BrainFuel

Learn about the four signs that indicate ineffective communication strategies, including not knowing the vision, not knowing the stakeholders, targeting everyone, and not measuring the work. Explore the importance of tailoring messaging for childhood vaccinations and setting measurable goals for behavior change. Discover how using a dashboard can enhance communication and the value of asking quality questions.

Are you an idiot magnet? Todays episode is a short and sweet one following the excitement of the Unleash Your Inner Rebel conference led by Advita Patel.  The day was headlined by Thomas Erickson, author & behavioural scientist and Sam McAllister, Broadcaster & soon to be Netflix star with many other incredible speakers.  It was a day about leading change – it offered a huge amount from both a personal and professional perspective.  We ran the behavioural science session so folk could get going in this wonderful stuff and get active in making positive change.  You may tell when listening we were very excited! And sorry I think I mispronounce the name of the Unleash Your Inner Rebel conference is my haste to share the many insights from the day. Listen in for a dose of inspiration and to challenge your thinking so you can accelerate change.   Quote “If you cannot communicate you cannot lead!” Thomas Erickson, Author & Behavioural Scientist   3 AHA moments  Own your decisions especially those made in moments of change. If you think someone is an idiot maybe you need to reflect on your need to right. You don’t influence people by being right, you influence people by listening.   Timestamps  Are you really surrounded by idiots? (1:36) Leadership is a communication process. (3:08) The problem with confusing clever words with personality. (5:17) Own your decisions when things don't go right. (6:53) Leaving the BBC to write her book. (8:45) Behavioural Science Workshop. (10:17) The importance of having a framework. (11:51) Two fab quotes (14:04)     Links Unleash your Inner Rebel   Want your team to get on the same page around behavioural science? Book a call with Ruth to discuss your needs.

* disclaimer* written by AI In this episode, we welcome Phil Barden author of Decoded and Owner & MD of Decode marketing consultancy. There are exciting developments happening at Decode, a consultancy focused on applying behavioral science to marketing. We talk about how Decode has incorporated AI into their work, specifically in the area of human vision and testing creative artwork. The AI developed by Decode has been trained using 15,000 hours of human eye tracking video and has achieved an accuracy of nearly 99%, replicating human vision. This AI can analyze videos and static images in minutes, providing insights on areas of interest, legibility of text, reading time, word familiarity, visual complexity, and even memorability.   The book "Decoded" written by Phil, the founder of Decode, is praised for its valuable insights and case studies that apply behavioral science to marketing strategies.  We chat about how that understanding goals and motivations is crucial in developing effective marketing strategies, and that Decode's approach helps bridge the gap between engagement and application of this knowledge in marketing campaigns.   Timestamp: Phil’s most memorable marketing moment. (2:36) Why do you not believe in change? (6:48) How to link goals and motivations to the value proposition? (9:05) How to link the value chain. (14:24) Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. (16:48) Creative effectiveness measure at scale fast. (21:38) Solving a real problem in marketing. (23:31) Optimising the implementation gap. (28:35) Why writing in capitals makes it harder to read? (31:40)

In this episode we welcome Advita Patel to the studio. Advita is the founder of Comms Rebel, a consultancy that helps organisations cultivate inclusive cultures through effective communication. She is also an experienced confidence coach and the co-founder of A Leader Like Me and Comms Edged Rebels. Vita shares her journey and discusses her book, "How to Build a Culture of Inclusivity," which focuses on building a culture of inclusivity through effective internal communication for diversity, equity, and inclusion. But that's not all! Advita is also organizing a remarkable event called InnerRebel 2023, an inclusive Manchester-based event dedicated to doing things differently in the world of work. Advita's frustration with attending events that lacked diversity and different perspectives led her to create the Underrepresented Speaker List, which features over 180 names of individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences. InnerRebel 2023 aims to showcase what a great inclusive event looks like, featuring high-energy speakers and topics that challenge the status quo. The event boasts an impressive line-up of keynotes, including Thomas Erickson, the author of "Surrounded by Idiots," a book on human behaviuor and communication; Sam McAllister, the ex-Newsnight producer known for bringing controversial figures to TV; and Nisha Katona, the founder of Mowgli restaurants, who will share her inspiring journey of humanizing leadership. Alongside these keynote sessions, the will be there running a workshop on behavioural science in marketing! Advita is kindly offering listeners to the show a 20% discount 💪🏿💪🏿🔥🔥 Unleash Your Inner Rebel 2023 takes place on Wednesday 14th June 2023 in Manchester. Check out the agenda at https://www.commsrebel.com/events/unleash-your-inner-rebel Use coupon code: RebelRebel20  Come say hi!   

