Shape attitudes.
sway decisions.
shift behavior.
influence 51: Move people
WE SPECIALIZE IN THREE AREAS OF INFLUENCE
While the application of our work can be tremendously different in one industry versus another, ultimately, our expertise can be synthesized into three key areas.
HOW TO SHAPE ATTITUDES
Attitudes are complex. Learn how people both form and change them to design more effective branding efforts, more impactful marketing campaigns, and more compelling communication strategies.
Learn how our corporate clients use our services to ensure their branding, marketing, and communication strategies are optimized for success.
Learn how our political clients use our services to better understand which issues are most important to voters and how they should be speaking about them.
Learn how our charity and non-profit clients use our services to tailor their messaging so they can maximize the chances of attracting supporters and securing donations.
HOW TO Sway decisions
If you understand how people choose, you can better predict what they will choose. Learn about the factors that influence choice to more effectively impact consumer, legal, and organizational decision-making.
Learn how our restaurant clients use our services to influence customer choice by optimizing both their pricing strategies and menu layouts.
Learn how our leadership clients use our services to become more powerful motivators and more persuasive communicators.
Learn how our legal clients use our services to equip their teams with sophisticated, psychologically-informed courtroom strategies.
HOW TO shift behavior
Behavior change is coveted but complex. Discover how to influence your employees and fellow citizens to adopt healthier lifestyles, participate in civic activities, and develop more sustainable habits.
Learn how our healthcare and medical clients use our services to help patients and community members adopt healthier lifestyles.
Learn how our community clients use our services to maximize the number of citizens who participate in voting and elections.
Learn how our government clients use our services to encourage greener habits such as energy reduction and recycling.
PRINCIPLES OF INFLUENCE
Influence is an incredibly complex concept. While by no means exhaustive, the five principles below represent the most important things you should know about human nature prior to designing any influence strategy.
principle 1: the human brain is not a computer
Humans are not perfectly rational creatures. Our brains were not built to maximize accuracy, but rather to find an optimal equilibrium between accuracy and effort. As a result, people are prone to a set of common cognitive errors that are both systematic in nature and predictable in direction. Understanding the pattern of cognitive errors, biases, and heuristics to which we are most susceptible allows us to better anticipate how one will think and behave and, consequently, position us to better influence those processes.
principle 2: our social nature matters
Who we fundamentally are can be a tricky thing. We act one way in our social circles, another in our professional networks, and yet another way with our families and loved ones. Whether we like it or not, our character has a great deal of fluidity based on our social context. Individuals who understand how the presence of others moderates behavior have a distinct advantage over their less-informed peers. A conceptual grasp of how particular social dynamics can moderate processes like conformity, groupthink, and compliance can prove an immensely valuable asset in your ability to influence.
principle 3: our political sensibilities matter
Liberals and conservatives differ more than just inside the voting booth. Individuals on disparate ends of the political spectrum diverge emotionally, psychologically, and philosophically. These differences create irreconcilable world views, wherein individuals can be presented with identical information yet process it in different ways, ultimately receiving two fundamentally opposed messages. Understanding how political orientation impacts how messages are received allows us to design the most potent strategies for influencing opposing constituencies.
principle 4: state of mind matters
Timing is everything. How one responds to a particular stimulus is largely dependent on when they are presented with it. A bar of chocolate after hours of fasting might be an enticing - perhaps irresistible - offer, while that same bar of chocolate offered to the same individual after several pieces of cake might elicit disgust and refusal. How one will react to particular appeals depends heavily on the state of mind a person occupies at the time of engagement. As such, for maximum impact, savvy influencers will learn to prime their audiences prior to presenting them with information and choices.
principle 5: structure of presentation matters
The color gray is neither light nor dark; rather, its brightness depends on the color to which it is contrasted. Next to a white pillow, a gray blanket looks dark, yet next to a black coat it appears light. Similarly, persuasive appeals can gain or lose impact depending on what information is included (or omitted) and how it is framed. The content you present is important, but what you choose to include and how you choose to include it is equally critical. One must pay attention to not only the substance of their offering, but also the careful construction of its presentation.