out in left field. Does the speaker actually believe what they are saying, or do they seem phony?”
“If the new information is outside of the normal way of thinking it will get ignored. If the message or messenger shows weakness or ambiguity, it will get ignored or minimized.”
“Secondly, the wolf is always categorizing things. It wants to stick everything and everyone in a box so that it doesn’t have to think. Is this person a friend or foe? Can I ignore them because I already know what their type or role will do and say?”
”So how do I get past the wolf?”
“Getting past the wolf is best done by being an alpha. Leaders get attention. Leaders get followed. By being alpha you get the attention you deserve. If not it will be a struggle to be heard.”
“Another alternative is to be interesting and intriguing. New, novel and non-threatening information that can’t be categorized or pigeonholed will give the wolf something that is a challenge. Both the lizard and the wolf love challenges. Challenges are interesting.”
“Stories, especially ones that aren’t predictable ones with a challenge or suspense, are a great way to sneak your message past the guardians.”
“In a sales situation, the decision to buy is made with the guardians. If they like you or your product or your story they decide whether to buy. The human brain takes their clue and uses the facts and figures to justify the decision that has already been made by the guardians. Decisions are based on feeling not facts.”
“What about the third brain?”
“The third brain is our prefrontal cortex, the human brain. This brain deals in fact and figures, math and science. Language and art. If left to this brain, we would probably never make a decision. It would keep analyzing and figuring and looking at options. If you want to have a person make a decision to buy something or approve a project, you want to limit the options and choices or the human brain will bog itself down analyzing all the options.”
Your presentations, pitches, emails and marketing needs to get past the lizard and wolf brain to be heard.
You need to start by getting their attention and interest.” “The way you talk and act need to be as a leader or authority and you need to limit the options and the boring stuff. Got it?”
By speaking to the correct brain you increase the chances of your message being heard by 87%.
In this series of videos we will teach you how each brain fits into the psychological marketing concept.
In order to get people’s attention, you need to first speak to their lizard brain.
There’s a million things happening around you and in you. What you ares concentrating on will screen out most of those different things and only what interests you, or threatens you, or intrigues you will catch your attention.
How do you catch people’s attention?
Imagine being in at busy airport walking down the corridor. People on the right, people on the left, people eating in restaurants.
The hustle and bustle of people dragging luggage past you. You’re leisurely walking and there’s thousands of conversations going on around you.
Announcements for different planes are constantly happening and you ignore them. Then out of nowhere, there’s this announcement with your name saying please pick up the white courtesy phone. Immediately you snap to attention. How did that one announcement get through? It had your name attached to it.
Or another example, you are walking down a busy street, cars everywhere, people talking, engines reving, construction noises, and you hear THIS some change drop behind you and you turn around to see where the money went. How did that little noise in a sea of noises attract your attention?
There’s a part of your brain called the reticular activating system. The reticular activating system is designed to screen out everything else except things that matter to you.
Remember the last time you picked out a car and bought a new car. You are driving down the road and all of a sudden you notice that every damn person in the world seemed to pick the same car, in the same color as yours. Before you bought the car you never noticed any of them before. But now, as you drive from that time on, you notice other people who are driving the same car. Your mind will be picking out other people who have the same car as you do.
That’s the reticular activating system at work,
It looks for things that catch your attention and screens out other things that don’t make much difference. It’s part of the lizard brain.
So how do you use that system to be able to get people’s attention?
Back in early caveman days, it learned to protect us from danger. It pays attention to things:
- That are new
- That are different
- That are novel
- That threaten us
- and helps us avoid things that could be dangerous
By using that fact, and crafting your message in a way that will affect a person in that lizard brain, you’ll be able to get their attention.
One of the principles that happens in that part of the brain, is that we are twice as likely to be motivated to avoid about losing something, then to gain something new.
Let’s say I were to give you $10 every time you did a certain activity. That may or may not be a motivation for you. $10 in this day in age is not that great amount of money, but let’s say every time I caught you not doing it, you had to give me $10.
Which of those would be more motivational to you?
If you’re like most people the thought of losing $10 as opposed to gaining $10, is twice as motivating.
When you’re talking to somebody getting their attention may mean talking in terms of what they are losing instead of what they can gain.
Great headlines to get your attention might be “How to avoid losing or wasting 95% of your marketing dollars.”
There’s a variety of things that catch and hold the lizard brain’s attention and we’ll talk about that in the next video.