Introduction to Framing
Melina Palmer: Welcome to episode 16 of The Brainy Business, understanding the psychology of why people buy.
Melina Palmer: Ready? Let’s get started.
Announcer: You are listening to The Brainy Business podcast, where we dig into the psychology of why people buy and help you incorporate behavioral economics into your business, making it more brain friendly.
Announcer: Now here’s your host, Melina Palmer.
Melina Palmer: Hello everyone.
Melina Palmer: My name is Melina Palmer and I want to welcome you to The Brainy Business podcast.
Melina Palmer: I’ve really been enjoying digging into the foundations of behavioral economics with all of you, and today will be no different.
Melina Palmer: In the past few weeks, we’ve talked about loss, aversion, anchoring and adjustment, relativity, scarcity and availability.
Melina Palmer: And today, today we’re going to get into one of, my favorite concepts, framing.
Podcast Review and Shout-Outs
Melina Palmer: But before I get to that, it’s time for some shout outs.
Melina Palmer: First, there is a new five star review on the podcast.
Melina Palmer: This review is from Laura Curry and is titled, if you are a human who buys or sells, you need this podcast.
Melina Palmer: That is very nice of you to say. Thank you, Laura.
Melina Palmer: Their review reads, whether you are aware of it or not, behavioral economics plays into marketing, communication, choices and your everyday life.
Melina Palmer: Melina breaks the concepts down into easy to understand and apply or avoid strategies for business owners and consumers alike.
Melina Palmer: Great podcast. This is also true, and you’re absolutely right, Laura.
Melina Palmer: I was actually recently a guest on Laura’s podcast, Difficult Happens, which is all about helping people to be better communicators in life and work.
Melina Palmer: And like me, she’s all about understanding the brain and how it impacts our lives.
Melina Palmer: We had a lot of fun on this episode. I was the guest on episode 29, which I have linked to in the show notes here.
Melina Palmer: If you want to check it out, I recommend giving it a listen as we had a lot of laughs and interesting insights throughout.
Melina Palmer: I’m sure you’re going to love it. Thanks again for the stellar review, Laura, and for having me on difficult happens.
Navigating Show Notes and Connecting on Social Media
Melina Palmer: I have already mentioned quite a few episodes and called out the show notes directly, so I wanted to take a second and just mention what they are and where they are.
Melina Palmer: For anybody who is new to the podcast, and for any of you who are new, welcome.
Melina Palmer: Happy to have you here. If you hear me say something that makes you think, “I should look that up,” you should check the show notes first because I have probably already done the heavy lifting for you and linked there.
Melina Palmer: While I’m not going to mention the show notes every single time, because, you know, I honestly, I link to a lot of stuff, I want to make sure you know where to find them.
Melina Palmer: You can find those within the podcast app you are listening to or by visiting thebrainybusiness.com 16 because this is episode 16 and as a note that is using the digits one six instead of writing out the word thank you to Scott Hall for your question, as you were trying to get to the right page on the website to check out, show notes for a different episode and download your free worksheet.
Melina Palmer: I always appreciate when people let me know what’s working and what isn’t, so I can make sure to keep the good stuff coming and fix the snafus when they come up.
Melina Palmer: So if you, my beloved listener, ever have a question or a thought or a comment, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
Melina Palmer: You can email me melina@thebrainybusiness.com or give me a shout on social media. I’m the brainy biz pretty much everywhere.
Melina Palmer: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and would love to chat with you there. Again, that’s the brainy biz b I z.
Melina Palmer: And if you don’t yet like The Brainy Business on social media, please do.
Melina Palmer: We would love to have you join the conversation and you can check out the amazing adventures of Brain and I. For example, Brain and I recently got back from Little Rock, Arkansas at, the Arkansas Bankers association mega conference.
Melina Palmer: I had the honor of being a speaker there and it was a really fantastic time.
Melina Palmer: A huge shout out to Cami, Jessica, Tracy,
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Melina Palmer: Brenda and the whole team at ABA.
Melina Palmer: You put on a fantastic conference and I was so happy to be part of it.
Melina Palmer: And as everyone on my Instagram saw, Brain had a lot of fun playing with all the mega cool eighties themed toys around the event.
Melina Palmer: Thanks again for bringing me in to speak to your group and facilitate the marketing panel.
Melina Palmer: Another shout out to Amanda, Roger, and Stacy who did an amazing, awesome, fantastic job on the panel.
Melina Palmer: I love getting to share behavioral economics with audiences of all kinds and help people to understand how the brain’s processing impacts their business with lots of fun and humor.
Speaker Video and Website Updates
Melina Palmer: I am actually flying out this weekend to Portland, Maine to lead an all day training for a credit union and look forward to even more fun while I am there.
Melina Palmer: If you have an event coming up or know someone who plans events and is looking for different and engaging speakers, I would love if you would make an introduction or a recommendation.
Melina Palmer: Did you see my speaker video is finished and up on social media and on my website.
Melina Palmer: I’m gonna have a, link to that in the show notes as well.
Melina Palmer: And, well, hopefully the new website will be up by the time this airs.
Melina Palmer: I’m recording a few days in advance. It’s, supposed to be going up this week, and that’s gonna showcase some shots from that video on the homepage and have the new video within.
Melina Palmer: I’m really excited.
