9 Characteristics of human behaviour that spell success or failure for your marketing

Tap-In To These 9 Characteristics of Human Behaviour And Dramatically Increase Your Chances Of Marketing Success

 

The foundation to all the Common-Sense Marketing strategies (and the reasons why they work so consistently across all industries and business types) is that we are all selling to the same person.

We are selling to an individual.

 

So How Do The Following 9 Characteristics of Human Behaviour Impact Your Marketing Success Or Failure?

 

The more you study the communication process, the more you realize that successful marketing … whether you’re using ads, sales letters, brochures, emails, web sites or whatever … tap into key characteristics of human behavior.

The more you are aware of the following basic traits, the more powerful and effective your sales efforts will be:

 

1. People follow leaders that have their confidence.

 

In a business sense, people will support companies that they consider to be leaders. The interesting thing is that these images may be real, or simply well-constructed perceptions. What this means to you is this: Make sure your company excels in something, and then make certain you communicate that excellence effectively and often to develop and harness a position of being the industry expert.

 

2. People seek reassurance by group action.

 

This is the “bandwagon” affect that you can take advantage of in your business by making good use of the testimonials you receive. Use this marketing tool in your communications to boost the credibility of your cause.

 

3. People react best under pressure of deadlines.

 

Maybe one in 10 sales letters, maybe one in 50 ads make use of this fact. Yet genuine deadlines — with genuine reasons for them clearly explained — dramatically increases your response rates.

 

4. People easily lose their sense of identity.

 

The fast pace of modern life separates people from past interests and exposes them to new ones. And this is a great opportunity for you! If you are the only company that writes to your customers and prospects, even simply to say that you appreciate them, you’ll gain immense loyalty. Interestingly, clients of ours (in retail, business-to-business, and professional practices) who’ve tapped this powerful idea typically report that they are disappointed by the fact that they get virtually no reaction to their letters … at first. But that the sales that follow prove the long-term power of this loyalty-building program.

 

5. People rarely pay complete attention – at first.

 

We’re all guilty of this. We are so focused on what we’re doing in business that we are guilty of thinking everyone else should be interested too. Not only focused on us, but excited about what we’ve got. The fact is, they’re distracted by their own lives. They don’t give a damn about us until we put our offer in terms of what it’ll do for them.

W-I-I-F-M! What’s-in-it-for-me? You literally have to break into their awareness and work hard at holding it. Talk to them, about them, and make them feel important.

 

6. People glance instead of read.

 

Many people are poor readers. Or lazy readers. So make your sales message short and sweet. That doesn’t mean short copy is better than long. It means don’t write a word more (or less) than you have to in order to achieve your objective.

If you’re “selling off the page,” that will require a fuller and longer argument than if you’re merely selling the idea of selling the idea of downloading a coupon for a trial discount. Compelling headlines, powerful opening paragraphs, short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs are the key to getting people to glance – and then to get interested enough to keep reading.

 

7. People are suspect of perfection.

 

In a nutshell, tell your prospects your story “warts and all” as well as all the good things about you. That honest and open approach will build trust, win you many friends, and many more sales.

 

8. People identify with generalisations.

 

Most people are begging to be led. What’s more, they’ll identify with stories, testimonials, examples, and case histories. I don’t mean this to sound manipulative … simply to point out an effective key in the art of persuasion.

One of the most famous sales letters of all time began this way:

“An ancient Persian Poet said, ‘If thou hast two pennies, spend one for bread. With the other, buy hyacinths for thy soul.'”

Attached to the top of the letter was a one-cent coin. You may have heard about this letter. It sold Reader’s Digest subscriptions … and did it so successfully that literally hundreds of millions of “pennies” were mailed worldwide over the years with that theme.

 

9. People go for summaries, lists and easy formulas.

 

Think about it. Ever since The Ten Commandments, we’ve been given the easy way to do things with formulas: the five-point plan … three easy steps … 4 important reasons.

If prospects and clients are given too many options, they get confused and put off making a decision. People don’t want to make the decisions; they want the decisions made for them. Make it easy, simple and safe for people to make a decision and you’ll dramatically increase your sales and profits.

How much more successful will your business become when your marketing strategies work in harmony with each of these nine characteristics?

 

Thoughts, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below.