The Biggest Marketing Lies (According to Rory Sutherland)

HelpBnk gives you a front-row seat to how successful entrepreneurs really think about business.

We've pulled out the biggest insights from our video with Rory Sutherland that could change how you think about your marketing,

There's NO objective value attached to anything.

Nothing. Zero. Zilch.

Our brains construct value based on context, and that context can be manipulated in ways that'll make your head spin.

Take Rolls-Royce and Maserati, for example.

These companies used to exhibit at car shows, surrounded by other expensive motors. But something wasn't working. Even at £300,000, their cars looked... well, expensive. Intimidating. Out of reach.

So they did something brilliant.

They moved to yacht and aircraft shows instead.

Suddenly, that same £300,000 car sitting next to a multimillion-pound yacht became an "impulse buy." Same car, different context, completely different perception of value.

The car hadn't changed. The price hadn't changed. But everything else had.

Habit and social proof are the human behaviours easiest to exploit.

We have two mental default settings.

These aren't bugs in human psychology. They're FEATURES that kept our ancestors alive.

But they also explain why even revolutionary ideas face massive resistance.

When smallpox vaccination was discovered, people opposed it saying it was "unbiblical" and "untested”.

Drink driving laws, seatbelts, the bloody internet. EVERYTHING required extraordinary levels of marketing to overcome our natural resistance to change.

We're wired to resist new things, even when they're brilliant.

So make it easy for people to say yes by showing what others are doing. Use testimonials, case studies, and "most popular" badges.

Reduce friction wherever possible. If someone's used to ordering through email, don't force them to use a new platform. Meet them where they already are.

Watch the full video to find out what Rory's answer is to questions like:

— HelpBnk