One of the keys to successful marketing is understanding how (and why) people think and act. Indeed, it’s much harder to create compelling marketing content if you don’t know how it might interest your audience. Marketing and psychology are much more closely linked than you might think. To fine-tune your marketing strategy and attract, convince and convert more prospects, you absolutely must know the following principles of psychology.
Priming
Have you ever played that game where one person says a word and the other immediately responds with the first word that comes to mind? That’s pretty much how priming works. You’re exposed to one stimulus and it affects how you respond to another. In a recent study, Psychology Today magazine presents the example of two groups of people reading the word “yellow” followed by either “sky” or “banana”. Because people make a semantic association between fruit and color, the “yellow-banana” group will recognize the word “banana” faster than the “yellow-sky” group will recognize the word “sky”. What does this have to do with marketing? More than it seems. By combining marketing and psychology to use subtle priming techniques, you can help your website visitors retain key information about your brand, and even influence their buying behavior. So if you decide to make priming part of your marketing strategy, think of the little details. They can influence your visitor’s decision, and you’d probably rather they buy your product than leave the page!
Reciprocity
Introduced in Professor Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence and Manipulation, the concept of “reciprocity” is simple: if someone does something for you, you’ll naturally want to do something for them. In your marketing strategy, you can take advantage of reciprocity in many ways. You don’t have to be rolling in gold to offer something: it can be anything from a gift T-shirt to an exclusive e-book, a free wallpaper or your expert advice on a complex subject. Even something as simple as a handwritten note can be enough to establish reciprocity. Just make sure you give something before you ask for something in return.
Social proof
Most marketers are already familiar with this principle, but it’s too important not to mention it again. Social proof – if you’re not already familiar with it – is the theory that people adopt the beliefs or actions of a group of people they like or trust. In other words, it’s the “me too” effect. Once others have taken the plunge, we’re ready to do the same. The combination of marketing and psychology has been based on instinct for thousands of years, which is why it’s so hard to resist.
The notion of scarcity
Have you ever gone to buy airline tickets and seen a message saying “Only 3 seats left at this price”? Yes, that’s what scarcity is all about! This psychological principle refers to the basic theory of supply and demand: the rarer the opportunity, content or product, the greater its value in our eyes. So if you want to sell at a higher price, or in greater volume, emphasize the fact that there won’t be enough to go around! If you weren’t familiar with these principles, you’ll now understand why marketing and psychology go hand in hand. Other similar principles could illustrate the subject, and I’ll probably be talking about them in future articles.
