Learned Helplessness and Digital Marketing www.costsavingmarketing.co.uk /learned-helplessness-and-digital-marketing/

Tanya

Learned helplessness is a theory which argues that we can learn how to become helpless. In this learnedhelplessness dog experiment, two groups of dogs were used. The first group was given unpleasant stimulation(punishment) with no way to escape the punishment. The second group of dogs was given punishment but the dogscould change the way they react and consequently find a way to escape the punishment. After a couple of weeksboth groups of dogs were given a situation where they received punishment and they could escape it – all dogscould find a way out. The first group of dogs – that were not given a way out when punishment was present – didn’teven try to escape because they learned that there is no way out. The second group of dogs escaped because theyknew that if they try consistently and exhibit different ways of behaviour, they could escape the punishment. Inconclusion, the first group of dogs learned how to be helpless.

So, when it comes to digital marketing, have some of us learned how to be helpless?

when it comes to digital marketing, have some of us learned how to be helpless? Click To Tweet

Many professionals, who hire me for marketing consultancy, tell me that digital marketing is no good for them – theytried it a couple of times, it didn’t work out so they are not willing to invest in digital advertising ever again.

“Digital marketing is a huge waste of money”

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they tell me. I think they learned how to be helpless.

In such situations, my question is: “How do we help such clients?”.

Back to the learned helplessness experiment – how did the experimenters help the first group of dogs to un-learntheir helpless behaviour? Experimenters tried various ways of stimulating the behaviour dogs needed todemonstrate to be able to escape the punishment. In the end experimenters had to physically go to the dogs andmove their legs to show them what they had to do to escape the punishment. After a couple of times, the dogslearned that there is a way to escape the punishment so they managed to un-learn how to behave in a helpless way.

So, here is my answer – when I want my clients to succeed online I share all my knowledge about digital marketing.I not only give them advice on the best digital marketing activities – with the highest return on investment for theirparticular industry – but I also show them how to execute the activities so they receive immediate results.

I suppose this post in nothing new; we have all heard the quote by Benjamin Franklin:

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

If you are a small business owner stuck in your ways, feeling helpless and frustrated with your current marketingactivities but looking for innovative ways to grow your business, contact us today. We will not only give you advicebut we will demonstrate why what we do is worth doing. We can help you un-learn your digital marketinghelplessness and teach you how to be keep growing regardless of your budget.

Have you felt helpless in your marketing efforts (or in life in general)? Let us know because, as we love sayingaround here, sharing is caring.

P.S. The punishment in the experiment was electric shocks but I know some people are against animal cruelty (soam I!) and I didn’t want to upset anyone. If you want to read more about the experiment, including a furtherexplanation of the electric shocks, here is a Wikipedia link.

Tanya

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