Acknowledgments for Podcast Production
Melina Palmer: Just a couple of shoutouts and thank yous on that before I get into the meat of the episode.
Melina Palmer: First, to Jesse of Cinematic Syndicate, who shot and edited the video.
Melina Palmer: I think it turned out great and appreciate all the hard work you put into this project.
Melina Palmer: Another shout out to Justin from 52 Card Media, whom I have thanked on a previous episode.
Melina Palmer: He did my logo and his company did the website redesign as well. It looks so amazing.
Melina Palmer: I am just beyond excited to share that with the world.
Melina Palmer: And one more here to Jennifer of Jennifer Findlay Portraits. Thank you for my amazing headshots.
Melina Palmer: I loved working with you. The photos turned out amazing. I love using them in my images.
Melina Palmer: They look awesome in the website and the video and all over social. Just thank you so much.
Melina Palmer: There are links to each of these businesses in the show notes if you want to look into working with them too.
Melina Palmer: They are all awesome. Tell them Melina sent you and I know you will not be disappointed.
Melina Palmer: You will love them if you end up, having the opportunity to work with any of those amazing people.
Melina Palmer: Lastly, to the eWomen Network, Seattle and Snohomish county chapter, thank you for letting me film my speaking engagement and get some great shots.
Melina Palmer: And to all the attendees for being willing to be on video and for being such a great group, thank you.
Melina Palmer: I appreciate you all. And you know that goes to you too, my listener.
Melina Palmer: I appreciate you more than I can say. Thank you for tuning in and sharing with your friends and coworkers or peers, or family, whomever.
Melina Palmer: It’s because of you that The Brainy Business is now has over five, thousand downloads of the podcast in 63 countries.
Melina Palmer: Thank you. Thank you for everybody who’s been tuning in. Just everything.
Melina Palmer: I can’t even express how much it means to me and to Brain.
Melina Palmer: Brain appreciates it as well as you’ve seen on social media.
Understanding the Concept of Framing
Melina Palmer: Okay, one last reminder before we dig into framing.
Melina Palmer: Don’t forget that because this is a foundational episode, there is a free worksheet available for you to download on the same page of the website with the show notes.
Melina Palmer: That is thebrainybusiness.com 16. You, can simply click on the image near the top of the page.
Melina Palmer: There’s also a link there. You can go ahead and download it now to follow along with as you’re listening or through the episode.
Melina Palmer: Or you can use it after. It’s there as a tool to help you understand the concept and ways to apply it in your business, which is why we’re here.
Melina Palmer: And thank you, Betsy Talbott, for your comment on LinkedIn, about how you really appreciate and like seeing and having the worksheets, the freebies.
Melina Palmer: That means so much to me. I’m really happy to hear that.
Melina Palmer: It obviously takes some extra work to create those for everyone, and I am glad that you’re finding value in those.
Melina Palmer: Okay, I think that’s it. Let’s talk about framing.
Melina Palmer: I’m ready to talk about framing. I hope you’re ready to hear about it.
Melina Palmer: So, when you think of a frame, you probably think about pictures. That’s what most of us think about.
Melina Palmer: So if you
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Melina Palmer: were to take a beautiful painting, your favorite one, something amazing, and you put it in a really terrible, gross frame, how would that impact your experience and your ability to enjoy the artwork itself?
Melina Palmer: What if, in the reverse, what if you took a really terrible painting and framed it beautifully?
Melina Palmer: I don’t know what magazines you like or subscribe to, but I have two that I absolutely love.
Melina Palmer: Real Simple and HGTV Magazine. I’m, all about craftiness and home decor, so I really appreciate how they combine expensive items with flea market finds or other affordable do it yourself projects to help people have a beautiful home on a budget.
Melina Palmer: It’s not uncommon in their pages to see generic prints or wallpaper put into a nice frame and turned into a really beautiful photo wall that can change an entire room.
Melina Palmer: It looks expensive and has a great impact, even though the items inside the frames might be worth a few cents or even just a few dollars.
Melina Palmer: Think back to when you were in high school. Did you put posters on your wall? I know I did.
Melina Palmer: As did many of my friends personally. I was an NSYNC fan.
Melina Palmer: I had the posters of a few boy bands throughout my walls.
Melina Palmer: And like many teenagers, I stuck them up with tape or pushpins instead of putting them in frames.
Melina Palmer: They always looked a bit ragged and shabby. The corners would peel back, and it was just tacky.
Melina Palmer: I think I knew it then. I definitely know it now.
Melina Palmer: Those posters, the same exact ones, would have looked immediately different if they were in a frame, even just a simple one.
Melina Palmer: But why? Why does a little border around the edge make a difference?
Melina Palmer: In my office today hangs a painting I bought when I lived in Italy.
Melina Palmer: I’ve always loved it, but for a long time, it was hung in a very simple frame.
Melina Palmer: It was not expensive, per se, maybe 15 euro at the time I bought it. Honestly, I don’t know.
Melina Palmer: I don’t know who the artist is, if he ever made it, or what the painting is worth.
Melina Palmer: But it’s important to me, and it has a lot of value because it reminds me of the time I spent in Rome.
Melina Palmer: Side note, listen to episode eight. What is value? To learn more about how that works.
Melina Palmer: Anyway, a couple years ago, I took it in to get it properly framed, which absolutely cost more than the painting itself.
