Language and Moral Decision Making
Imagine you are on a bridge, and see a runaway train shooting down the railway tracks towards five workers who are unable to hear or see the train coming. A large man is sitting on the bridge, and if you push him off (killing him but stopping the train early) you can save the five people. Would you push him to save five people? Now imagine the same scenario, with a runaway train about to hit five workers. But this time, you are at the side of the tracks, and by pulling a switch you can change the direction of the train. However, there is one worker on the other set of tracks that would end...
Read MoreWhat’s behind the pole?
Want to know what’s in the above picture? Scroll down to find out! Curiosity Based E-marketing What is it?: Curiosity based E-marketing is a tactic that takes advantage of natural human curiosity in order to draw attention to your product or service. Where it works best: The best time to use curiosity based tactics is when trying to attract potential customers to view your product or service, be it a website, social media page or blog. Therefore, using the tactic on website banners, social media advertisements, and similar mediums, tends to produce the best results. How you can use it: When...
Read MoreHow to Manipulate Men
One goal of many marketing campaigns is to convince potential customers to either sign up for a service or purchase a product. If your product is not a “need” like water or food, you are essentially hoping they will “want” it right away. This is associated with short-term-oriented thinking. Luckily, it is very easy to convince men to make short-term-oriented decisions. In almost all animals, there are mechanisms in the brain controlling an individual’s chances of valuing present gains over future gains. For example when the wings of worker bees wear, or when they get an infectious disease...
Read MoreWhy Age Matters
When deciding on whether or not to purchase a product, do you prefer: 1. Knowing lots of information about the product? Or 2. Knowing that lots of people use and like the product? If you picked option 1, you are probably over 30 years old. If you picked option 2, you are probably under 30. When designing an online marketing campaign it is very important that you take the age of your target market into account. Dr. Nelson Barber at the University of New Hampshire researched the differences in consumer habits between generation X and Y [see During Critical…] Generation X are those born between...
Read MoreColour and the Brain (part 3 of 3) – Which Colours to Use
This is Calm This is Passionate This is Forbidding Do you think the above statements go with the colours they are written in? Probably not if you are from a Western culture. If you have read the two previous parts of this 3-part post, you have learned about how our preferences for colours are most likely due to a combination of genetics, life-experience, culture, and immediate environment. Applying this to your e-marketing campaign can be difficult. The first thing you need to decide is: What cultural groups are part of your target market? Cultural...
Read MoreColour and the Brain (part 2 of 3) – Colour Preference
Imagine a bottle of dark brown and olive green liquid. Now imagine a bottle of light blue liquid. Which would you prefer to drink? Most people would answer the light blue liquid. And in this blog post we will attempt to explain why. Lets start by asking: What is Colour? Colour is our brain’s interpretation of light. Our eyes focus light through the lens onto the retina. There, rods and cones (light-sensitive photoreceptor cells) absorb the light. Cones are essentially what perceive colour, and are sensitive to wavelengths of visible light which we perceive as red green and blue. Our neuronal...
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