target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#i000033380000.jpg" alt="tip"/> Think about the things you’ve believed most of your life. How much would it take for you to change your attitudes and beliefs? Convincing customers to change brands, acknowledge your brand’s distinctions and value, and try your product over another is not always that much different. You need to build a powerful case to get consideration and trial. And you’re best able to do this by applying psychological principles related to choice rather than just sound marketing messages and personalized promotions triggered by automated CRM systems, data management platforms, and more, all of which we discuss later in this book.
Schemas reflect not only the attitudes and perceptions people have developed from their culture, community, and environments; they also reflect how the brain works in general. For example, schemas are unconscious expectations of patterns, rhythms, and such. When you listen to music, your brain has a set perception for how all the melody will harmonize, how the notes will scale, and how the rhythm will flow. People like music that fits this “schema,” which was used by the masters and by modern‐day songwriters and musicians.
Just like these mental schemas that guide expectations when listening to music, aligning with political and religious organizations, and more, people have “brand schema,” or preset expectations for experience with brands they trust.
The conscious and unconscious minds often disagree
Young & Rubicam did a study in 2013 involving adults throughout the United States, South America, and Asia to see how close people’s conscious values line up with their unconscious ones. What they found, and later published in a report called “Secrets and Lies,” is surprising to most. It shows just how far apart the conscious and unconscious thought processes are. Take a look at Table 2‐1. Just like psychologists have said for years, people are driven, unconsciously, for survival, to connect with outers in meaningful relationships, and by the traditions in which they were raised, although few want to admit that if you look at attitude reports for younger generations of consumers.
TABLE 2-1 Conscious Versus Unconscious Values
Now for the secrets:
❯❯ Most interesting is that the unconscious mind results showed “helpfulness” as dead last, 16 of 16 variables tested, while the conscious mind put it as the number‐one value.
❯❯ The conscious mind listed “sexual fulfillment” as number 14 of 16 variables, even though it shows up in the number‐two spot for the unconscious mind. Perhaps people don’t like to admit consciously that they need others in their lives to be happy? Most people probably like to think they’re fine and independent on their own, but years of psychology studies show that people are all generally happier, more fulfilled, and reach their greater potential much more when they have fulfilling relationships with others.
Research shows that personal values influence people’s choices for consumer goods and even more so for business purchases. In fact, Google/Motista research shows that
• B2B customers are more emotionally connected to their vendors and service providers than B2C consumers.
• When personal values are present in a business choice, purchasers are eight times more likely to pay a premium price.
• In contrast, only 14 percent of business purchasers see a real difference between suppliers and are willing to pay for that difference.
This research is very telling and can’t be ignored in the highly competitive B2B marketing environment. If you’re in B2B, identifying and addressing those personal values are key to helping you gain competitive advantage because most marketers in this space don’t understand this or how to do it. This chapter sets forth what those values are and how the processes of the brain, and the conscious and unconscious minds, spark emotions and behavior associated with those values.
(To delve more into this research, check out www.thinkwithgoogle.com, “From Promotion to Emotion: Connecting B2B customers to Brands.”)
Consciously and unconsciously, all human behavior is based on two emotional premises:
❯❯ The avoidance of pain
❯❯ The pursuit of pleasure
Everything we do is driven by these basic needs, socially, professionally, and personally. When marketers understand the pain their customers are consciously and unconsciously avoiding when purchasing their product category, they can much better align their messaging to be relevant far beneath the surface of the typical decision process.
Pain and pleasure in marketing terms are simply the fear and joy people experience as life events unfold or as they anticipate something bad or good happening in their lives. For example, when you choose to purchase auto insurance, you know that you’ll be covered against losing your car or substantial amounts of money if you have an accident and gain a sense of joy as a result. You also know that you can avoid a lot of pain as a result of coverage, and both of these emotional outcomes drive your choices to purchase the category and the brand you chose.
Neurotransmitters and how they affect choice
The most powerful forces that affect human actions related to finding joy or avoiding fear and pain are neurotransmitters, or the hormones that create strong emotional reactions to the stimuli people encounter daily in all areas of the world.
These neurotransmitters are
❯❯ Dopamine: Dopamine rushes occur when you anticipate a reward, such as a job promotion for doing good or a great deal on a new car, a great afterlife due to religious obedience, or reciprocal love. You feel euphoric, infallible, and ready to conquer your goals. This is the rush that makes people become addicted to drugs.
❯❯ Oxytocin: This hormone is known as the love hormone. When you develop connections with others and you feel that powerful sense of validation and reciprocity for how you feel about them, and being with that person makes you feel valued and loved, your brain releases oxytocin. This feeling is often described as falling in love, and it feels good. As a result, people seek loving bonds with others via social and professional hives, and when they find it, they often become loyal supporters. Research shows that when people experience an oxytocin rush, the part of their
