How you can use advertising strategy to become more confident

Using concepts from psychology to create effective advertising is common. Using advertising to influence our psychology, however, sounds fresh to me, and that's exactly what marketer, trainer and speaker Heather Monahan did.

Since we're just a few days from 2020, I'd love to share Heather's Ted Talk and some additional thoughts so that we can all head into 2020 with a clear vision (pun intended) of how we can become even more confident. Drawing from my understanding of advertising, psychology, and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), I seek to unpack and add some value to Heather's talk in this post.

Heather's plan from advertising that she used to elicit confidence within herself:

1. Identify the right platform to run your campaign on.
2. Choose strong, powerful messaging and do it with frequency. Frequency is what sells.
3. Identify a music bed or a jingle to elicit emotion and memory.
4. Add a visual component.
5. You need a call to action to convert.

Identify the right platform to run your campaign on

Advertising begins with the platform and ends in the mind of the target audience. Heather chose her mind as the platform to run her campaign on. In NLP, there's an empowering presupposition that says "we're in charge of our own minds and therefore our results." Simply, it means that we can achieve what we set out to do.

Since Heather (and you) are in charge of your own mind, choosing to begin with the mind makes the most sense. It also speaks of her motivations - she's intrinsically motivated to change and has an internal locus of control.

Choose strong, powerful messaging and do it with frequency

"I am confident. I shine my light. I slay all villains. I am powerful."

As with effective advertising, people who want to program certain beliefs into their minds can begin with a specific message for themselves. Notice that Heather's lines are all simple, direct and uplifting.

Word choice (AKA copywriting)

Heather's an expert marketer. That means she has amazing copy writing skills that I believe are worth highlighting.

"I am confident" - this is powerful because it brings what she wants into her identity right now. Notice that she did not say "I want to be confident" - that would have placed her goal into the future. Saying "I want to be confident" leads a mind into thinking that confidence is something that will come, but not yet. "I am confident" convinces her mind to belief that she is confident at every moment in time whenever she speaks this message to herself.

"I shine my light" - this is what marketers call a call to action. From a marketing point of view, this is a call to action like "click the subscribe button." What about this is significant? First, it places Heather into a position of action. Chris Voss of Never Split the Difference says that "Yes" is nothing without "How". Merely agreeing that "I am confident" wouldn't have been enough when a person faces difficult situations. Having an action - even a metaphorical one - empowers a person to act and live up to the declaration of confidence.

"I slay all villains" - I love this. It's both a reminder and a pledge. It sounds like Heather has slain many villains before her current situation, and this line can act to remind her of her past victories. It also helps to strengthen her resolve to slay all future villains, including any difficulty she might currently face. This line anchors Heather to her past successes and how she will act and be in future.

"I am powerful" - sums it all up as another affirmation.

Building confidence and reclaiming your identity is a monumental project that can take a lot of effort. Even though these interpretations are mine, I believe it's because of Heather's expertise as a marketer, speaker and trainer that's led her to develop such a clear and concise message for her confidence campaign.

Frequency is what sells

Advertisers use a basic social psychology principle called the mere exposure effect. In short, having been exposed to something often helps you adopt it. If you see an ad often enough, you'll come to be familiar with the brand, the product, and become more willing to give it a shot.

Heather chose to run this message in her mind to herself 7 times a day. It is specific, actionable and achievable. Imagine how fast you can progress if you tell yourself a specific message 7 times a day, 7 days a week.

Identify a music bed or a jingle to elicit emotion and memory

Heather's lines (or copy, if you will), is powerful on its own. But as an advertiser, she has additional tools to stick her message to her psychology. Successful ads help us to perceive a certain impression. A clear message is the foundation. The mechanisms to deliver the message comes from our 5 senses - visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste).

Ever noticed how different songs create different feelings? Some songs can even change our mood in the moment. This is what is happening here. Heather is using music (auditory input) to strengthen her confidence campaign.

Heather's tune was "I love myself". It's an exceptionally powerful auditory stimulus for her to get confident because she uses it often - on a weekly basis in her weekly podcast. Again, Heather uses the power of frequency to good effect.

Add a visual component

Heather's got a life-sized cutout of herself at home that screams confidence. Say what?? What a good set up for your next talk. I can't wait to learn why Heather has a life-sized cutout of herself. But what she says next makes sense: She ran her confidence ad campaign while looking at her image 7 times a day. That essentially anchors her message into the visual component. You can bet that even when she isn't actively thinking about her confidence campaign, that visual aid would subconsciously trigger the message of confidence in her as she walks past it at home.

Don't have a life-sized cutout of yourself? No sweat. Heather recommends an image that inspires confidence from your computer or phone. I personally have a few images on my home screen that I use as visual anchors of confidence and resilience, and it works for me.

You need a call to action to convert

"Fear is a green light that means go, and go faster. Anytime I would feel fear, I would step right into it and take action."

There were a lot of things going on within Heather's 10-minute talk, and I wished she spent a little more time on this. My 2 cents on this is that when faced with unexpected fear, 3 behaviors commonly happen: (1) freeze, (2) flight, or (3) fight.

Take the analogy of a fight. When accosted by violent robbers, a person could freeze, stand rooted to the ground, take a beating and lose his possessions. A second possibility is to run, which can get you to safety. The third possibility is to take action. This is what martial artists train for. In the moment of fear and threat, a martial artist can react with pre-programmed actions to defend himself.

By choosing to take action whenever she notices her fear, Heather reinforces her own message (she slays all villains) and reiterates her self identity. It's another step towards more confidence.

Final thoughts

Coming across Heather's video is a surprisingly pleasant coincidence for me. My current preoccupation has been to learn how psychology can help me in sales and marketing. Seeing this inverse application of advertising to help with our psychology is refreshing. It's especially poignant at the time of writing as I've just heard a personal recount of general anxiety merely hours ago. If advertising can influence so many people to do things they would not otherwise have, then it makes a lot of sense to find out how we can apply practical sales and marketing techniques to help people do and be better.

Thanks for reading! Happy to chat and hear your thoughts. Have a Merry Christmas and may you head into 2020 with a clear vision of how you can be an even better version of yourself! Cheers :)