Changed perceptions are the result of changed behaviour.
Image via: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tbruce/
I think you’ll probably agree that a lot of our current marketing theory is based upon the almost invisible assumption that thought precedes action. This made sense in an era when marketing was limited to generating thoughts, but when we can build digital and physical experiences, thought is often a barrier to action. Things are often more complicated to explain than they are to do, and thinking about something too much is often paralysing.
In life, it’s far more common that action precedes thought. We learn by doing, and doing changes how we think about something. This implies that changed perceptions are often a result of changed behaviour not the other way around.
So as marketers, if we are trying to change perceptions then we should probably be thinking about the behaviour change required to do this. And if we are simply trying to change behaviour we shouldn’t put the need to change perceptions in the way as a barrier.
Happy new year!
faris Says:
January 6th, 2010 at 11:04 pmabsolutely 100% yes.
even forgetting all the exciting neuroscience stuff that shows consciousness of a desire to act usually follows the electrical signal of acting [when asked to randomly move your hand for example] attitudes can only ever used to predict behavioral intention, not behaviour itself, and usually claimed data about preference correlates strongly to prior purchase behaviour not future.
the whole model we work too is backwards because we think we think then do, but we don't.
if you want to change behavior then change behaviour
or give them something to copy:
http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/2007/05/beha...
garethk Says:
January 9th, 2010 at 4:55 amfor some quant proof, worth looking at the work of andrew ehrenberg who spent his career pointing out these inconvenient truths
Mark Hancock Says:
January 12th, 2010 at 4:09 pmCouldn't agree more: http://tinyurl.com/yeqf8k6 – got me in a lot of trouble too for speaking out about it in an earlier incarnation!
Best
M