It's one thing for you to love behavioural science. To read the books , get some training and get going - but you need to take your team and stakeholders with you. This weeks episode explains how to do that. The idea is based on a decades experience selling in to public health as the lone marketer in the team and selling in to the corporate comms team. A double whammy of selling in - selling up and pushing the vision.  See what you think! Let us know! If it peaks your interest the final one-day Bootcamp training until the Autumn is on June 7th 2023. Come see what you're missing!    

Today's episode explains what behavioural science is in 3 fun ways. Listen in to understand behavioural science from different perspectives. This is the question many people want to ask but don't because you feel like you should know. Enjoy!  

  This episode is an interview Nancy Harut author of Using Behavioral Science in Marketing and co-founder and chief creative officer at marketing agency HBT.  Quote from Nancy “all of us really are our choice architects, when you think about it, there really is no neutral way to present information, you know, how information is presented, influences how people decide about it. And that's, that's essentially the core of choice architecture, how you present, you know, options or choices, determines or influences, see decisions people make about them.”   Three Aha Moments Nancy highlights how behavioural science tells us people use shortcuts top make decisions and they will follow automatic, instinctive reflective responses. As marketers we need to add this understanding into our strategies and creative executions.  To do this (esp if you have no market research) ask why your audience may not want to do what you need them to do. What will they lose of they don’t do it? What is stopping them. Then look to see which of the behavioural science strategies can help you reframe or overcome this barrier. For example if you need to build trust and people don’t know you then the authority bias is a good start. (Nancy includes 25 principles in her book).  We are all choice architects.  Whether you like it or not how you frame and the words you choose influence people so you may as well be sure you are influencing them positively in the right way.    Nancy’s Book Influence by Robert B Cialdini Link to Nancy’s own book – MUST READ   Using Behavioral Science in Marketing by Nancy Harhut   Chapters 4:19 The importance of behavioural science in marketing. The barriers and levers in a creative brief. The best arguments to overcome barriers to do something.   6:25 Three reasons why someone may not want to buy a product.   8:15 The importance of market research and customer testimonials.     11:05 Loss aversion and the endowment effect. The biggest mistake in health.     13:27 Nancy shares one of her favourite client case studies. What is Choice Architecture and how does it work?   15:15 How to get a triple digit increase in meeting attendance. What is choice architecture in messaging, and why it matters.   18:36 One book that changed Nancy's life   Bootcamp News The next Behaviour Change Marketing Bootcamp is on the 7th June 2023. The Early bird ends 1st May.

