Influential Secret that Can Change Your Results
Expose Yourself!
OK, not that way…
What is the point of advertising?
The desired outcome of advertising is to get attention, then interest, then resonance….then have the right person to take action.
Ever notice how the first time you listen to a song, unless it’s by a group or performer you really like…the song is…probably heard as “OK.” It isn’t until you’ve listened to it a half dozen times that you’ve really “started to like it.”
I made salmon this week for a friend. First time she’d ever had it. I told her, “It’s like wine and new music. It takes four or five experiences before you like it a lot.”
Sound familiar?
Familiar? For almost everyone.
For some of people, getting attention is instant and easy. Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift, Austin Butler.
They walk in a room and the moment someone sees them everything and everyone else disappears. Why?
They are all well known and have had exposure and visibility for quite some time. Trump or Biden walk into a room (and now there should be a punchline but there isn’t) and all eyes instantly are on the man.
The first lesson of course is that it is very hard to hold attention unless you or a product is already familiar to a group or individual.
The Mere Exposure Effect
The most under-rated principle in social psychology.
Abundant research shows that people’s judgment and attitudes are completely altered toward people they begin to see regularly.
This is the genesis of office romances and neighborhood friendships:
Proximity.
Who’s two doors down?
In the dorm, in the office. Doesn’t matter.
(With some exceptions…) They will like each other very soon.
It’s unavoidable.
It’s all in the hard wiring of human behavior.
It’s called the “MEE” or Mere Exposure Effect.
Simply being exposed to something (generally) or someone predicts whether you’ll like it more next time.
The prediction…. is “yes” you will. (and with one category of exceptions this almost always holds true…)
And that’s important for you, your face, your product and your service.
But there is a catch that I’ll get to later…it doesn’t always work. There is ONE instance where exposure actually destroys any chance of making that sale. I’ll get to that at the end of the article.
For now, let’s look at some of the stuff that impresses….
The Mere Exposure Effect is Unreasonably Powerful
For example: Common names like “Johnson” in the United States, receive higher ratings for liking the PERSON than do uncommon names. Now that isn’t fair or right or reasonable.
Marketing and selling begins with name/face/product recognition.
It begins with making yourself familiar to the market.
Someone asked me once if they should put their picture on their business card.
What do you think the answer should be?
OF COURSE.
The MEE demands that you do.
The MEE demands that you burn the image of your face into the minds of your potential customers.
And your letterhead and even the envelope you’re sending that piece of mail in.
Legend Point: When people become familiar with your face they are much more likely to do business with you when they see you in the flesh.
This fact of life has been studied so carefully that we know precisely how to utilize it to gain the right amount of exposure over time and how much time to use in the moment.
Imagine that you do a television spot for your product or service. It runs 24/7. All day and night. (Pretend you just won the television lottery.)
You going to be able to sell your product or service?
To a channel surfer?
Maybe.
To someone who watched the old TV shows on your new channel?
No.
You can get too much of a good thing…even you and me.
And we’ll come back here….
So you know…. for those of you on limited budgets – the more people see you or your product the more they are going to like you.
That’s a pretty useful fact.
What’s more important is that you don’t have to be doing *anything*.
It’s the mere exposure.
That’s it.
Legend Point: And the SHORTER duration of each exposure to you, the MORE they are going to like you (compared to the same number of LONGER durations).
Really?
Really.
Stop: Read it AGAIN.
Now that’s the first key. You’d rather have 1000 people watch a 15 second commercial about you or your product than you would a 30 second commercial.
Scary thought?
Thought so.
Totally counterintuitive… as are most factors in persuasion which is why the average person gets 10% to say “yes” and we get the other 90%….
Legend Point: Next factor is that Complex stuff is far more likely to be liked and more intensely than simple stuff.
And just what does THAT mean??!!….
So a complex painting is going to get a much bigger positive hit than a simple painting and so on.
More important?
Complex stuff doesn’t have as much reduction in liking when it gets “overexposed.” Simple stuff/people/products do.
Most amazingly, the shorter the duration you see something the more you like it when asked your opinion!
Subliminally “viewed” things are almost a sure-thing bet to be liked/effective triggers because the exposure is less than one second.
More interesting?
Legend Point: The longer the duration between seeing the person/product and the person being asked about it, the MORE they like it! (This is true up to about one week between seeing something and being asked about it. Then it QUICKLY drops.)
The more aware a person is of the stimulus…the less they like it (thought they still like it more than not seeing it at all).
Now here is something *very* cool.
Things or people that are imagined are also liked more…almost as much as those things in the real world!
Generally speaking what is happening with all this is this:
When someone sees something or someone for the first time, it might be met with excitement or fear.
