When You Hear Something Uncommon and Then Hear It Again Shortly After

Permit's say your friend recently told you lot about a new Netflix bear witness.

After you heard about the show from her, y'all began seeing and hearing about it everywhere -- on Facebook, at dinner with your parents, on your favorite radio station.

Kind of creepy, right? It might feel a bit like a conspiracy theory, like the whole earth's all of a sudden playing a prank on you -- but it's non. Information technology's known as the Bader-Meinhof Phenomenon.

Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon (a.1000.a. the Recency Bias or Frequency Illusion)

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, otherwise known as the frequency illusion or recency bias, is a situation where something yous recently learned about all of a sudden seems to appear everywhere. There are ii reasons for this miracle -- first, selective attention, which means your encephalon is subconsciously seeking out more than information on the subject area. Second, confirmation bias, which means every time you run into something related to the subject, your brain tells y'all that it's proof the subject has gained popularity overnight.

There are a few ways the Baader-Meinhof miracle might influence your customer'south controlling process, and understanding the psychology backside it is key to taking your marketing strategies to the next level. Let'due south take a look at three means in particular now.

Three Means the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon Secretly Influences Your Customer'south Decisions

1. The Baader-Meinhof Miracle and Repetitive Marketing

To incorporate the effects of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon into your marketing strategy, you need to put your make messaging out there as much equally possible.

Call up, the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon can only happen if someone initially notices or learns about your product. You'll want to start with potent advertizement copy, an attending-grabbing headline, and memorable images to attract your audience and introduce them to your company.

At present that their brains are selectively paying attention, you'll want to spread your messaging to diverse platforms, including social media, radio stations, Boob tube, billboards. You'll want to choose platforms that marshal with your brand and customer base -- the point is, you want to repeatedly appear on these platforms so your customers can notice you.

Paid online advertisements and retargeting are two effective strategies for ensuring your frequency-illusioned customers start seeing you everywhere.

Ideally, this will become a self sustaining long-term strategy. Fifty-fifty if your customer isn't in the market place for your product now, they've seen your company everywhere. Next time their friend is looking for a production like yours, your potential customer will mention you first.

ii. The Baader-Meinhof Miracle and Social Proof Theory

The Social Proof Theory, beginning coined past psychologist Robert Cialdini, states that someone who doesn't know how to deed or think will imitate other people, or turn to peers for guidance.

In marketing, social proof is an extremely effective method for persuading customers to buy a product. Customer reviews, testimonials, and statements like "four out of v parents recommend" are critical for convincing hestitant buyers to choose one product over another.

What does this have to practice with the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? Well, call back virtually it: the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon maintains that you lot'll run into or hear something more if yous've recently learned nearly it.

For instance, let's say you've recently learned most the new FitBit Charge two.

Suddenly, yous hear your coworkers talking about it. Then, you meet a post on Instagram, with one of your favorite celebrities endorsing the production.

It's probable people were talking most the FitBit Accuse two before you heard about it, just one time you lot did, your brain paid more attention to it. You took note of all those people raving almost the product, and meanwhile, your brain chose non to pick upward on that other conversation near the new Samsung Milky way Gear Fit.

In other words, you selectively listened to people discussing the FitBit product because yous'd recently learned about it, and then social proof led you to believe it was the best, and perhaps only, fitness tracker selection.

As y'all can see, these ii psychological phenomenons work together to convince someone to buy one product in particular.

To go the most out of the Baader-Meinhof Miracle, you'll want to use it hand-in-paw with The Social Proof Theory. Include reviews and testimonials on your website, likewise as third-party sites similar Yelp, then once your customer learns about your product, she will exist subsequently convinced through social proof to buy it.

iii. The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon and Confirmation Bias

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon works for two reasons -- selective attending, and confirmation bias.

Permit'southward consider the second reason for a minute. Confirmation bias is really a astounding tactic to convince customers to buy from your company over your competitors. Essentially, confirmation bias ways someone looks for testify to ostend what they already believe, even when that bear witness is largely neutral.

For example, let's say you read that correct-handed people are better at math. You believe it, and whenever you run across someone who'southward correct-handed and practiced at math, you file that information abroad as show yous're correct. You're insistent on maintaining your prior beliefs. You await for evidences that supports information technology, and you ignore evidence that contradicts it -- like your left-handed friend who is incredible at math.

What does this have to practice with marketing? A lot.

Once your customers believe something to be truthful about your production, they'll look for evidence to back up information technology and ignore evidence to the contrary. If yous can convince them your product offers something unique nothing else on the marketplace can offer, they'll believe it, and then they'll seek out evidence to support information technology.

Easier said than done though, right?

To learn how to employ confirmation bias to your marketing advantage, let's take a wait at an case from the 1990's, when Schlitz, a declining beer visitor, hired Claude Hopkins, a legendary man in advertising at the time.

Hopkins asked Schlitz to requite him a tour of their brewery. On the tour, he saw plate-glass rooms with beer dripping over pipes, expensive wood filters that took out impurities in the beer, and rooms filled with filtered air. The pumps and pipes were cleaned twice a twenty-four hour period to avoid contagion.

Seeing the impressive process in action, Hopkins asked Schlitz why they didn't advertise it to people to prove their beer was better.

The Schlitz people told him, "All companies mash beer the same manner."

"Yes," Hopkins replied, "Only the first ane to tell the public about this process will proceeds a big advantage."

Inside six months of Hopkins' advertising campaign for Schlitz, Schlitz beer became the number one selling beer in America. Why? Because people were given evidence to believe Schlitz was purer. Once they were embedded with a confirmation bias for Schlitz, they probably tasted the beer and thought, "Yeah, this is more than pure." They also avoided other beer companies' advertisements to the contrary.

By figuring out what makes your product unique and telling potential customers, y'all're creating a confirmation bias that your production is infrequent. As people seek out evidence to back up their belief, the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon asserts they'll begin seeing your product everywhere.

It'due south not easy, just if you can create a compelling campaign to capture an audience'southward attention and show them why your production is better than others, the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon and confirmation bias can do the rest.

Originally published Aug xv, 2018 6:00:00 AM, updated August 20 2018

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Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/baader-meinhof-phenomenon

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