Close your eyes and envision what makes you…you. Think about your deeply ingrained beliefs, your priorities, your tastes and your choices. Maybe you feel strongly about social justice issues, the environment, or some personal life goal. And deep down, you may feel like you’ve got a pretty firm grasp on who you are, what you believe and how you feel. And as the free-thinking, independent-minded person you are, you may even think that these fundamental elements of your personality were created solely by you, without outside influence.

But you’d be sorely mistaken.

Research shows that our subconscious minds play an instrumental role in our choices, opinions and actions. Humans are full of biases, whether we recognize them or not. These biases act as invisible guides, steering us gently in a direction that we most likely aren’t aware of. We can’t see these biases, but rest assured — they are all right there inside of us.

In my years of experience examining the powerful placebo effect of brands, or as I coined it, BRANDcebo, I have found that these subconscious biases can be truly powerful predictors of brand perception, and inevitably, brand loyalty. Before I dive into just how that works, Let’s take a look at an example grounded in research…

Height

In his bestselling book, Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking, author Malcom Gladwell examined one such subconscious bias. He surveyed half of America’s Fortune 500 companies and examined the height of their CEOs. While 5’9” is the height of the average American male, and only 14.5% of American men are six feet tall or taller, he found that 58% of the CEOs fit within this range. Even more, 30% of the CEOs were 6’2” or taller, a stat that applies to less than 4% of American men. Our overwhelming preference for tall CEOs indicates that height has a perceived impact on a person’s ability to lead a Fortune 500 company.

Not convinced? Let’s look at another example. Timothy Judge and Daniel Cable studied the effect of height on peoples’ pay. Both men and women earned an average of $789 more per year for every inch they reached above average. What is the explanation? Clearly height doesn’t factor into other important qualities such as leadership, intelligence, or social skills. Or does it?

Expectation

Judge hypothesized that ‘looking down on others,’ literally speaking, and having them ‘looking up to us,’ might increase our confidence. Just like we looked up to parents and teachers in our childhood, we could assume that, at a subconscious level, when we “look up” to someone we expect qualities of leadership and authority.

All of this boils down to our expectations, the belief or prediction that something will happen. Even when we think we see all people equally or that our beliefs are reflected in our actions, sometimes our subconscious causes a physiological redirect. Whether we realize it or not, our expectations impact our behavior. Not only is expectation a vastly important part of our beliefs and actions, it is the second element in the equation for BRANDcebo.

Strategy

So, what does any of this have to do with a kick-butt marketing strategy? Sometimes, what we expect comes true. We might just be able to think something into existence as our subconscious thoughts shape our actions and create a dynamic impact on the world around us. The more power this has over us, the stronger the mind-body link. And as we know, this link can be critical for making purchasing decisions.

I’m talking about that unexplainable itch to press “buy now” or “place your order” when we think a product might change our lives, even in some small way. Maybe you think an expensive electric toothbrush will clean better and, impressed, you will use it more. In turn, your dentist sees improvement and the cycle continues. When people truly believe the product will work, they are more likely to try it and discover the magic for themselves.

Action

So how can you take action to embrace the placebo effect of brands and use expectation to your advantage? This could impact the strategic pricing of your product, the digital content marketing you release to explain how your product works, and even your incentive to build a community of passionate testimonials to serve as proof that your product truly works. Focus on planting a seed in your potential audience’s mind that there are concrete reasons for why they should choose your product over the rest on the market. Now that you know who you are, answer the question: why you?

Expectation is just one, single element in the equation for the powerful placebo effect of brands. BRANDcebo is the essential resource for learning how to use the subconscious mind to create a belief in your product. Buy my book here, to get started building that connection.