People believe they buy because it’s the logical choice. HAH!!
About 50 years of research into consumer buying patterns says they are wrong.
People buy products and services that align with their beliefs. Here’s an example – after a lifetime in marketing, I am deeply suspicious of fancy packaging, and I’m sensitive to “hard sell”. If a company uses “black hat” marketing tricks and keywords, I back away.
I’m analytical, and I try to be aware of my underlying motivations before I buy. And “because I want it” is a perfectly good reason to buy something!
Hidden factors behind buying decisions
Messages [that work], target the psychology of how people buy.
Bad news – phrasing your message in an “analytical” logical way tends to put most people off.
Why – as a seller, your logical wording is written from a seller’s inside knowledge of your industry, product or service.
Perhaps you focus on the features that set you apart from competitors. But your buyer isn’t where you are. He’s just started on this journey. You might be the first website he’s seen!
Buyers what to know more about…
- the problem you solve
- how you solve it (to judge if you are credible)
- the opportunities and benefits they will enjoy
- why you can be trusted
Buyers don’t care about…
- your production process
- your management philosophy
- your WHY. (Do you care why your plumber became a plumber?)
What DOES work?
Customers come to your website when Google hints that your product/service will fix some aspect of their life.
Of the 10+ choices on the first search page, YOUR website’s metatag description resonated with them. Well done! Resonate is a great word – you made a bell ring in their head so they clicked.
It is very difficult to write your own marketing materials, and sell your own company’s services. The more passionately you feel about your business, the harder it is. Because you are TOO SMART and know too much. The words you use every day, aren’t the words an inexperienced customer would use.
You have to switch away from your head, and switch to your heart!
Writing a marketing message that works, comes down to knowing, feeling and hearing your buyer’s stories. Stories that acknowledge THEIR feelings, their emotions and even their misconceptions.
Talk to your sales team, and hear the hard realities about your customers stories:
- KNOW THEIR [REAL] PROBLEM: How do the prospects feel about the problem you solve? Do they see the same problems the way you do? Maybe other, easier ways to solve the problem have emerged – outsourcing, automation, software as a rented service?
- KNOW THEIR [REAL] OPINION: How did they feel when they first heard about you? What is your REAL brand, rather than the neat and tidy brand book you keep in your bottom drawer?
- KNOW YOUR [REAL] PROCESS: What about your product and the process of buying it, makes them nervous and hesitate? What makes them question if YOU are the right one to buy from?
- KNOW YOUR [REAL] PRODUCT: What frustrates your buyer after buying? What irritates them when it comes to using and installing?
Book a consultation – let’s uncover both the logic and emotion to make prospective buyers, investors, funders and readers curious!
