Is psychology a part of your marketing methodology?
Psychology is a huge factor in all our lives, quietly guiding our choices and our preferences. If you’re unaware of the term, simply put, psychology is the study of the mind, in reference to how it controls our behaviour.
The reason we’re looking into this for this blog is that psychology is a massive part of how marketing is done. If marketing is about trying to determine how people are thinking and behaving and then creating content to work inside with this, then psychology is a perfect insight. By learning how the average consumer’s psychology affects how they are buying, you can then make sure you are creating marketing materials that will play into this.
This is not to say that using psychology in marketing is unsound, unfair or a strange tactic to subliminally market. It’s more a case of trying to get an insight into where your customers will be and how they’ll be consuming before they even get there. You could almost say it’s like customer analytics before customer analytics.
So, with understanding psychology being a must for all marketers, we decided to put together a list of 5 ways you can use public psychology against them to increase your conversations and sales. Let’s go…
1 – Tradition
People are extremely habitual. We love to create habits for ourselves, and from those habits, create traditions. From those traditions, we love to have celebrations and holidays. It’s just what we do. So, of course, there’s the more obvious route of marketing appropriately around national holidays throughout the year, gearing your content to whatever emotions that holiday evokes.
However, there’s another way in which tradition can help with your marketing. This route is all about claiming that something is good, simply because it’s always been that way. Take, for example, a meditation app. They do this all the time by appealing to Buddhist traditions. To try and acquire a new audience of people just getting into mediation (whilst also appealing to an experienced audience) meditation app marketers will say things like “proven results for thousands of years” or something similar.
This is effective because as much as we, as a people, are always looking for innovation and what’s new out there – we also know that old and engrained parts of culture can be trustworthy. From a consumer’s point of view, they might think: “well it’s been around for X number of years, it must be good!”
Another good example of this is in clothing brands. Established and popular brands will often have things like “est. 1889” labelled on their products and marketing. This is appealing to that traditional psychology just the same.
So, if there’s any way you can input some sort of anchor into the past, in relation to your product, service, or maybe even just your business premises, this should speak to the part of an audience’s mind that is looking for trust.
2 – Popular Belief
People are much more likely to do something if they see others do it first, which seems obvious when you think about it. This is how fashion, trends and fads work. People feel safer and more secure when they are just like everyone else, doing what they’re doing, and blending in. We like to be part of a group. Appealing to this popular belief is about leaning into this feeling and convincing people that something is true simply because many others believe it too. Or, for example, a product or restaurant is good, just because multiple people said so.
A great way of doing this is by sharing real feedback from your customers. The easiest form of this is by sharing and posting your positive feedback, with customers talking about how great your product, service, or company is. Another, more involved route, is by creating customer testimonials – either in video or written form.
For example, imagine that you’re selling toothpaste. You could claim that it whitens teeth more effectively than any other. You could even explain the science behind how it works. But what will resonate with your audience more effectively, every single time, is showing off real case study accounts of how it helped your real customers. Getting them on camera talking about how great the toothpaste is will always be the best route to take.
3 – Fear
Fear is one of the most powerful motivators for people to act. So naturally, this is a great technique for marketers to grab audiences’ attention.
Fear of missing out (or FOMO) is when somebody feels as though they will miss out on something permanently if they don’t do something and act now. Most of the time, this is in reference to people’s social lives. However, the same logic can be implanted into your marketing. Take, for example, time-sensitive offers and deadlines that give a sense of urgency. By simply adding a ticking countdown to an ad offer, this will trigger a thought in the audience’s mind: do I really want to miss out on this? The more fear-based consumers will be more likely to move further down the sales funnel after feeling that fear.
Another source of fear is one that links closely to the previous point – and that’s that fear of being different. Again, by appealing to the fact that everyone is doing something or using a particular product – if the reader isn’t partaking, they will feel like the odd one out. As we’ve mentioned already, most people don’t like sticking out and fear the thought of being different and so by demonstrating the popularity of something, you can actually boost the desires of those who don’t already possess it – whatever IT is.
4 – Nature
This is one that is becoming continually more popular in time. The idea of this one is to appeal to the idea that something is “all-natual” or good for the environment. The modern consumer is a much more conscious one. They like to know that the companies they are buying from are in no way impacting the planet. So, by saying that something is “natural” implies a lack of lab creation, chemicals and testing. It also implies that the user themselves should have no shame or regret, as it’s a natural product.
However, there is also another way to appeal to nature in your marketing. By saying that something is natural, it also implies that this is the correct way, anything else being “unnatural”. Crossing over with the previous tradition point, by marketing something as natural, plants the idea that it’s the way it’s “meant to be” and “how it’s always been done” – more reassurance for the consumer.
5 – Wishful Thinking
This last one may be a more obvious one – but still worth talking about. Almost every consumer out there is looking to consume for one reason: to solve a problem/need they have in their lives. This may be as trivial as needing to put up a shelf, so they look for a hammer and nails. Or it could be much more emotional and deep-rooted. Consumers will either be actively looking to solve these issues or will see advertisements that trigger a deep-rooted issue that they might now be able to fix. It’s up to you as a marketer to determine what problem it is YOUR audience is looking to solve and let them know how YOU can solve it.
Just remember, almost everybody is looking to solve their problems with purchasing, looking to new products and businesses with hope. So, round up that wishful thinking and create your marketing around how you’re going to deliver what they’re wishing for.
Conclusion
All of these marketing psychology tactics are designed to target our most basic desires and emotions. They capitalize on our natural tendency to think about products in terms of how much pleasure they will bring us, rather than how much pain they will cause us later. The takeaway here is to try and think about what psychological triggers apply to your target demographic and appealing to them. If you take the time to think through who your target audience is and what their lives are like – you start to reveal HOW to communicate with them in your marketing to trigger the right response for more success.
Although this blog was about giving you a look into consumer psychology, perhaps you’re looking to find out more about your specific customer base. Well, you’re in luck. With Unaro you can gather customer data in real-time that feeds directly into a customisable and easy-to-read platform. This platform, full of real data based on your customers, can then go toward informing future marketing decisions and campaigns – which you can also do straight from the platform. Get in touch today to find out exactly what Unaro can do for you and your business TODAY!
