Jan 21, 2022
Today I am very excited to
introduce you to Elina Halonen, a behavioral insights strategist
who has worked in the space for 15 years and co-founded a
London-based insights consultancy working with global brands on
branding, communications, and product/service development projects.
She has expertise in behavioural analysis & design, consumer
insights & market research, Cultural understanding, desk research &
trends, branding & marketing strategy, and more.
Today on the show we talk a
little about the COM-B and MOVE models, as well as Elina
pre-committing to us all that she is going to write a book, called
the Behavioural Blueprint!
COM-B is for:
Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior.
MOVE is for:
Meanings, Observations, Viewpoints, and Experiences. We dive into
what these models mean, a couple of examples, and so many other
great topics.
Show Notes:
- [00:40] Today I am very excited
to introduce you to Elina Halonen, a behavioral insights strategist
who has worked in the space for 15 years and co-founded a
London-based insights consultancy working with global companies on
branding, communications, and product/service development
projects.
- [03:13] Elina and Melina have
been connected on LinkedIn for years and officially meeting for the
first time for this interview!
- [03:53] Elina shares about
herself and her background.
- [05:15] For the last couple of
years she has worked as an independent consultant and has worked
with various research agencies.
- [08:02] Tips for starting a
business in an emerging market? Find a niche where you can raise
awareness for what you do. Some areas are easier than others. Find
a way to educate the market.
- [09:52] You will need a lot of
creativity to promote yourself and what you do.
- [12:07] If you pick what you
are going to do, you have to be all-in on that thing for at least a
year to give it a chance to be successful.
- [14:55] Elina’s first degrees
were in marketing and it was always about consumer
behavior.
- [16:42] All of business is a
long game.
- [17:22] Give information
generously. Make sure you add value to people.
- [20:31] She works with market
research agencies and brings her behavioral science
expertise.
- [22:19] There are different
ways of talking about behavioral science depending on what it is
you are doing. It is not one size fits all.
- [23:01] When they do a project,
they think about the target behavior, what is the business
objective, and what behaviors do they want to influence or
change.
- [25:04] Elina shares her
commitment to writing her book, Behavioral Blueprint. Hold her accountable on Twitter. (handles
below)
- [27:51] Melina shares her tips
for writing a book, including to break it down and just get
started.
- [28:39] Break it down into
chapters and look at what content you already have that fits that
information and start segmenting it in.
- [31:34] Bringing cultural
psychology into behavioral change is becoming increasingly
important.
- [33:45] She has an intuitive
process of looking at things in a certain way that is her
Behavioral Blueprint.
- [35:02] Start by looking at the
situation and accessing what you are up against.
- [35:44] She is a big fan of the
COM-B model: Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and
Behavior.
- [36:46] There is a huge amount
of context that applied behavioral science often
ignores.
- [39:11] When she is analyzing
or trying to organize things she likes to make it
logical.
- [41:54] Solving the wrong
problem is very common and very human. Not spending enough time
identifying the problem is the biggest mistake Melina sees
companies make.
- [43:37] Elina shares her blog
post that she wrote about Netflix solving the wrong
problem.
- [45:10] Everything you do has
an opportunity cost. We need to be sure we are solving the right
problem first. It is the foundation of everything we
do.
- [48:03] We need to understand
someone’s logic empathically, putting ourselves in their shoes
before we try to change their behavior.
- [50:53] There are just some
ways of spending money that is socially acceptable and some that
aren’t.
- [51:15] Never assume you
understand why someone does something because you
don’t.
- [53:45] It’s not about you,
it’s about the audience. Could it help someone else?
- [54:35] Melina shares her
closing thoughts.
- [56:19] If you enjoy the
experience I’ve provided here for you, will you share about it?
That could mean leaving a rating/review or sharing the episode with
a friend (or 10!)
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and share what you liked about the
show.
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