Article by John Hotson – President, Clearwater Communications, Toronto, Canada

When creating the messaging for your next marketing campaign, company newsletter or lecture to your children, take some time to consider the mindset of the recipient of that message. You may be overlooking some very important facts about how your audience feels about what you are about to say.

If it’s Not What I Believe – I Don’t Want to Hear It!

Fifty-five years ago the Ford Foundation in conjunction with the University of Minnesota undertook a study that revolutionized the way we think about communications. The focus of the study was “communication and social influence”. The scope was broad and ranged from the effects of mass media on individuals to how we interpret interpersonal communication.

The theory that evolved from the study was that when an individual is exposed to information that is inconsistent with his or her own strongly held beliefs, that information is perceived as noise or “dissonance” so grating to the belief system that it is rejected and never accepted as real information. The resulting tension motivates the individual to change either their behavior or attitudes. All humans face dissonance when their behavior does not match their self-concept. Simply put, it is very stressful for me as an individual to do or accept something that I see as being at odds with my belief system or the way I think about myself.

Conversely people will readily accept information that fits with the way they already feel.

Thus was born the theory of Cognitive Dissonance or CD (“an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously”)(1). It is a principle that to this day informs professional communicators as to how people will respond to various types of communications.
In addition, the study introduced CD’s cousin Post-Cognitive Dissonance or PCD, which is the study of how people respond to information having just made a decision.

I’m Sure I Made the Right Decision

PCD is most prevalent with large lifestyle purchases such as luxury cars or boats.
The Ford Foundation study highlighted three interesting things for those who had just purchased a car:
1) New car owners would read many more ads about the car they just bought than about other cars. 
2) New car owners would tend to avoid reading ads about cars they considered but did not purchase. 
3) New car ads that emphasize all the attractive features of the latest model would barely reduce the dissonance that may still exist in the owner of a car that was (say) two years old.
PCD suggests that we seek out and accept information that fits with the way we already feel.

The effects of Cognitive Dissonance however, go way beyond the issues surrounding materialistic decision-making.

It Could Never Happen Here

Let me leave you with a more sobering thought as to the significance of this topic as put forward by Armstrong Williams, commentator and columnist.

“There is a strong argument to be made that the massive national security disaster of September 11, 2001 was not primarily a failure of planning, bureaucratic coordination, or vigilance by either the Clinton or Bush administrations. Instead, the root cause of the American failure on 9/11 was psychological. That is, the American national security establishment simply could not absorb, process, and filter data regarding threats so fundamentally at odds with its post-Cold War mind set and conceptual framework.” (2)

Perhaps more than anything else, the U.S. calamity of September 11 can be attributed to the blind eye and selective hearing of Cognitive Dissonance.

Take Away

Cognitive Dissonance suggests that communication may go a lot deeper than we think.

• Changing people’s opinions causes stress, and even though your intentions may be pure, you will encounter resistance that is irrational and illogical. Recognize that you are tampering with peoples’ reality, and changing that requires time and patience.
• People who buy your products, like your stock or will take out the garbage without being told represent your best opportunity for success. Don’t forget to prioritize them when it comes time to set out on your next marketing campaign.
• Some people may never “get it”. Try to identify them quickly and move on. You may have to find another means of getting the trash to the street.

1. Wikipedia: June – 2009
2. Quote: Armstrong Williams

John Hotson
Clearwater Communications
2009

Business building is different in the B2B world. For small to mid-sized B2B endeavours, your client base will be almost exclusively derived from referrals & networking. If you do something significantly different from your competitors, then nobody goes looking for what you do. The flip side is to offer what your competitors do, and have little differentiation. A tough choice. We'll assume you've decided that your vision will eventually prevail, and you take the road less travelled.  The primary challenge is then addressing the lack of awareness of the type of services/products offered. Building this awareness must be at the heart of the business development efforts. There are five distinct tactics to help achieve this:

Networking
1. Aggressive networking in organizations that either directly comprise the target markets, or where membership provides access to the target markets. This typically occurs in one of two manners:

a. Membership consists of practitioners with similar target markets (e.g. other management & business consultants).

b. Membership consists of a professional strata (e.g. CEOs, Sales Mgrs) with good representation in target sectors

Strategic Partners
2. Partnering with other companies aimed at the same target markets, to augment combined capabilities & leverage combined contact base. This of course presumes:

Target Marketing
3. Targeted focus for initiatives & business development programs (includes build awareness, contacts & cold calls) to most attractive & receptive markets.

Public Relations
4. Public relations, articles, interviews, speaking engagements and seminars, and/or exposure in venues composed primarily of targeted individuals or organizations.

Sub-contracting
5. Build awareness & relationship with other companies as a sub-contractor. While these companies may be construed as competitors, they also provide the opportunity to be introduced into targeted markets. The goal here is twofold:

a. Seize immediate revenue generating opportunities, even if not under your name (i.e. ‘white labeled' services presented as those of the contractor)

b. Build trust and relationship strength with competitors for future referral potential. The ability to be a specialized resource can be appealing to them once a trust factor is established.

The key to this latter technique is that if your truly have a unique offering, then there are no competitors - merely other companies working the same space. The quality of your services, combined with your integrity while dealing with their contacts, could win you a long-term strategic partner.

And it's all about the long term... isn't it?