Melina Palmer: Let me tell you. Even though I got a nice discount on it, it is matted really nicely with a double border that brings out the colors in the piece, and it instantly looks like a different painting.
Melina Palmer: It feels better. And people commented on it more when it was hanging in my office than when it had been in the previous frame.
Melina Palmer: Again, compelled to ask you, why? If it’s the same painting, why does the frame matter?
Melina Palmer: It’s because our subconscious brain is evaluating everything very quickly.
Melina Palmer: Remember those 11 million bits of processing per second, looking at all the associations, and it’s using assumptions to make decisions.
Melina Palmer: As, you know, high quality frames or well placed aesthetics means it must be a higher quality piece.
Melina Palmer: Would be that really instant decision that your brain would make. Have you ever seen two?
Melina Palmer: I really love where people will take their children’s artwork and they put it into nice frames and do a collage or a photo wall, and it instantly looks like it’s a really amazing, beautiful piece of art versus you, know, something your child made at school, which is.
Melina Palmer: Could still be a beautiful and amazing piece of art, but it just gives it some gravitas that you don’t get when it’s on a basic sheet of paper or construction paper.
Melina Palmer: Similarly, our brains do the same thing, looking at, you know, the frame all the time, in the way that words, phrases, or numbers are presented often.
Melina Palmer: Most of the time, what, you say is not as important as how you say it.
Melina Palmer: You’ve heard different coaches or people tell you over time.
Melina Palmer: I am sure, you know, whatever percentage of our communication is nonverbal.
Melina Palmer: It’s because of the way that your subconscious brain is scanning the environment.
Melina Palmer: All of this information, tone and facial expressions and whatever it is, all this other stuff makes a difference.
Melina Palmer: And that is a big part
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Melina Palmer: of how framing works. If you have been listening to the show since the beginning, thank you.
Melina Palmer: And I want you to remember back to episode two, the top five wording mistakes businesses make.
Melina Palmer: This is the second most popular episode and really a fan favorite.
Melina Palmer: It’s one of the ones I most often have quoted back to me when I meet fans of the show in person.
Melina Palmer: This actually just happened to me while I was in Little Rock, and the story she remembered and asked me about was related to framing.
The Nail Salon Example: Framing and Outdated Information
Melina Palmer: Do you remember the nail salon example for anyone who doesn’t remember or who hasn’t listened to it yet?
Melina Palmer: One. There’s a link in the show notes, but I’m going to explain that particular concept really quickly again here.
Melina Palmer: This was the example of being too literal. I love my nail salon and, I have not gone anywhere else since I moved to the area almost two years ago.
Melina Palmer: They are friendly and funny and always remember me. I enjoy going in, which is important since I’m there every two weeks.
Melina Palmer: But they have a sign outside their building that has a serious framing problem.
Melina Palmer: It’s one of the problems I see all the time. And really, truly, I mean all the time.
Melina Palmer: Whenever I visit a client’s physical location and there are versions of this on websites and brochures, or really any business I go into, whether they’re a client or not, this comes up in some iteration basically every time I see it beyond all the time.
Melina Palmer: So after all, it made the top five wording mistakes for a reason.
Melina Palmer: It has to be common to be in the top five.
Melina Palmer: So I want you to know not to feel bad if you have this somewhere, because it really is easy to fix and it can make a significant impact.
Melina Palmer: Okay. They have a sign outside their building that reads, voted best in the South Sound 2009, 2010, 2011.
Melina Palmer: Because I’m not sure when you’re going to be listening to this.
Melina Palmer: I think it’s important to let you know what year it is.
Melina Palmer: It is 2018, and the problem with this outdated sign is that it sends a negative message to your subconscious brain, whether you realize it on a conscious level or not.
Melina Palmer: When you see this message in 2018, you don’t think, wow, they must be great.
Melina Palmer: You think, wow, I wonder what happened to make them go downhill for the last seven years.
Melina Palmer: The reason for this ending in 2011 could be legitimate.
Melina Palmer: Maybe the outlet that did the rankings doesn’t make those lists anymore, or they went out of business.
Melina Palmer: You still have the accomplishment, so you should be able to tout it, put it out there.
Melina Palmer: However, you need a new sign once this gets past a certain point to keep it from getting stale and actually becoming a negative for your business.
Melina Palmer: I would say with that being 2011 as the year, you know, you can have that sign up all of 2012, maybe part of 2013, but really, at that point, it’s time to make a change, because it’s doing more harm than good for you.
Melina Palmer: And it’s a very simple shift. Instead of saying, voted best in the South Sound 2009, 2010, 2011.
Melina Palmer: Simply say, voted best in the South Sound three years in a row.
Melina Palmer: It’s a tiny shift, but that new frame makes all the difference. Three years in a row.
Melina Palmer: Could have been anytime. Could have been 40 years ago, for all we know. But it doesn’t matter.
Melina Palmer: The subconscious brain doesn’t read into it that same way. It’s quickly scanning.
Melina Palmer: It sees the accomplishment for what it is, and the timing doesn’t matter in the way that it becomes a hindrance in the other presentation.
Framing, Loss Aversion, and Prospect Theory
Melina Palmer: Framing is really at the heart of the concept of loss aversion, which was the focus of episode nine.
