In this training, you’re going to learn about the Pattern Interrupt. What Pattern Interrupts are and how you can use the Pattern Interrupt in your online business, and day-to-day life with dramatic results.
A Pattern Interrupt is a term taken from NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), which is a learned method of communication. To understand a pattern interrupt, we need to understand what a pattern is.
The Pattern in “Pattern Interrupt”
As human beings, we are inherently lazy. The brain wants to make our lives as easy as possible in autopilot mode. If you take your daily drive or commute to work for example, how many times did you arrive with little or no recollection of the journey?
Now you’re driving to work and a child riding a bike pulls out in front of you. Your pattern has just been interrupted.
Patterns can be anything we do as part of a routine, and interrupts are anything that interrupts that autopilot mode our brains like.
What Is A Pattern Interrupt
A Pattern Interrupt is anything that interrupts our train of thought running on autopilot.
It changes the direction of your thoughts into a new one. A pattern interrupt is designed to break you out of your current way of thinking and pay attention to what is being said. It’s an emotional shift that increases your levels of consciousness and memory capability.
The Pattern Interrupt In Everyday Situations
Imagine, you’re walking in the shopping centre when a man with a clipboard approaches.
A man with a clipboard’s approach back in the day was to ask you a question and the response you were likely to keep walking and pretend to be late for something.
More recently, however, a man with a clipboard uses pattern interrupts to capture your attention in the following ways:
- Extend a welcoming hand and introduces himself
- Ask a reaching open question about the topic of the day
- Compliment you about something
All of these and many more are pattern interrupts designed to capture and engage our attention.
So how can the pattern interrupt work in your online business..?
Using A Pattern Interrupt To Maximize Your Online Marketing
We all find ourselves scrolling through the Facebook news feed unconsciously for 5 minutes when we’ve wasted 20! Then you’ll see an image or video that stops you from scrolling. THAT was a pattern interrupt.
As an Online Business Owner, start to pay close attention to the things that capture your attention. Build your own swipe file of pattern interrupts and use them in your marketing.
The kind of things you’ll see may include any of the following:
- Sending curiosity emails with open-loop stories
- Pre-recorded webinars that encounter ‘technical problems’
- Controversial email headlines or social media posts
- Doing the opposite of every other marketer
Pattern Interrupts in Advertising
One of the most popular TV commercials ever in the UK was Cadbury’s drumming gorilla. The commercial was the first of its type and interrupted a lot of people and made them pay attention during the commercial break.
Laurence Green, one of the creators of the Cadbury Gorilla commercial gave a talk on the 10 lessons learned, 10 years following the campaign. His talk is a masterclass in marketing and well worth a watch.
As explained in this article a Pattern Interrupt can be anything that changes a pattern and serves to achieve three things:
- Instigate a thought process
- Break the current thought pattern
- Introduce a different mental state
Remember that practice, testing pattern interrupts and measuring their effectiveness will determine your level of success.