This episode explores 'Beat the Street' a behaviour change game that gets people up and moving, connecting and has a little bit of competition thrown in to help motivate people to keep playing. Katherine Knight former Head of Communications for women’s football at the FA and now Director of Intelligent Health shares how this behaviour change game is helping reduce health inequalities whilst also encouraging people to have fun. Beat the Street has been run in 150+ towns across England and also internationally. Three Aha Moments 1) Beat the Street works because the focus is on small, everyday changes people can do for themselves. It celebrates and rewards these changes. 2) Beat the Street is a public health consultant’s dream behaviour change intervention because it tackles multiple determinants of health inequalities including moving more and connecting with towns and countryside and it focuses on the most vulnerable and it provides the data! 3) Beat the Street works because it is driven by engagement & behavioural science, the start focuses on bringing people together to plan together to ensure they get it right for their town.   Quote from Katherine “We're not trying to make them play football or stop lacrosse, we're trying to get them to make those small changes in their environment and own them and feel like and be able to celebrate the fact that change they've done rather than it's been done to them.”   The book that changed Katherine's life • Utopia for realists: and how we can get there by Roger Bregman Links • Beat the Street https://www.intelligenthealth.co.uk/programmes/beat-the-street/   Chapters 2:26 The importance of understanding the audience.4:28 What is Beat the Street? -.9:02 How do you make people feel safer in their town?13:23 How do you engage with communities to get a project started?16:22 What’s next for Beat the Street?18:48 One book that has changed Catherine’s life.21:30 What’s coming up at the Bootcamp.   🧠The June Behaviour Change Marketing Bootcamp half price early-bird finishes on the 1st May 2023. Click here to grab one of the few spots left.

Today's episode is for busy communicators and changemakers who have very little time to scope a project and get to know their audience. You may be firefighting incoming requests, or were simply brought in too late to do the level of audience understanding you would like to. But playing this simple game can really help. The Who Am I Game Answer all questions as though you are the person. Have fun with it. Step into their shoes. Who am I - step inside of their skin.  Where am I when I perform the behaviour change When do I do it? Why do I do it?  What must I overcome to get it? Think of a dragon...who or what is your audience's dragon? What barrier stands in their way? Remember this is about understanding where you fit in their life and having a go at understanding their motivator not your product benefits. This episode also includes a quick tip: stop talking about behavioural science with your stakeholders. If you are having trouble getting buy-in use the words decisions. I need to understand the decisions people need to influence. Then explore those decisions in the Who Am I? game.     To delve deep into behaviour change join likeminded souls at the June Bootcamp. This will be last one until October 2023. The early bird is tweeting away - its a whooping 50% saving. Don't miss out!    

This episode welcomes Melina Palmer to talk about her new book "What your employees need and can't tell you". She has also published "What your customer wants and can't tell you." Melina is an applied behavioural economist with a passion for helping people use behavioural economics aka behavioural science. In the episode we explore the difference between behavioural economics and behavioural science and Melina explains in a fun, engaging way how change is like riding an elephant and what to do when you smell cookies. Melina runs the global consultancy The Brainy Business, teaches  behavioural economics and hosts the incredible podcast The Brainy Business. Timestamps 6:25 What is the difference between behavioural economics and behavioural science? 10:10 Change doesn't have to be bad 12:05 How to brace for change at work 14:51 Why reducing the cognitive load is so important 19:17 Deadlines deadlines deadlines 21:34 It's not about the cookies 24:00 How to use behavioural economics to get people to buy in to your idea Quote from Melina  "So in your brain, you have that logical conscious writer that has a plan, you know, where you're supposed to go, what you want to do the best way to get there, you're set, however, you are at the mercy of the elephant, which if it wants to, like run in another direction, or just sit down and not do anything, you can't push or pull or logic it to do what you want it to do." Melina Palmer Three aha moments🧠 One: Cognitive load is everything. Why do we keep on pushing out more and more information on people during stress times? Melina explains the importance of cognitive load and the importance of not tipping into it when you are leading change management. Two: It's not the change - it's how you communicate it. Melina shares a fantastic example of cookies to illustrate how the way the change is presented is the as - if not more - important that the change itself. (or cookie!) Three: We are all elephant riders trying to calm our brains! A lovely way to understand system 1 and system 2. Where is your elephant taking you...?   The book that changed Melina's life A more beautiful question.  The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas by Warren Berger   Useful links Free chapter:  ➡️ https://thebrainybusiness.com/ruth - use this link to get the first chapter of What your employees need but can't tell you free plus you will find all of Melina's podcast episodes here. They are all worth a listen!   Don't forget the next Behaviour Change Marketing  Bootcamp is on the 7th June 2023 and it's currently half price via the Earlybird!  https://www.socialinsightmarketing.co.uk/bootcamp