Melina Palmer: Framing something as a loss is more likely to get someone to take action than framing it as a gain.
Melina Palmer: And if you remember from that episode and the research from Kahneman and Tversky, losses are actually found to be twice as powerful a motivator as gains.
Melina Palmer: So if you lose dollar 20, it would theoretically take finding 40 to make up for the pay pain felt from that loss.
Melina Palmer: This is also called prospect theory. If you wanted to look it up again, there’s, of course, a link in the show notes, and, the article by Kahneman and Tversky that really changed the face of economics has the same name, and bringing about behavioral economics.
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Melina Palmer: In his book Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahneman describes framing as the large changes of preferences that are sometimes caused by inconsequential variations in the wording of a choice problem.
Melina Palmer: I’ve told you, it’s a little bit of a, ah, heavy read.
Melina Palmer: So essentially changing wording in a way that should not make a difference absolutely does. That’s what he’s saying.
Melina Palmer: And this is how you can understand that frame. So how else would framing come into play?
Melina Palmer: Here are some examples for you to help this really settle in. Our brains would find foods that are labeled as 90% fat free to be more attractive than those that are labeled as 10% fat.
Melina Palmer: Even though it is saying exactly the same thing, the frame makes a difference in what your brain hears and what you internalize, what it says about the decision you’re making.
Melina Palmer: You feel better about yourself. Choosing something that’s 90% fat free than you do is saying, I’m getting yogurt that’s 10% fat.
Melina Palmer: It doesn’t feel very good.
The Importance of Audience and Context in Framing
Melina Palmer: So last week on the episode about availability, I mentioned the US Open and the battle between Serena and Osaka.
Melina Palmer: When I say Serena lost, is it saying the same thing as Osaka won?
Melina Palmer: There are two sides of the same coin, sure, but they don’t have the same meaning in our brains.
Melina Palmer: Serena lost says something about the expectations for her to win and that she did something to prevent that from happening, or, you know, that it was on her.
Melina Palmer: It was hers to lose. Essentially. On, the flip side, Osaka won is a statement about what she did to beat the odds, the effort that went into it, and the perseverance.
Melina Palmer: While they’re saying the same thing, they’re actually saying two completely different things.
Melina Palmer: To our brains, this background matters a great deal, even though traditional economics did not always take it into account.
Melina Palmer: Let’s say there are two people, Steve and Sally, and they each have $5 million in their bank accounts.
Melina Palmer: It’s pretty great to be both of them, and they should be considered exactly the same, right?
Melina Palmer: What if I told you that yesterday Steve had $1 million and Sally had 10 million?
Melina Palmer: Does that change things at all? Do they have a different frame around the 5 million in their accounts?
Melina Palmer: Steve is likely ecstatic at, his good fortune, and Sally is distraught over her loss.
Melina Palmer: The frame of their stories and experiences shapes the world they live in, and this is important when you consider the frame.
Melina Palmer: Framing is both about what you say and who you’re saying it to. Both their background and their experience.
Considering Ripples and Message Placement
Melina Palmer: In episode seven on change management, I talked about something I focus on with a lot of my clients and.
Melina Palmer: And in any of the work that I do, which is to consider the ripples in that story.
Melina Palmer: I was talking about an advertisement for credit cards and how a word could be interpreted completely differently from one person to the next.
Melina Palmer: While you can put the same message for credit cards in every location, should you?
Melina Palmer: Was the question that I asked, and, of course, the answer is no. You.
Melina Palmer: You need to consider the context of the frame and how someone will react.
Melina Palmer: So let’s say you are advertising that anyone who signs, up for a new credit card today gets a hundred thousand bonus points.
Melina Palmer: It, might seem like a really great message. Put it everywhere. But what if existing card holders are not eligible?
Melina Palmer: Will they have the same reaction as everyone else? If they did not get the same offer?
Melina Palmer: They will likely be annoyed and. And irritated. So you don’t want to have this promotion waving in their face.
Melina Palmer: Putting this message in online banking or on a statement message could actually be a very bad idea if you can’t.
Melina Palmer: Especially if you can’t segment people out because that person’s frame is going to impact how they hear the message.
Melina Palmer: You need to consider that when you’re developing your messaging and where you place it.
Melina Palmer: I know this might seem really, really ridiculously simple, but you would be surprised how often this is not considered and it gets overlooked.
Melina Palmer: It happens all the time. Seriously, all the time.
Tversky’s Study on Framing with Harvard Medical School Doctors
Melina Palmer: Another study on framing was a test that Tversky did on his colleagues
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Melina Palmer: at Harvard Medical School, and having them read statistics about two treatment options for lung cancer, surgery or radiation.
Melina Palmer: I think we can all agree that people who are, doctors working at Harvard Medical School probably are pretty intelligent.
Melina Palmer: They have had lots of training, and they should understand and have an unbiased perspective in a logical, rational world.
Melina Palmer: So they were each given statistics to read about the two treatment options. Again, for lung cancer, surgery or radiation.
Melina Palmer: The five year survival rates clearly favored surgery, but it was riskier to go with surgery in the short term.
Melina Palmer: So in this study, half of the doctors received the information in regards to the survival rate, saying the one month survival rate is 90%, and the other half read the mortality rates, saying there is 10% mortality in the first month.
