Thursday, March 14, 2013

Set the Moral Tone Which Fits

Yesterday’s election of Pope Francis and his address from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica can remind us of the importance of the proper moral tone for true success in our lives. The world will be watching how the incoming pope chooses to welcome into the Church those currently seen as outsiders. CBS News pondered whether an openness to change is being signaled by the pope’s choice of a name which has never before been used by a pope.
     In the secular world, researchers at Pennsylvania State University and University of Seoul explored how the proper moral tone associated with a retail store or retail brand leads to its welcome as part of a consumer’s in-group. This has less to do with the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina than with the late Professor George Kingsley Zipf of Harvard University.
     Prof. Zipf found that the most common word in English—“the”—occurs about twice as often as does the second most common word—“of.” This second-most-common word occurs about 125% as often as the third most common word—“and.” A similar sort of frequency distribution occurs with other phenomena, such as the sales figures for the top seller in a category compared to sales figures for the second-best seller. It’s called Zipf’s Law.
     If your store is not the market leader or if you’d like to increase sales of a less popular brand on your shelves, Zipf’s Law means you’re struggling against the tide. People root for the underdog, but they also love to associate with a winner.
     The proper moral tone helps, say the Pennsylvania/Seoul researchers, so decide what moral tone you’d like your store and brands to carry and then take steps to earn that perception. As a general rule, consumers want to spend their money with businesses and on items which they see as having moral integrity. Ethics indicates reliability.
     Still, it does not always work that way. A part of all of us enjoys dealing with a bit of a rascal. This is because there’s a part of all of us which is at least a bit of a rascal. Especially in individualistic cultures like the U.S., consumers are fascinated with famous rascals.
     Customers with strong morals don't like being around a rascal. But there are plenty of shoppers who count on the rascals to help them solve problems by taking advantage of others.

Click below for more: 
Respect Zipf’s Law 
Steal Attention with Rascal Appeal 
Analyze the Role the Customer Expects

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