In our daily lives we are exposed to thousands of advertising messages every day, each promising us a better life, an easier time or a faster way. Good marketers don’t sell products, they create desire, and it is much easier to get someone to buy your product or service if they’re convinced they already want.
In our daily lives we are exposed to thousands of advertising messages every day, each promising us a better life, an easier time or a faster way. Good marketers don’t sell products, they create desire, and it is much easier to get someone to buy your product or service if they’re convinced they already want it! In professional terms, desire is defined as creating a gap between a person’s perceived state and their desired state. When we perceive a “gap” we will try to close it, some gaps are short (i.e. I am hungry) and some gaps are long (i.e. I want to become accredited in X).
Whatever the case, a truly effective marketing campaign will not only fill this desire, but they will actually create the desire in your mind, sound kind of evil hey? Let me explain what I mean and maybe it won’t seem quite so bad.
Imagine that you are sitting at home watching the TV, you’re sitting on the sofa when all of a sudden an ad comes on explaining the disastrous health effects can occur from sitting on a sofa that isn’t clean. Now you know this information, your desired state has shifted to include “Clean Sofa” and you are more receptive to any information which can help close this gap, fulfilling the desire to remain healthy. This example is a bit crude, but I hope it helps make my point. Before you watched this commercial you were probably not aware of your sofa, and much less likely to search for a solution.
So how can you use this information to help you make marketing material for your computer business? Well, most importantly the key issue here is education as the adage goes, “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know” While I am not suggesting that you simply make people “afraid” to the point of dependency, it can be useful to educate your customers in some of the ways in which things can go wrong with their I.T. After all they can’t ask you for a brand new backup system if they don’t know they need one. The purpose of creating the desire is to present your company as the ideal solution, thus making the consumer happy.
This desire doesn’t need to be inspired by fear or trouble, you can create desire through positive motivators too. For example, you may say something like “Businesses on windows 7 spend less than half as much on service calls”. Here, the “desire” is created to spend less money, you have shown them there is a way and obviously you are now in a position to provide this service. Different people will obviously have different motivations so creating desire can require some planning and research. To give you an idea, in Australia, when trying to sell a product to the “middle class” customer, marketers will try to position their products alongside “upper class” products in an attempt to make the product seem more elusive. This (apparently) exploits the desire for middle class people to feel they are part of the upper class and is known as the “upward pull” effect.
When creating the “desire”, try to put yourself in the shoes of your customer. If possible do some interviews with some existing customers and try to nail down exactly what is going through their minds when they are using the computer. You may discover some really fascinating insights which apply to a whole range of people. I don’t believe you should simply exploit the fears of your customers, as your understanding of their problems increases, so does your ability to provide a truly valuable service.
In my opinion the “desire” you create with your advertising should align with your business’ persona. For example, if you are a promoting a light hearted and fun approach to IT then your advertising should center around making life easier, reducing stress. Alternatively if you are a professional outfit with serious claims and a premium service your messages should center on efficiency, stability and productivity. If you have clearly defined consumer segments, it would be a good idea to create a separate set of communications.
Possible “Gaps” – Some ideas to get you thinking
- Antivirus Problems
- Lifetime of Hardware
- New Staff Education
- Scalability and Growth Options
- BSOD / any urgent problem
- Changing over key software
- Computer Speed Issues
- Long Term Support Options
- Power Failure Implications
- Backup Issues
- Trends in your clients industry
Ultimately if people feel like you can identify with them and fix their problems they will be much more likely to give you a call. Research and understanding will help you identify with people’s real problems and help you create a more compelling argument. Just try not to be as obvious a some companies if you are going to “create” the problem in the first place!
Marketing Ethics
We have all been in a situation where we find ourselves with a customer who wants a faster computer, or more ram when we know they’re going to receive absolutely no benefit from it what so ever. It is important to understand the difference between taking advantage of your customers, and honestly trying to up-sell them products they need. I realize this post can read a little like a road map for manipulation, but I know you will use this information to better your marketing and your business through honest means.
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