As business owners, we know we need to market ourselves, our business and our product or services. Marketing isn't something that's simply just 'done' - there's a few steps we need to take before the actual marketing gets started: researching the competitors, the target audience, setting up product or service positioning, branding, determining your brand voice and more. It can be a little overwhelming and that makes it difficult to know where to start.
When concepts and ideas start getting a little overwhelming for me, I like to take a step back and center myself. Concepts like these are made simple when we define them. "Marketing" is defined by the American Marketing Association as:
"Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
I boldened the key phrase for us: have value. Regardless of whether you are a millennial or part of an older generation who didn’t grow up without the internet, one thing is for sure - we all have basic universal needs, desires and values. Now, we're bringing the concept of marketing and distilling it into something that anyone can understand.
When we position our product or service to fulfill a universal need, we can start building interest and trust in our potential clients in a genuine way. Once our customer has entered the 'Aware' stage of the Customer Value Journey, it's then our job to execute the rest of our marketing plan in a way that takes our customer through the rest of the journey.
By using these psychological tactics in our marketing strategies, we can take a customer from 'Aware' of your
the desire for novelty
We all have a desire for novelty. It makes us feel unique and stand out from the crowd. It makes us feel special. As a clever marketing tactician, you can appeal to this desire to drive more sales. It can prove quite useful when you have a product that has certain special features or has identified a particular niche.
STORYTELLING
People will not purchase products without first being convinced that it will add value to their lives. Products are therefore viewed as a way to solve problems. By providing a human story on how your products have a greater impact not just on the buyer but on the community at large, people are much more likely to purchase your products.
This is because they believe that they are doing a greater good by buying your products. For instance, companies that sell recyclable water bottles can go with the idea that they help prevent pollution in the ocean that causes harm to marine life.
DESIRE FOR PLEASURE
All humans naturally want to feel pleasure. It is one emotion that contributes to our general happiness. If people feel like a product will give them pleasure, they will be willing to buy it.
Something else to note is that when offering a service the customer wants to know that they made the right choice. Because of this, you must focus on providing the absolute best customer experience. This can also prove to be a great way to grab customer loyalty.
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SATISFY CURIOSITY
People have a desire for information and a want to satisfy their curiosity. They want to know and learn more about the product that they are about to purchase.
Offering customers information through content such as blogs, videos and images can go a long way to helping them buy your products.
However, part of doing this is withholding some information. Instead of providing all the information upfront, you can prompt them to keep reading about your product or to visit your website.
Here they can find all the information about the product that they are searching for.
Another strategy is to provide just a bit extra in your website landing page, which prompts the site visitors to click through more website pages.
SOCIAL PROOF
Before the age of the internet, one way that businesses got repeat customers is by relying on their customers to pass on information about their products to others.
Now in the digital era, customers also need proof that products are fulfilling their purpose and solving problems.
One way to achieve this is to provide social proof. This is where a business showcases the product's effectiveness on social media.
Businesses can also leverage on influencers to help pass on this information to their followers.
As a result, a certain percentage of these followers are expected to convert.
Appealing to your customers’ psyche is about showing them that your product or service adds value to their lives. That value isn’t necessarily financial – it can be just as easily emotional or even physical.
Marketing has long been about the customer’s psyche, and how to get your product or service into their minds and persuade them to buy it. Whether it’s showing social proof, or satisfying their desire for novelty or pleasure, once customers trust your brand they are far more likely to be repeat customers.
Which of these principles will you incorporate into your marketing strategy?
Till next time,
