Blog: "Someone Should Have Taught Me This..."
Essential guides, techniques, and psychology principles for building a kick-ass marketing operation
Why You Want What You Can’t Have, and Can’t Have What You Want
I was walking a friend of mine home the other day, and she was telling me about the kinds of men she had been meeting recently. We started talking about whether you could be into somebody just because they were “off-limits” to you in some way: already attached, emotionally unavailable, constantly busy, runs in high social circles, borderline-inappropriate age difference, etc.
Making Difficult Things Look Effortless
Most of us have very little game, yet try constantly to call attention to it. Imagine how we would come across if we developed a ton of game (read interesting skills, talents and experiences), and acted very low-key about it.
-Your Ads Don’t Work on Me. -Oh, Yes They Do…
This phenomenon of the Third Person Effect highlights an interesting psychological phenomenon: we tend to overestimate our own free will and resistance to influence, and let down our defenses as a result.
Know Your Audience: The Desires and Insecurities of the 21st Century
What conclusions could someone draw about the self-concept of the 21st century man or woman? How can we cultivate a clear vision of society’s dreams and desires, so as to better inform our literature, plays, and messaging?
The Halo Effect
Right or wrong, we will always make snap judgments about people based on their looks, and if we like what we see, we will make unwarranted positive assumptions about him or her. My view is, if you care enough about it to take action, it is ultimately healthier and more productive to accept it and adapt, rather than to chastise society for its unconscious evolutionary wiring.
Come to Marketing, Where Stereotyping is Still Encouraged
We were all taught in grade school to see past common stereotypes and value each individual as a unique snowflake, only to discover that humans actually do break down into easily identifiable, quantifiable, and manipulatable groups.
Top Ten Marketing Secrets from Don Draper
Here are the top ten timeless advertising lessons we can all learn from Mad Men’s Don Draper:
Behavior Rules Are Not The Same For Everyone
Human behavior does not follow universal rules, but will tend to cluster in ways that might not be easily predictable or demographically defined. Malcolm Gladwell illustrates this through his story of Howard Moskowitz and The Ketchup Conundrum.
My First Blog Mention, and It’s a Big One!
People-triggers has been cited by Inside Influence Report,the blog produced by Dr. Cialdini’s professional training firm, Influence At Work.
Study Demonstrates How We Support Our False Beliefs
Study from the journal Sociological Inquiry, which talks about how we seek out information not for edification, but rather to reinforce our pre-existing beliefs.
Five Common and Avoidable Theatrical Mistakes
Based on [a recent production of The Three Musketeers] I saw, here are five very common acting and directing mistakes that people should avoid…
Lessons from Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (via Maloney on Marketing)
Made to Stick – Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath is a book that I had been meaning to read for a while, as it is promoted as a great supplement to one of my favourite books of all time: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
The Power of Charm: How To Win Anyone Over In Any Situation
I just recently finished The Power of Charm, by Brian Tracy and Ron Arden, which was a recommendation to me from a friend of mine with excellent taste. This book is about projecting charm, and covers material similar to Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence...
Sizing Up the Nightlife – A study of status distinction
Sizing Up the Nightlife - A study of status distinction. The article linked above highlights a study by a sociologist at the Kellogg school of business, Dr. Lauren Rivera. It's a fascinating summary detailing the incredibly intricate status distinctions at New York...
How to Write Subtext (via The Revolution is Within)
Meta-communication is to real life what subtext is to the actor. It’s the real meaning of a communication, when you take into account tone, body language and underlying assumptions.
Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence – Part 6: “Scarcity”
This rule seems pretty straightforward. Create the perception that an item is either limited or diminishing, and you can create more demand. But it gets much more interesting when you expand it past commodities and apply it to other things like people, time, information and freedoms.
Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence – Part 5: “Authority”
Authority is the projected result of high status. They are essentially the same, like energy and matter. We saw evidence of the status hierarchy already, but here it is much more stark. Humans seem hardwired to defer to the highest status individuals in a given situation.
Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence – Part 4: “Liking”
Making a sale is always easier after you’ve given a customer some reasons to like you. In addition, the “liking” rule is the mechanism of the customer referral. If you let a potential customer know that a friend of theirs is so satisfied with your product that he gave a pro-active referral, the new customer will be much more receptive to you.
Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence – Part 3: “Social Proof”
In part three of this six-part article, we discuss how people will tend to take their behavioral cues from the group of people around them, especially in situations where the correct behavior might not be obvious or where we particularly identify with the group around us.
Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence – Part 2: “Commitment and Consistency”
In part two of this six-part article, We discuss how people will tend to behave consistently with choices they’ve already made, even very small choices. If I can get you to commit to something small (e.g. wearing an awareness ribbon, signing a petition, seeing yourself as a certain “type” of person), then you will be more likely to commit to bigger actions (e.g. giving time or money) later on.