Melina Palmer: What do you think happened when framed in the positive, the 90% survival rate, 84% of the doctors chose it and went with surgery.
Melina Palmer: What about when it was flipped around? It said the same thing, so it should be the same result, right?
Melina Palmer: Unfortunately, not even those Harvard doctors were victims of framing when framed as a loss, saying the mortality rate was 10%.
Melina Palmer: Only half favored surgery over radiation, which was down 84% from the other group.
Melina Palmer: That’s a huge difference on just flipping the information that comes first and the way that you say something.
Melina Palmer: Framing is absolutely everywhere.
The Asian Disease Problem and Categories of Framing
Melina Palmer: Another fantastic example of framing from Tversky and Kahneman is called the Asian disease problem.
Melina Palmer: I am going to read it to you now, and even though I can’t hear your answers, take the time to consider which you would choose and be honest with yourself along the way.
Melina Palmer: Imagine that the United States is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people.
Melina Palmer: Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed.
Melina Palmer: Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the program are as if program a is adopted, 200 people will be saved.
Melina Palmer: If program b is adopted, there is a one third probability that 600 people will be saved and a two thirds probability that no people will be saved.
Melina Palmer: Which do you choose? If you are like most people, you would select the first option, program a, where 200 people will be saved.
Melina Palmer: Okay, so here is the new frame. If program a is adopted, 400 people will die.
Melina Palmer: If program b is adopted, there’s a, one third probability that no one will die and a two thirds probability that 600 people will die.
Melina Palmer: Which do you choose? If you’re like most people, you would have chosen the second option, the gamble.
Melina Palmer: While it might be hard to hear and believe, maybe, not so much, since you know the topic of the episode, these are actually explaining the exact same outcome, just framed differently, and your choices are inconsistent from one to the next.
Melina Palmer: When framed as a number saved, you want to have the guarantee of saving 200 people, while framing this instead as 400 people dying for sure in the second option, it really just sounds terrible.
Melina Palmer: So you want to go on the hope that you’re going to fall in the one third of having all 600 people living in that second options gamble, even though it’s much more likely you’re going to lose everyone.
Melina Palmer: This is called optimism bias as well, and it’s going to be the topic of its own episode later.
Melina Palmer: Essentially, we humans overestimate the probability of positive events and underestimate the likelihood of negative ones.
Melina Palmer: Can be contributed to by availability, which was the topic of last week’s episode.
Melina Palmer: And this really comes into effect with things like playing for lotteries or gambles and risk, which is why it’s really relevant and ties in here with framing.
Melina Palmer: It’s been proposed that there are three different categories of framing.
Melina Palmer: Risky choice, which is that last example of the Asian disease problem or
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Melina Palmer: the doctor’s mortality rate problem.
Melina Palmer: The second would be attribute framing. This is when yogurt or beef is listed at 90% fat free instead of being 10% fat.
Melina Palmer: And finally, goal framing, which is when you look at trying to motivate someone with a positive like a $50 bonus instead of a penalty, like a $50 fee.
Melina Palmer: While they do behave a little differently from one to the next, and the inner workings are not exactly the same in the three types.
Melina Palmer: For your purposes, you only really need to know that the way you say something matters.
Melina Palmer: And even if the results or numbers are good, if you say them wrong, if you present them wrong and use the wrong frame can have a huge difference in the actions people take.
Melina Palmer: Remember that doctor situation, 90% survival rate versus the 10% mortality rate, and how that dropped the number that went with what was actually considered the better option by 34%, which is huge.
Melina Palmer: Framing is absolutely everywhere. I’m going to list out some examples of verbiage that use framing, but know that this is by no means exhaustive.
Melina Palmer: Once you start looking around and trying to consider the frames around you and how to flip them and how that can impact the message.
Melina Palmer: You will be amazed at how frequent they are and hint, hint.
Melina Palmer: When you download this week’s free worksheet, it will help you to look for frames, identify them, flip them around, and find ways to use them in your own business and personal messaging.
Examples of Framing in Advertising
Melina Palmer: All right, let’s get into some examples.
Melina Palmer: Have you ever heard commercials for Chevron with Techron and assumed that meant something?
Melina Palmer: That Techron is something valuable that no one else has?
Melina Palmer: In reality, that’s basically just something they made up and gave a name to so they can make people think their gas is better.
Melina Palmer: According to Cars.com, there’s no such thing as, quote, better gas.
Melina Palmer: All gas has detergents that prevent clogging in the fuel injector, and no brand of gas is better quality than any other for your vehicle.
Melina Palmer: This sounds good. You know, Techron sounds like it’s a good thing for many reasons, and the rhyming helps you to remember.
Melina Palmer: And the brain believes things it hears first. So the first thing you hear, you’re going to believe it.
Melina Palmer: That’s how your brain works. Until you really take the time to research or disprove something.
Melina Palmer: That means you’re going to believe the gas is better until you take the time to research and prove that advertisement otherwise think back to episode eleven on anchoring and adjustment.
Melina Palmer: When I asked you if there are more or less than 10,000 emperor penguins in Antarctica, you most likely came up with a number that was a lot less than the actual number of 595,000 penguins in Antarctica.
