Psychology shows us
how to use repetition effectively:
Our last 5 posts brought together …
Post #1: People literally go deaf and blind to the same messages repeated over and over like a parrot because of their hard-wired biological filtering. And our minds play tricks on us because our lifetime in a highly structured environment conditions our perception mechanism to find order, angle, and precision wherever it can.
Post #2: Our minds make its conclusions based on how constantly things are usually connected together: by time, space, and similarity. Shoes and socks. Coffee and cream. Square/rectangular floor tiles. We come to depend on and expect to experience these constant connections. And we’re highly sensitive when they’re not together: we notice something’s missing.
Post #3: It takes about 20 repetitions for people to learn anything. And just 2 to recall something they learned before. They remember those things best that are: first or last impressions … the most recent thing learned … those with historical or personal signficance, tragedy, or relevance to their own lives … and pointed out to them specifically, like how optical illusions show our minds play tricks on us:
Post #4: The mind also uses false logic. And the more desperate a person’s situation, the more illogical that person views reality. Our minds make their conclusions based on how constantly things are usually connected together. This makes sense in many experiences, but isn’t always true:
- Night always follows day, but day does not cause night
- San Francisco has many jaywalkers who begin crossing the street just before the light turns green. But jaywalkers don’t cause the light to turn green
- Great monopolists like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates gave billions away. But their (later) giving didn’t cause their (earlier) receiving billions during their industrial careers as one religious leader claims
Post #5: Stories or narratives are powerful psychological devices that help your customers understand why you’re doing what you’re doing. And they sidestep the whole issue whether your story’s true or not, as long as it sounds reasonable.
S T R A T E G Y :
Psychology shows us how to use repetition effectively:
FIRST:Tell your story using some variation in your messages so you don’t merely parrot your story …
- Repeat your messages enough times (20 or so) as a story or narrative …
- Connect your story to what your audience already knows and easily remembers (a famous movie, brand name, person, company, country, historic event, or sacred theme like change or hope). The movie Castaway with Tom Hanks wove FedEx and Wilson thoroughly into the story. How can I remember? I connect Castaway with the FedEx and Wilson brands. If you connect yourself to William Wallace and Braveheart enough times, whenever the movie Braveheart comes up, your story also comes up
- Wear the marketing equivalent of men’s dress shoes without socks: We come to depend on and expect to experience certain constant connections. And we’re highly sensitive and really notice when they’re not together: Coat and tie. Shoes and socks. Coffee and cream. Bagels and cream cheese. Christmas and presents. Diamonds and a wedding ring. Business people and proper decorum
These keep your audience from going deaf and blind to your messages … connect your new story to powerful unshakable memories that are already a solid part of them … and help them remember something different about you (“the investment banker who lies flat on the floor until the CEO buys his hostile takeover banking services:” true story).
NEXT: Keep the story alive from time to time by retelling it (2 times for each retelling.) You can’t make anything go viral, but you make sure it doesn’t go viral by not reactivating the story in your audience’s memory.
LAST: Don’t fret over the details: People will forget part of your narrative and replace the gaps so the whole story makes sense to them. They also will use “day creates night” false logic and perhaps “see” magical benefits in your product or service. If it doesn’t harm anyone and it boosts sales, relax and let it be!
… as a downloadable PDF for you:
|
|
WHAT’S NEXT? We take a quick peek at what we really see and experience … give you some tips for using psychology to harness really peculiar human behavior profitably … revisit Eternal Marketing’s social engineering in understanding peer groups and peer pressure … then focus on psychology applied to the online world.
Find out next time as we continue to chart the underlying currents of psychology, sociology, and economics that flow together as marketing.
In DEEP MARKETING.
Have questions, comments, thoughts, and opinions?
I’ll answer them directly and promptly:
1. Share them below
2. Send to me privately if you prefer privacy (bill@rippermarketing.com)
Related posts: