As human beings, we have a tendency to believe that our decision making is based on rational, well developed and considered thought processes. However, we are all affected by a number of biases – processes inherent within our minds which influence the way we think and the way in which we make decisions. We’ve already covered one such cognitive bias in our post on The Halo Effect, and today we’re going to briefly discuss Framing, and how you can use it in your everyday sales and marketing tactics! {Tweet}[responsive]

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What is Framing?

Framing is a method for presenting the same option in different ways. If you think about paintings, for example, the same painting can be made more or less appealing depending on the frame in which it is mounted. The same is true for product or service propositions. {Tweet}

Framing For Small Business Marketing?

Let’s look at some examples:

A cosmetic surgeon offers a procedure in which 90% of operations are totally successful.

A cosmetic surgeon offers a procedure in which 10% of operations have complications.

Both of the above sentences outline the exact same scenario in terms of risk; but the first one sounds much more positive. This affect can be further compounded by utilising real numbers, rather than percentages. For instance:

90% of people are satisfied with our service.

9 out of every ten people are satisfied with our service.

Again, both lines outline the same scenario in terms of service quality, but the one utilising real numbers is a more effective marketing line. Similarly, if you need to communicate negative news, it is best to use percentages to soften the impact:

1% of our products are faulty.

1 in every 100 of our products is faulty.

Finally, you can also utilise specific words to further help frame scenarios. For instance, to take the above example:

1% of our products are faulty.

Only 1% of our products are faulty.

Regardless of the fact that the figures are exactly the same, the mind keys on the word ‘only’ – although there is an argument that the proliferation of tactics like this in supermarkets and in an increasingly retail-heavy world is starting to reduce the effectiveness of this type of framing.

Hopefully this article has got you thinking, and given you a few ideas as to how you can use framing for small business marketing! If so, we’d love to hear about your plans, or about how you’re already using framing in your small business, via the comments box below!

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