Kids in the 80's bought Air Jordans because they wanted to "be like Mike."
People buy Trump's book, How to Get Rich, because they want to be wealthy like him. As Jeffrey Pfeffer explains in this Forbes article:
People are seemingly hard-wired to associate with and embrace success.
Folks act aspirationally. They're motivated to buy because they perceive Jordan and Trump as winners.
There are three cognitive biases at play here.
Human beings have pre-conceived beliefs that drive their decision-making. One such belief is that wealthy people are "geniuses."
In his interview with Bill Simmons, Chris Sacca explains:
The minute you're labeled a billionaire in this country everyone takes everything you say as bible. It's just, you can do no wrong, like, they just think, "Well, that guy's smart, he made a bunch of money, he must be a genius." And it's completely untrue, obviously. You know a lot of billionaires who are wrong about a lot of things.
For many, prosperity is the ultimate dream. People who desire to be rich respond favorably to messages from wealthy people.
In 1976, Robert Cialdini did a study of six universities and their football teams. He noticed a trend. After a victory by their school's team, students were more likely to:
use the pronoun "we" when describing the team's victory (as opposed to "they" when their team lost)
wear university apparel
associate the success with themselves, despite not having actually contributed to the win
This is called "basking in reflected glory" (or BIRGing, which I like even better). Our desire is to align ourselves with winners, and cut ourselves off from losers. Subconsciously we believe that our connection with winners also makes us a winner.
This also explains why we brag when we meet someone famous. As we tell the story, we're "basking" in their fame (even if it's just a reflection).
Some products launch, and there's an instant buzz about them. Everyone's talking about it, trying it, or wanting to try it.
It's especially noticeable with fashion trends. If you lived through the 80's, you remember Hypercolor t-shirts. Today, you'll see this in technology: people seem to rush to social apps in groups (Snapchat anyone?).
What causes a product to suddenly become popular?
As more people come to believe in something, others also "hop on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence. People decide to ignore their personal information signals and follow the behavior of others.
Despite our desire to be individuals, our propensity is to conform to the movement of the larger group.
You'll often notice this behavior when a group of people suddenly switch to a different product, at the same time.
When Slack launched, many startups switched away from HipChat and Campfire because "everyone was doing it."
People make their purchasing decisions emotionally, and then try to justify them rationally.
People have an innate desire to be on a winning team. It manifests itself in choices we make all the time:
buying the same type of phone our friends use
going to the popular party (and not being seen at a lame event)
taking selfies with famous people and posting them on Instagram
getting excited about a new brand because everyone's talking about it
I'm conflicted. I want to make things that matter, and have people buy them based on the merits of my product.
This truth about humanity presents me with a conundrum: what do I do about it?
For example, to market my products I could use a psychological tactic called signaling to communicate my success to others. Dan Ariely, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, explains:
The large and colorful tail of the male peacock tells the female peacock about his strength and virility. In the same way, we humans are concerned with the signals we send the people around us about who we are. Signaling is part of the reason we buy large homes, dress up in designer clothes and buy particular cars. The car that you drive communicates something about you to the world.
It's possible that if I pose with a Porsche, people will buy more of my books. But the truth is, my dream vehicle is a bicycle. My wife and I just make a conscious decision to downsize our home. I don't want to fly first class, because I don't want to fly at all.
What should I do?
Here are three ways I'm thinking about this currently:
Instead of fighting against these biases, use judo. Instead of trying to swim upstream, try to divert the flow in a positive direction.
"Everyone is an authority on something," my friend Jarrod Drysdale explains, "show your accomplishments." If you've written for Time Magazine, put the logo on your website. If you won the 2013 State Science Fair, put that in your byline. Worked with a big-name customer? Ask them for a testimonial.
Jeffrey Zeldman's studio site strikes a good balance between displaying his accolades and showing how he can help his customers.
Being known as the person who helps others is the best reputation you can have.
Commit yourself to care for people: listen to them, observe their struggles, and offer them something of value.
These will be small wins, but over time these acts of kindness add up.
Again, I like how my buddy Jarrod puts it: "Even if you aren't famous, you can still build trust by helping individuals one at a time."
You're not Michael Jordan and you're not Donald Trump.
Thankfully, helping people in a genuine way cuts through all cognitive biases. Stay focused on that, and you'll win the affection of many.
Cheers,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
Image by Mike Mozart.
Further reading: