There’s comfort in the familiar. People become emotionally attached to what they believe to be true and continue to dig up alternative facts if those alternates support their existing thinking.

So, how do we change minds and behaviors when psychology says facts won’t matter when people are hard-wired to believe in what they assume to be true?

We have worked on many campaigns over the years that have required us to build messaging and visuals to help increase awareness about social issues that prescribes the audience to question their beliefs, learn new information, and change behaviors. From normalizing breastfeeding to dismantling myths about persons living with HIV, the social issues we’ve helped shed light on definitely have their naysayers and skeptics. So, how do we start the conversations that support perception change while providing facts, without being preachy?

What we know to be true is that scare tactics, making someone feel ashamed or guilty, or belittling the audience all don’t work. They might change minds for a minute, but they’re not effective for the long term and might create feelings of ill-will, resentment, or negativity toward a cause or brand. Instead:

1. Make it relatable.
If you’re trying to increase awareness about the importance of clean water in a small town in the state of Wyoming, using Lake Michigan as an example will not have the same effect as talking about Jackson Lake. You’ll have more success when you relate a cause to something familiar that the audience can connect and identify with.

2. Don’t be passive-aggressive.
Just don’t. It doesn’t work in relationships, it won’t work on a larger scale. Airbnb tried and failed.

3. Meet the audience at their level.
Don’t over-complicate the message and don’t try to be too clever. If it’s clear and simple, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel so someone can say you’re edgy and cool. Case in point, Burger King’s #EatLikeAndy. Some Burger King fans might also be fans of the late pop art icon Andy Warhol, but the whole campaign failed to resonate. It confused and frustrated the audience. Social media data showed that a quarter of viewers (during the 2019 Super Bowl) had a negative reaction toward the ad and unfavorable sentiment toward the Burger King brand as a whole.

4. Be authentic.
Seth Godin defines authenticity perfectly. Consistency in promise and action. Audiences recognize when you’re on a wagon because everyone else is. State your values, state your promise, and live by them.

5. Make it accessible.
You might have an issue that’s complicated and hard to understand. Or maybe a lot of misconceptions and myths and systemic ideas are tied to it, which makes it challenging to decipher. Break it down into attainable nuggets of information. Provide simple, clear, and manageable tasks for the audience to go on the journey. Rather than beat their heads over with facts and data and technical verbiage, provide soundbites that will allow them to put the puzzle together and come to the conclusion.

You cannot change minds by force. And you cannot change minds without relating and finding common ground with your audiences to get them to hear and see the cause.

We must recognize how and why people hold on to what they know, or what they think they know, so we can dismantle regressive thinking and continue to build a more equitable world.