I haven’t finished this book yet, but I am going to go ahead and recommend it to you because sometimes it takes me awhile to finish a book. I don’t want you to wait that long to go get the book and read it yourself.
I recently became extremely addicted to Quora and went on a book-buying binge after reading a thread about great books for professionals, entrepreneurs, marketers, and the like. Essentially, it was a thread about books you need to read if you’re in business, especially for yourself. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions (Dan Ariely) was on that list, as well as a zillion other books that I ended up spending money on. When I finally get to reading them, I’ll let you know if they were worth it.
So far that book buying binge has been worth it solely for Predictably Irrational. I have long maintained that marketing and PR are two separate things, and that marketing is all about convincing someone they need your product, or at the very least convincing them that buying it is a smart move for their life and their wallet. It’s an art of persuasion. Now that I’m reading PI, it’s clear to me (1) that this is true, and (2) why it’s true.
PI doesn’t just explain why we make the decisions we do. It gives actual examples that are more helpful for a marketer than for the general public. (Unless you are like me – part of the general public that tries to figure out what marketers are doing to your brain.) Marketers play little tricks on you – like placing one average deal next to a cruddy one to make you think the first one is fantastic and definitely belongs to you. Yes, this is common knowledge, but after you read PI you will see it everywhere, and you’ll probably save some money.
Not only that, I have a lot of trouble understanding statistics, and math, and studies. My brain is not wired for math-related ideas and when I see numbers my eyes start swirling around in my head. Yet I understood what Ariely was talking about when he went through each of his studies. Success!
I have to go finish it, and I suggest you go pick it up.
Omg. That’s me. Predictably irrational. Ask my husband. Or even my mother.
I think my family could relate with me and my sister!