Why we buy from emotion, and justify it with logic...
This concept has famously been celebrated in the neuroscience community, and naturally, successful brands and businesses have learned to run with it [and not just in the luxury categories].
On the surface level, we might think we buy things for superficial reasons.
The watch
The shirt
The beer
The car
The massage
The holiday
BUT, deep down, it HAS to fill a void in one of eight areas [I’m going to dive into that below].
When it comes down to it, business is just the commercialisation of fulfilling human needs.
If go back to our ancestors, they used to barter and trade to acquire what they need and exchange something of equal value so they could create win-win situations.
As we evolved, money as a token of our value, and we use it as a tool to have our needs filled.
It doesn’t matter what business we own, in our marketing efforts, we only need to highlight just 1 of the Life Force 8 [LF8] in our marketing, and throughout their customer journey so we can replicate win-win situations and continue to work with our customers [and increase our standing and referrability in the market].
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Now, before I dive in that I need to frame that your creative and how you display your brand is SO important, it can’t be understated.
BUT — you can have the hottest logo or the most beautifully designed collateral but if you’re not tapping into the human needs of your customer, it’s not going to create lasting success.
It’s a tough pill to swallow, but our customers care about themselves first, and foremost — their loyalty only extends to the level that we can solve their problems, and our ability to communicate that we have done so in our marketing efforts around the customer life cycle.
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So, now to the Life Force 8, Drew Whitman (otherwise known as Dr Direct), famously labelled these in his book Cashvertising.
Over his celebrated career, he discovered that human beings are biologically programmed with the following eight desires;
Survival, and enjoyment of life
Enjoyment of food and beverages (satisfy hunger and thirst)
Freedom from fear, pain and danger
Sexual companionship / desirability
Comfortable living conditions
To be superior winning, or to not fall behind — i.e. keeping up the Joneses
Care and protection of loved ones
Social approval
Just to be super clear — your marketing efforts DO NOT need to address all eight — the key is to use the ones that matter to the people that matter [this comes down to understanding your ideal customer].
If you can, take stock of the last three marketing messages — they could be social posts, emails, phone calls, flyer drops — anything…
Were they promoting YOU, YOUR SERVICES, YOUR BUSINESS, or were they centred around the outcomes that your clients want when they work with you?
To quote Albert Einstein,
“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.”
A lot of businesses will spend time celebrating their success, downplaying their competitors, or shouting what they believe makes them important.
Instead, try to celebrate your customers, and their success stories — showcasing where you were a catalyst for their feeling of fulfilment.
In short;
Determine which of the LF8 your business / offer / product / service addresses
Get clear on your ideal customer
Play with some messaging, test it on your market
Get feedback, measure success, and refine as needed
= retaining your great customers + getting more value from them, and attracting more of the customers you want.
Something to think about over the long weekend :)
Zac
Ps. Before I go, there’s nine learned secondary human wants that need to sit under the Life Force 8, let me know if you want them, and I’ll send them over to your inbox [ zac@tenasu.com ] :)