Melina Palmer: Or if you’ve heard my consumers are weird talk, you would have gotten the examples of populations of countries instead of penguins, in the same way that your subconscious assumes I must know something about populations when I provide the anchor that your brain is going to adjust from the frame of a brand, differentiator can have a big impact on the subconscious’s acceptance of the statement and what that says about a company and about all its competitors.
Melina Palmer: This believe first, ask questions later mentality means your brain simply accepts a lot of things it hears and incorporates that optimism bias to help you evaluate all the stimuli around you and that is impacting your perception of the world.
Melina Palmer: For example, let’s look at Ford. You may have seen on commercials and advertisements that Ford calls itself America’s best selling brand, but what does that actually mean?
Melina Palmer: How can you determine the best selling brand? What is that based on? Is that a supply and demand thing?
Melina Palmer: Number of units sold, number of units left unsold resale value profits.
Melina Palmer: The point is, it’s an empty claim that can’t be validated at all.
Melina Palmer: And there are questions about its validity in several articles when you search on Google.
Melina Palmer: And
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Melina Palmer: personally I’m not a big fan of this particular claim, but the point is, this is a frame by calling themselves America’s best selling brand.
Melina Palmer: It means something to your brain and it sticks in there whether you want it to or not, whether you recognize it or not.
Melina Palmer: You now have this frame when you think of Ford, and it impacts the way you think of other car brands as well.
Melina Palmer: They’re not America’s best selling brand, whether you know what that’s based on or not.
Melina Palmer: And it impacts you whether you realize it consciously or not.
The Impact of Business Naming and Relativity
Melina Palmer: Along those same lines, I want to tell you a story.
Melina Palmer: If you follow me on social media, you know that I travel a lot, often for work, but my husband and I also travel a lot for fun.
Melina Palmer: While we are out and about. I take a lot of pictures of interesting signs or advertisements I see.
Melina Palmer: I know they’re going to be content for the blog or podcast or book or speaking engagements at some point.
Melina Palmer: And my husband is thankfully very patient. While we were on a trip a few months ago, we walked past a daycare center.
Melina Palmer: Its name was on a sign outside the building, which is not uncommon, but it’s the name itself that caught my eye.
Melina Palmer: This facility had chosen to name itself AVG Daycare. As in average daycare, as in mediocre?
Melina Palmer: As in, eh, we’re just okay. My question is why? Why, oh why would you do this?
Melina Palmer: This creates an entire frame around your business that you cannot undo. People will never want to pay you more.
Melina Palmer: People are going to assume you’re middle of the road. You do not put in the extra effort.
Melina Palmer: And honestly, who wants that with a place that’s watching and teaching their children?
Melina Palmer: Maybe you think it’s a joke, but it’s not a good approach.
Melina Palmer: Consider instead if they had started their business under a different name. Really any other name.
Melina Palmer: Or better yet, let’s say I’m now going to seize the opportunity and open up a daycare next door to theirs.
Melina Palmer: I’m going to call my facility Best Daycare Ever. Or A+ Daycare, or Little Geniuses Daycare, or Better Than Average Daycare.
Melina Palmer: Truthfully, almost anything I choose to call my daycare will be better than the name they have.
Melina Palmer: And so I have a better frame. And for you faithful listeners out there, did you recognize what other behavioral economics foundations concept I snuck in right there?
Melina Palmer: That’s right. Relativity if you’ve not listened yet, that is episode twelve.
Melina Palmer: And of course it’s linked in the show notes. Putting my company with the better frame next to their poorly framed business will help boost my sales.
Melina Palmer: They will actually help me to get more business. We might have the same experience and background and rates, but it doesn’t matter.
Melina Palmer: That poor choice of framing via a bad name decision will negatively impact their business as long as they have it.
Melina Palmer: And, possibly beyond that. If you have a name like that, or you know someone who does, I urge you to make a change and tell them to do the same.
Melina Palmer: Please share this episode with them, or even if that’s in your messaging beyond your name, it can really impact you next week, I’m going to really dig into the science behind choosing the right numbers and how to use statistics in your messaging.
Teaser for Next Week: Number Framing
Melina Palmer: So I’m not going to get too deep into number frames today, but I’m going to tell you one more example that does use a number frame to give you a little hint of what you can expect next week.
Melina Palmer: It seems like every toothpaste in the world is labeled as saying that four out of five dentists agree that.
Melina Palmer: Or you might see four out of five doctors recommend, which sounds like a good thing, but what is that really saying?
Melina Palmer: Does that mean that one in five dentists would not recommend using your toothpaste?
Melina Palmer: Are they saying that no toothpaste is better than using yours?
Melina Palmer: And consider that four out of five means 20% of dentists would not recommend the product.
Melina Palmer: Does that sound worse to you? What about saying that 80% of dentists recommend your product?
Melina Palmer: Why does that sound so much worse than four out of five? It’s about framing.
Melina Palmer: And again, this number framing is going to be the topic for next week. I
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Melina Palmer: get these questions a lot.
Melina Palmer: There’s a lot of nuance to it and different ways you want to present.
Melina Palmer: Sometimes percentages, sometimes decimals, sometimes something like four out of five.
Melina Palmer: So I’m dedicating a full episode to that next week, so make sure to tune in to that.
Misleading Terms in Real Estate and Priming
Melina Palmer: While every industry uses this tactic, some are more notorious than others.
Melina Palmer: An article from Today which quoted Barbara Corcoran outlined the most misleading terms in real estate and what they really mean.
