Tune In. Turn On.
Use The Inner Voice Experience™ To Break Through The Noise and Reach Audience Minds
By: Ben Moorsom
If you’re wondering how to capture your audience’s attention and leave a lasting impression, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, in a world of ever-increasing clutter and noise, many people are simply turning up the volume with very little success. In my experience, turning our volume down, and in some cases injecting strategic periods of silence, can help us reach our audience through their inner voice with far more effective results.
The Inner Voice Experience™
Working closely with behavioral scientists, my team and I at Debut have developed a proprietary Inner Voice Experience™. This carefully designed communication sequence introduces audiences to their own inner voice and delivers important messaging in a deeply personal way to inspire behavior change with a four-part communication sequence:
1. Introduction to the inner voice
2. Empathizing with audience’s concerns
3. Instilling hope
4. Restoring purpose and inspiring behavioral action
Allow me to illustrate how the Inner Voice Experience™ works with an example. Imagine that you are trying to deliver a message about climate change with the ultimate goal of inspiring your audience to take positive environmental action.
Let’s meet Sasha, a typical member of your audience.
If you want Sasha to remember and act on your key message, capturing his attention is critical. Human attention is a limited resource that acts as a gatekeeper to memory. The Inner Voice Experience™ uses insights from research on human cognition to boost Sasha’s attention and memory which increases the chances of behavior change.
The science behind the Inner Voice Experience™
Make it personal
Rogers, T. B., Kuiper, N. A., & Kirker, W. S. (1977). Self-reference and the encoding of personal information. Journal of personality and social psychology, 35(9), 677.
Our research tells us that Sasha will pay more attention to information that is personally relevant. Sending a message through Sasha’s Inner Voice rather than from an outside source heightens the personal relevance of the message.
Make it emotional
Hourihan, K. L., Fraundorf, S. H., & Benjamin, A. S. (2017). The influences of valence and arousal on judgments of learning and on recall. Memory & cognition, 45(1), 121-136.
Behavioral science also reminds us that when information evokes emotion, it will capture Sasha’s attention and lead to better memory. The Inner Voice Experience™ taps into emotion by identifying audience concerns and inspiring hope.
Make it immersive
Braddock, K., & Dillard, J. P. (2016). Meta-analytic evidence for the persuasive effect of narratives on beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. Communication Monographs, 83(4), 446-467.
Studies also show us that delivering key messages embedded in a story-like context lead to better outcomes. Sasha’s beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors will be shaped more by the narrative style of the Inner Voice Experience™ than typical forms of corporate communication.
Make it fresh
Takeuchi, T., Duszkiewicz, A. J., Sonneborn, A., Spooner, P. A., Yamasaki, M., Watanabe, M., ... & Morris, R. G. (2016). Locus coeruleus and dopaminergic consolidation of everyday memory. Nature, 537(7620), 357-362.
According to behavioral science experts, Sasha will likely tune out the mundane corporate types of communications he’s used to receiving. Theresearch also tells us, however, that novel and unexpected experiences will grab his attention and leave a mark. The Inner Voice Experience™ is the perfect wayto communicate with Sasha in a fresh and compelling way.
The Inner Voice Experience™ results say it all
Over the past number of years my team and I at Debut have implemented the Inner Voice Experience™ to fantastic reception from both live and virtual audiences. We have also scientifically tested its effect on cognition in a randomized control trial (RCT), comparing its effectiveness to traditional communications like corporate memos and talking head videos (sound familiar?)
In our RCT, 218 adults living in the U.S. and Canada were randomly assigned to view a message about environmental sustainability from a fictional company we called, Oceans Agricorp. The message was viewed in one of three formats: a text-based corporate memo, a video from the CEO, or via the Inner Voice Experience™.
The Inner Voice Experience™ outperformed the traditional communications for every outcome-of-interest. Those who experienced the message through the Inner Voice Experience had measures of attention, mood, and value internalization that were up to 16% higher. At Debut, we refer to this trifecta of positive effects as “cognitive resonance” and it’s one of the key components we use to ensure audience engagement.
Beyond its impressive effects on cognition, people who received messages through their inner voice also reported greater concern about climate change in the environment. This change in attitude is a critical step toward a change in behavior!
How can you put this discovery to work?
How would your results improve if 16% more of your audience bought into your messaging? What would it mean for the happiness of your employees? For the effectiveness of your teams? For your bottom line?
If you want your message to break through the noise, I’ve got five words for you:
stop shouting from the rooftops
(see what I did there?)
Engage your audience on a more intimate psychological level with the proven effectiveness of the Inner Voice Experience™.
My team and I at Debut can help you design an Inner Voice Experience™ for your next event or communications campaign that will create the level of cognitive resonance required to drive meaningful behavior change. Let’s talk. (linked to contact page)