How can businesses in their first year get off to a good start in marketing? As we considered in Part One, name recognition is an important key. The first steps to becoming favorably known by your best prospects include understanding their interests and the real reasons why they would buy. Once you understand those things you must effectively use that information to reap greater sales.
An important key
Businesses often start out with little revenue and a lot of expenses. It can be tempting to
skimp on marketing. That would be a costly mistake. We’ve all heard the expression, “familiarity breeds contempt.” That may be true in some cases. But extensive social psychology research finds that familiarity most often breeds the crucial success factors of liking and trust. In fact, studies show that all but negative encounters between people have a very positive effect on their relationships. Further, research finds that messages that become familiar are accepted as true.
Clearly, for your business to succeed, prospective customers must see and hear from you regularly. It’s crucial to attract new business. My own experience confirms the research findings. For instance, I could use but am unlikely to get a hair transplant. Yet, if I decided on one, the first person I would likely visit is a local doctor whose name has become very familiar through advertising. Despite doing no research, I already view him as the authority in my state.
What kind of message?
People are bombarded with a myriad of marketing messages today and will only pay attention to information that is significant to them. If you know what about your product or service that interests your audience and why they would buy it, you can use that information to craft messages that will attract their selective attention.
Understanding your prospects’ real motives for buying can help you gain their notice. By effectively featuring those factors in your headlines and taglines, you can focus their minds on information that will move them in your direction.
Learn your clients’ shortcuts
Nobel prizewinning behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman and Princeton researcher Amos Tversky discovered that busy people often take shortcuts, called judgment heuristics, when evaluating information and making decisions. If you can learn your audience’s decision shortcuts, your marketing can feature ways you satisfy these key requirements. This can bring more customers to your door.
Having tried strenuously to help save facial plastic surgery giant Lifestyle Lift despite its deep debts and ineffective marketing, I will use some examples from the plastic surgery field. The decision to have facial plastic surgery is an emotional one. Patients often seek to recover the self-esteem and favorable attention that looking older takes away. Marketing and sales must focus on their ability to give patients what they want most at affordable prices.
In addition, establishing trust is a crucial accomplishment for doctors seeking to schedule more surgeries. Lifestyle Lift’s facial plastic surgeons were among the nation’s most experienced. Helping patients recognize this was an important step in making the sale. Lifestyle Lift procedures used local anesthesia, the safest method available. Bringing this to patients’ attention was another key to establishing vital trust.
What media?
Since familiarity, name recognition and effectively repeating key messages are so crucial, it is vital to find the right media mix to make your name and message familiar. Research finds that using several media is best. Infomercials are great, but extremely expensive. Television is costly, and DVRs allow viewers to zoom right through your commercial.
The best answer for a growing business may be a mix of radio, social media, email and a heavy dose of web-based marketing. Blogging can allow professionals to establish their knowledge and authority, building vital trust.
A magnet website that would draw genuine prospects to read news, blogs and articles on subjects of interest could be an ideal component. It could establish vital trust while gathering business leads.
Select the right messages to transmit through a good media mix and you’re on your way to success.
Larry Rondeau is a marketing writer and strategist. Effective use of marketing psychology helps him achieve outstanding results. Email him at larry@larryrondeau.com.