Marketing is an area of commerce that is fully in the spotlight at the moment. Whilst marketing has always been a vitally important part of the sales process, the number of innovative and new methods and the volume of data and information on consumers that are now available makes it an area that people are pouring huge amounts of attention into. When trying to get ahead in this area, you need to ensure that you consider psychology as a way to understand and connect most effectively with your potential customers. So, without further ado, here are tips for doing just that!
The Group Mentality
This isn’t a remarkable revelation in psychological terms, but its power in the marketplace cannot be overstated. “People want to do as others have done. Human beings have an inherent sense of relying on popular consensus over a variety of things, business included. If you can evoke a feeling that your company or your product is the people’s choice, you could find yourself in a very good position indeed”, says Charles Jofra, marketer at Write My x and Brit Student. In the modern era, the most effective way to create that reality (or at least give that illusion) is through social media. Its use can be extremely influential on what people consider ‘the done thing’.Shoot For Easy Recall
The internet, where the bulk of people’s marketing goes in the technological age, is a very fast paced environment, where potential customers might look at your site or advert for a matter of seconds before their attention is drawn elsewhere. So, as a marketer, you want to be zeroing in on phrases, slogans, posters and the like that contribute most effectively to ‘Easy Recall’. If you hit the right note with this stuff, then you would ideally have marketing that shoots straight into a customer’s mind in a small, consumable bite that they won’t forget easily. This can take some optimization but is well worth the effort.Cash In On The Power Of A Decision
When a customer is on your website, the biggest hurdle they are overcoming psychologically is the decision to buy. You can do all you want in terms of marketing to try and lower the height of the hurdle, but the decision to actually spend money is one that will always be a trial. Of course, ideally, they overcome the hurdle and commit to buying. There is then a small window, between that commitment and their actual purchase, where their decision to spend has been made and the likelihood that they will respond positively to more marketing greatly increases. By including more products near the checkout (like the technique that actual physical stores use) you are encouraging further purchases, since they have already overcome their biggest hurdle psychologically.Show A Human Side
Whilst the level of automation available to us in our technology hasn’t reached the point where humans have actually started to have serious concerns and mistrust of technology, we are at the point where whole shopping experiences can be carried out without the slightest bit of human involvement. People are reassured by people, so wherever possible you ought to be reminding them that behind your website there are real people who benefit with this mutual transaction. “The cold, digitalized exterior, complete with automated bots for dealing with customer queries, has its advantages in terms of convenience, but in reality, it can also freak people out. Drop the bots sometimes, and be a real person”, says Nelly Ingram, business blogger at Next Coursework and Australia 2 Write. Including imagery of people in your marketing, using testimonials heavily and having real customer service representatives are all things that will work wonders when it comes to creating a distinct feeling of humanness, something that is psychologically very reassuring for customers in your store.Conclusion
Psychology is going to be a vital instrument in marketing of all sorts. Ironically, it becomes more and more important the more prevalent digital solutions are. If your customers were all locals who walked into your store and who you knew by sight, then the marketing process would be instinctive. As it is today, understanding how people think is the most important skill you need to develop.About Author:
Darryl Martin is a professional writer and marketing editor at Academic Brits and PhD Kingdom. His role relates to project management and business strategy, motivated by psychology. He is highly creative in his problem solving for marketing. Check out his writing at Origin Writings.