Science Not Sorcery

A practical guide to the irrational consumer. Behavioral economics has been on our radar for a while, but time-crunched marketers can't sift through mountains of academic research on the human mind in hopes of uncovering insights that will be helpful today. In Science, Not Sorcery: Behavioral Economics for Marketers, Sullivan uses examples from pop culture, academic research, and the marketing world to elucidate the many irrationalities of consumer behavior. She takes a pragmatic approach to unpacking the science and offers clear, practical marketing advice like the following. Personal narratives are more relevant to purchase decisions than objective reality. You probably don't need to respond to negativity on social media. Luxury brands shouldn't claim their products will bring happiness. It's usually better to focus on market share, not loyalty. Traditional brainstorming is counterproductive. Framing effects and context influence decisions more than personality. Marketing plans and New Year's resolutions fail for the same reasons. Supercharge your marketing strategies with insights from behavioral economics and let your clients think you're a magician.

Great marketing strategy looks like magic to the uninitiated. The mystical aura surrounding behavioral economics draws in the intellectually curious but has also confined the discipline to the fringes of modern marketing practices. Unpacking the drivers of human behavior is critical to connecting with consumers, but insights from psychology, neuroscience, and other fields are hidden away in arcane academic publications and books that aren't designed for practitioners. In Science, Not Sorcery: Behavioral Economics for Marketers, Sullivan pulls back this shroud of obscurity to offer a pragmatic guide to behavioral economics that will help marketers create smarter, more effective strategies. This book illustrates how insights from behavioral economics can help marketers become more effective at addressing a wide range of challenges, including storytelling, emotional engagement, beating the competition, customer retention, marketing research, and planning. Use insights from behavioral economics to make your clients think you're a magician!

Rebecca has practiced marketing for over fifteen years, primarily within the agency space, where she influenced marketing strategies for an extensive range of brands. She honed her talent for distilling esoteric research into actionable insights while teaching required courses in marketing research and economics, which students tend to meet with little enthusiasm. Rebecca is currently on Michigan State University's Broad College of Business faculty, where she teaches consumer insights courses for graduates and undergraduates.