Feed your brain with this batch of recommended reading:
My Stuff
One of the most challenging aspects of being a marketer is setting product prices. There’s the practical side – what does the product cost, what’s our desired margin, what value are we delivering to the customer… But there are weird effects rooted in the way our brains process numbers. Now, a new study shows you when to use a rounded price and when to go for the precise version, complete with decimals: How To Set The Right Price Every Time to know more.
What could be a better than a Brainfluence Podcast episode featuring a neuroscience or marketing expert? How about three! Direct from Temple University’s Center for Neural Decision Making, part of the Fox School of Business, we have professors Angelika Dimoka (@dimoka), Paul Pavlou and Vinod Venkatraman (@vinod_venk). They have just published some amazing work that compared the predictive power of eight different neuromarketing techniques. Listen in to Scientists Get Closer to The “Buy Button” in The Brain, or read the text version.
This week we spoke with brand-building expert Denise Lee Yohn (@deniseleeyohn). Denise explains the “Brand as Business” mantra, talks about storytelling and brand-building, and explains how Kodak went from one of the world’s most valuable brands to nothing in a few short years. Check out What Great Brands Do with Denise Lee Yohn.
Speaking of podcasts, Kathy Klotz-Guest (@kathyklotzguest) had me on her BlogTalkRadio show as a guest. We had a great chat about conscious and subconscious neural nudges, testing different campaign approaches, and how small changes can trigger big results. Listen in: Neuromarketing Persuasion – A Chat with Roger Dooley.
Going to be in the San Francisco Bay Area in March? Maybe you should make a special trip. I will be speaking at the Habit Summit on March 24. If you are a “Friend of the Speaker” (yes, you are! 🙂 ), just enter the code FriendOfSpeaker and you will get a $50 discount – start here: Habit Summit. Other speakers will include Nir Eyal, Nathalie Nahai, and other experts in the psychology of habit.
Around the Web
There are just a few people I pay attention to in the search marketing space, and one of them is Moz’s Dr. Pete Meyers (@Dr_Pete). Unlike many SEO pundits, Pete doesn’t guess, he crunches masses of data. Check out his chat with Kristi Kellog (@KristiKellogg), #SMX Speaker Series: Moz’s Dr. Pete Meyers Talks SERP Science, to get his latest data-based insights.
Got Big Data? One of the problems with Big Data is how to apply it to improve real-world marketing results. One key is to combine it with social science knowledge. James Guszcza‘s The last-mile problem: How data science and behavioral science can work together suggests the two fields can be combined to good effect.
First impressions last. That’s not news to our readers, but even savvy marketers may not realize the many ways we can be “thin-sliced” before we say a word. Drake Baer (@drake_baer) gives us food for thought in The 9 Things People Decide Within Seconds of Meeting You.
Once you’ve made that awesome first impression, it’s time to strike up a conversation. Before your next sales call or business networking event, read Eric Barker‘s (@bakadesuyo) How To Be Someone People Love To Talk To.
This article is a good companion to my pricing piece at the top of this post. Is the customer in an emotional decision mode, or actively thinking about features and benefits? At HBR, Michael D. Harris tells us When to Sell with Facts and Figures, and When to Appeal to Emotions.
As usual, feel free to share your own great find in a comment!
Roger, I remember discussing the idea of this HBR article with you “When to Sell with Facts and Figures, and When to Appeal to Emotions.” Thanks for your guidance
Turned out great, Michael, glad to be of assistance! Ties in rather nicely (and coincidentally) with the pricing post linked to above.