Melina Palmer: This is, of course, linked in the show notes, but I’m going to read some of them here first.
Melina Palmer: Is cozy, which means too small. You’ve probably heard that charming means too old.
Melina Palmer: Original condition means appliances are 50 years old, needs TLC, means it’s a dump. Conveniently located means noisy.
Melina Palmer: Efficient kitchen means it’s too small to fit two adults.
Melina Palmer: A, one car garage means you can drive your Chevy in, but can’t get out. Usable land is no trees.
Melina Palmer: A, beachfront steal means no hurricane insurance available at any price.
Melina Palmer: Country living is too far from anywhere to drive to work. Must see inside means the outside is ugly.
Melina Palmer: Unique would mean hard to sell. This means if I was to put some of these together, and you might have seen these.
Melina Palmer: If you’ve ever gone shopping for a house, if a home was described as must see the inside of this cozy, charming home with plenty of usable land for anyone interested in country living.
Melina Palmer: That sounds nice. I would like to see that house. It sounds a lot better than. Yeah.
Melina Palmer: The outside of this house, which is too far from anywhere to actually drive to work, is super ugly, and it’s quite small and really old, and there’s no privacy.
Melina Palmer: Since there are no trees on the property. You want to come check it out.
How Framing Impacts Perception and Experience
Melina Palmer: This is also getting into the concept of priming, which is going to be the topic of episode 18. The way you explain something actually sets an expectation and can impact the way someone feels about the whole experience.
Melina Palmer: So that well worded frame can actually help someone to fall in love and see the charm of what will be their dream home.
Melina Palmer: But that poorly worded frame could repel someone from a home that they otherwise would have loved.
Melina Palmer: It’s a very significant balance. This is why you always want to actually check something out.
Melina Palmer: Go test drive a car. You know, it’s not just in real estate, and I’m not trying to pick on real estate.
Melina Palmer: It was just a fun article that I found, like I said, from Today, but when something sounds really good, when something sounds oh, amazing, you feel yourself settling in. This happens on restaurant menus.
Melina Palmer: This happens with cars. This happens in any experience. So just try to be looking for those frames as a consumer and then as a business, look at ways that you can be using that to help people to see the benefits in what it is that you provide.
Melina Palmer: And as always, use good judgment. Use these powers for good.
Melina Palmer: It’s about helping people to see the opportunity that is around for them versus trying to trick anyone.
Melina Palmer: That’s not something that we ever want to do in our businesses. It becomes a bait and switch.
Melina Palmer: It’s just a bad place to be. Please don’t do that.
Implied Claims in Marketing: “All Natural” and “It’s Toasted”
Melina Palmer: So when you’re using this in your business, just consider that really, in many ways, all the adjectives included into a description could be considered the frame.
Melina Palmer: When something is described as all natural, you assume it’s better or organic or farm fresh.
Melina Palmer: But does that actually mean or say anything, or is it just their name or tagline? What about orange juice?
Melina Palmer: Simply Orange is a brand that came out a few years back, and they have very nice commercials narrated by Donald Sutherland explaining how they have nothing but oranges in their orange juice and, that they’re never from concentrate.
Melina Palmer: But what about other juices in the bottles next to them?
Melina Palmer: They could be using the exact same process as Simply Orange, but you don’t know for sure.
Melina Palmer: You assume that Simply Orange does something more puts in extra care than Tropicana or the store brand, but they might not.
Melina Palmer: If you tout something you do, even if everyone else does it, the implication on the brain is that you are the best at, whatever that thing is.
Melina Palmer: I just started re watching Mad Men.
Melina Palmer: I only watched the first two seasons or so. I don’t remember exactly where I dropped off the first time around.
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Melina Palmer: It’s, been quite a while, so I’m starting it over in the very first episode.
Melina Palmer: Don Draper is dealing with
Melina Palmer: the tobacco industry, and they want to do some ads for Lucky Strike cigarettes, but struggling with the fact that they can no longer claim they’re healthy.
Melina Palmer: I love watching this show. Also, it’s very interesting to see the way they do the ads and the messaging.
Melina Palmer: And now I have this new behavioral economics frame on everything, so it’s fun to watch.
Melina Palmer: In that meeting, Draper realizes that everyone has the same problem, so he’s struggling with not being able to make these health claims.
Melina Palmer: But then you realize no one can say that. And he says to the client, this is the greatest advertising opportunity since the invention of cereal.
Melina Palmer: We have six identical companies making six identical products. We can say anything we want.
Melina Palmer: He then asks them, how they make their cigarettes, and they start to list out the process.
Melina Palmer: The client said, we breed insect repellent tobacco seeds, plant them in the North Carolina sunshine, grow it, cut it, cure it, toast it.
Melina Palmer: And then he’s stopped by Don, who lands on the line.
Melina Palmer: It’s toasted, to which they say, but everyone else’s tobacco’s toasted. And he says, no, everybody else’s tobacco is poisonous.
Melina Palmer: Lucky Strikes is toasted. This is a frame. And, once someone makes a claim, even if it’s something every single one of their competitors could make, it becomes theirs.
Melina Palmer: Everyone else is second in line. And if they try to say it, they will either make themselves look silly or remind people of the brand that was their first.
