One aspect that becomes evident to me when I see people’s marketing is there are those who “get” marketing and those that don’t.
Marketing is, in essence, making sure that those people who need your service or product (or will do in the future) are aware of you. Of course, there is a lot of psychology behind all aspects of the buying journey and many books have been written about sales psychology.
Dr. Robert Cialdini’s Six Principles of Influence, a common element of sales psychology these days, talks about, funnily enough, six key aspects which influence a person’s buying habits:
Reciprocity: you help your target audience so they feel they “owe you” enough to take your course or buy your product.
Commitment & Consistency: A person defines themselves by beliefs and so the choices we make and the items we purchase must be consistent with that type of person. The item or service must be in alignment with the person we, as buyers, see ourselves as.
Social Proof: We are a social animal and rarely like to be seen as the one doing something different! So if we can see that other people are liking a post, we’re happier about adding a heart. If people before us have bought (which we can see by all the great testimonials or reviews on the website) then the risk is a lot less for us and we feel “safe” to sign up too.
Liking: One of my marketing mantras is “know, like and trust” and it’s the core of all marketing in my opinion. If we resonate with a person or a company then we’re much more open to hear their marketing message and consider buying from them as opposed to the next company.
Authority: This is not necessarily because someone is “in charge” but it’s a question of if they are knowledgeable enough. Are they an authority on the subject that you are considering investing in? Do they actually know how to do what they do? (be that an AirBNB, sales coaching or a chocolate making company!)
Scarcity: You’ve seen the timer telling you you only have 5 minutes until the offer expires. You’ve seen the notice of “only 8 items left in stock”. It’s the good old, fear of missing out (FOMO) that gets us every time. If we want something then we don’t want to wake up tomorrow with the opportunity gone. Of course the fact that other people want it too is also “social proof” too!
So how many of these principles do you have covered in your marketing strategy? Are they there on your website in some shape or form? Evident in your social media posts? How can you incorporate them more?