(Remember dating? your stomach could get twisted in knots…feel sick to your stomach… but you couldn’t wait for the phone to ring or the girl to show at the front door.)
Excitement and fear are essentially the same set of feelings interpreted by the brain in different ways.
So anyway, there is a lot of arousal (a psychological term…generally NOT referring to what YOU are thinking….though sometimes it does…)…a lot of feeling…or emotions around something.
We see it again later and we like it more than something or someone else presented at the same time.
So if you saw Kyla walking home from work today (you heard her name in conversation) and then you saw Kyla and Keira tomorrow, you almost always would like Kyla more…and you almost certainly would feel more comfortable with Kyla.
It’s in the wiring.
And in fact, the next few times you see Kyla, you like her more and more. Usually 5-9 times and then she “peaks.”
Yup, and then you’ll still like Kyla…and you’ll like her more than Keira but you won’t like Kyla as much as you did the previous time you saw her.
The factor?
Boredom.
Dang. Our potentially perfect world has a kink in it….
How can you stop the regression?
You can’t unless the person, product, picture, etc… is complex…then the liking stays much higher but still experiences some regression.
Legend Point: If you want the person to take action…to buy your product…to say “yes,” to the hot date…or whatever it is you are marketing/selling….you’ll want to think about the number seven.
It’s about the seventh exposure that YOU PEAK.
That includes the business card, the quick mention on TV, brushing past her in the corridor, etc.
In fact, sometimes the peak happens as early as number FIVE.
In the Science of Influence: 37-48, I elaborate in detail how to apply the research that has been done in advertising. It takes a couple of hours (CD’s) and I won’t bother to replicate here. (NO that is not a subtle hint to get 37-48…it is a very strong nudge….)
Suffice it to say: Your message has a saturation effect. Your exposure also needs to be out there at least weekly or you can forget the value of the MEE.
Most importantly realize that as you put yourself or your product out there and expose people to your face or your product, they like you/it more…and you don’t even have to demonstrate it….
Now…demonstration?
That’s a pretty fascinating factor in persuasion as well…and we’ll cover it next time.
BODY LANGUAGE: Decoding, Interpreting & Mastering Non-Verbal Communication
with body language expert Kevin Hogan
This is a Complete Home Study Course. (A portion of this course is interactive with your computer!)
The Advanced Home Study Course in Analyzing Nonverbal Communication!
When you discover the secrets of body language, you can be the one who:
- Never gets lied to
- Knows when they are attracted to you
- Knows when they are uncomfortable
- Is in control 100% of the time!
The exact same nonverbal communication that gets people to buy from you are the same ones that get them to buy you. Whether you want to master body language to make the sale or get the girl (or guy) this program reveals all the secret codes hidden for so long! Absolutely no one has all of this information. Period. My proprietary research (which you are going to receive!) brings you to the cutting edge of having people fall in love with you in literally a matter of seconds.
You are going to discover what really gets the sale, the promotion, and what seals or kills the deal.
Between 60% and 75% of all of your communication is nonverbal. Are you attracting or repelling people around you? Are you making every sale you could be? How are people reading you?
In the first four seconds people will make judgments about you:
- I will or will not buy from this person.
- I will or will not like this person.
- I find this person kind, or not.
- I find this person intelligent or not.
And now for the most amazing part of the course: 6 CDs and Video are INTERACTIVE with our secret website filled with photographs to analyze!
You move through a catalog of photographs and nuance by nuance analyze the small lines, wrinkles, facial expressions, hand and body placement. All these details are explained to you by body language expert, Kevin Hogan.
The first two introductory CDs are geared toward helping you make an incredible impression in those first four seconds. This advanced portion of the home study course is all about the other person! Now you can discover whether they are lying or not. You can find out the cues of annoyance, covering hidden feelings, and whether they like you or not.
You are going to learn to read people in virtually an instant. Kevin will introduce you to what he does when The New York Post, First for Women, Cosmopolitan, Playboy, The Star, Maxim, Success, Selling Power and the rest of the media call!
Over the past two years we’ve collected over 100 pictures of celebrities that he has analyzed for the media. Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, The Sex and the City girls, Drew Barrymore, Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Beyonce Knowles, Liz Hurley, Pamela Anderson, Stephen Spielberg, and dozens more.
As you progress through the course, you will become proficient at reading and analyzing body language! And of course, I’m giving you the keys to my password-protected secret website with over 100 photos of the stars ready to analyze!
This is a complete seminar in reading, decoding and interpreting body language from the source. Nothing is missing and YOU have access!
You will receive my complete analysis of EVERY PHOTOGRAPH on Six (6)additional Digital Audio CDs (8 total in this course!) Your Secret Password to the Hidden Website for the Interactive Photo Gallery will come with your package.