Melina Palmer: When I worked at the credit union BECU in Seattle was our biggest competition.
Melina Palmer: They were gigantic compared to us, though much smaller than the big banks. And people in the area loved them.
Melina Palmer: They still do. They’re a great credit union. They came out with campaigns saying they were a member owned, not for profit credit union.
Melina Palmer: And their current ads say, at, BECU, you own it, which is great, but these are the foundations of being a credit union.
Melina Palmer: All credit unions are not for profit. All of them are member owned.
Melina Palmer: And saying you own it would be an accurate statement for any credit union out there.
Melina Palmer: But once BECU put that in their ads, I knew it was completely off limits for my messaging and the brand.
Melina Palmer: At, my credit union. At Verity, I had to avoid that phrasing in my marketing or advertising because putting that out there would just send people to BECU because they had a bigger budget and they were there first they had this frame, now that was associated with them, regardless of who would say it.
Applying Framing in Your Business and Life
Melina Palmer: When you look at incorporating framing into your business, remember all the iterations.
Melina Palmer: Framing is in the words you use, those descriptive words, the adjectives.
Melina Palmer: Framing is the way you present numbers, which we’ll talk about more next week.
Melina Palmer: The frame of the person receiving the message matters too. What’s their background? What do they need to hear?
Melina Palmer: Or what should they definitely not hear? And remember, the frame can be really helping someone to consider something that they might not otherwise know is important to them with that home.
Melina Palmer: Remember, someone could really love this home that they’re, they’re coming into.
Melina Palmer: And even if you think it’s small, calling it cozy, maybe someone’s looking for a cozy home.
Melina Palmer: Maybe they don’t want as much square footage. Being able to present the best attributes of something that is within the realm of truth, of course, always can help people to see the joy of life, things they could have this Simply Orange or explaining the benefits of Chevron’s gas or whatever it happens to be.
Melina Palmer: Being able to understand that message and frame it in a way that helps.
Melina Palmer: Looking at the 90% fat free versus 10% fat and how that matters, and being able to help people to get to what is the best choice for them.
Melina Palmer: This is a really fun concept to play with and an easy one to find examples of in the world all around you.
Melina Palmer: You will start to question, say, what does that mean?
Melina Palmer: I wonder why they said it that way, which is something I do all the time and I would love to chat with you about it.
Melina Palmer: If you see anything interesting you have a question about, use that free worksheet I created for you at thebrainybusiness.com 16 to help you work through the concept, and if you would like some help coming up with ways to best use framing in
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Melina Palmer: your business, let’s have a strategy session.
Scheduling a Strategy Session and Free Worksheet
Melina Palmer: To schedule your free consultation, go to thebrainybusiness.com
Melina Palmer: Whether you already have a message in mind or some ads, a brochure, a website page you’ve been running and you want to know how to make it better or you’re not sure where to start, I can help.
Melina Palmer: To schedule your free consultation, go to thebrainybusiness.com and click on work with me.
Melina Palmer: You can then pick a time that works for you and we’ll have a quick chat to see if we’re a fit.
Melina Palmer: And based on your unique circumstances, I will put together a custom plan to work through your project.
Melina Palmer: If you’re not sure what this would look like or sound like, revisit episode ten, which was my on air strategy session with Marielle Court.
Melina Palmer: It’s super easy, honestly. We just have a conversation. You don’t even have to take notes because I send you a video of the session once we’re done, so you can keep all the tips and apply them in all aspects of your business, I can’t wait to work with you.
Melina Palmer: So go ahead, visit thebrainybusiness.com and click on work with me.
Melina Palmer: The consult is free, so what have you got to lose? The answer is nothing, by the way.
Melina Palmer: And don’t forget to download your free worksheet at, thebrainybusiness.com 16 so you can practice identifying frames in the world around you, how you’re using them in your business already, and how you can use these concepts and tips from today’s episode to make your messaging even better.
Conclusion and Next Episode Preview
Melina Palmer: Before we wrap up this episode, I just want to thank you for listening.
Melina Palmer: I know you have a lot of choices when it comes to podcasts, and beyond that, you could choose to watch YouTube videos or listen to music.
Melina Palmer: And I’m so honored that you have chosen to spend your valuable time with me.
Melina Palmer: Many listeners have told me they listen while at the gym or going for a run.
Melina Palmer: Others listen while driving, and some while getting ready in the morning. Whenever you listen.
Melina Palmer: Thank you for making me part of your routine. I appreciate it.
Melina Palmer: And I appreciate you for listening and subscribing. If you have not yet subscribed, make sure to do that in the podcast app you’re listening from so you can get all the episodes automatically downloaded into your phone.
Melina Palmer: It makes it so easy and ensures you never miss a thing.
Melina Palmer: All right with that, this episode on Framing is a wrap.
Melina Palmer: As you heard next week, episode 17 is taking framing a step further into the best ways to display numbers when you should use each one, and more details on that.
Melina Palmer: This is a question, as I said, I get asked about all the time, so you don’t want to miss it.
Melina Palmer: Until then, thanks again for listening and learning with me, and remember to be thoughtful.
Announcer: Thank you for listening to The Brainy Business podcast.
Announcer: Melina offers virtual strategy sessions, workshops, and other services to help businesses be more brain friendly.
Announcer: For more free resources, visit thebrainybusiness.com.
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