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Can You Control Your Customer`s Mind?

Is it possible to control your customer`s `buying`
decision? Let me start off with an example. Say many people
selling bags in one place and John wants a bag. John buys
the bag with the most attractive packaging.

What influenced his decision? The packaging. This bag had
something better. So in a different view, this bag
influenced the `buying decision` of John. This is just a
simple example to get you familiar with the concept.

Almost all of the modern marketing campaigns are designed
to be effective from the customer`s point of view. They all
try to control the customer`s feelings. You must follow the
trend or you`ll be a loser.

Just brainstorm / think what can influence the decision to
buy `your product`. You can come up with a lot. Call each
of them a strategy and jot them down in a paper. I will
discuss 3 generic strategies that can be used with any
business and how to apply them, so it will give you some
idea as what to think of and how to apply them.

1. Curiosity

2. Because / Reason Why

3. Greed

Curiosity

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What is it? Curiosity can be defined as `the desire to know
the unexplored` in simple terms. People want to know things
that many others don’t know. They like to discover the
‘secrets’ that only some people know. The desire to know is
a compelling force in marketing, so we have:

* Secrets of the Diet Industry Uncovered

* What Time Share Companies Don`t Want You To Know

* Msteries of A Youthful Appearance Revealed

* The Hidden Keys of Car Buying

People don’t want

* How to Diet Successfully or

* A Guide to Buying Cars

for example. First set of titles surely outshines the
second set of titles because the former takes advantage of
curiosity. You must design your advertising in a way that
arouses curiosity. Getting to see the powerful of
curiosity? (When compared the two sets above)

Because / Reason Why

----------------------------

Telling people a valid reason for your action is another
great influencer in human behavior. People will trust you
if you can offer a reason for what you are doing. Say you
offer a 50% discount on your digital cameras for the last
10 days in this month. People are too smart today and start
to think it’s probably because you want to get rid of your
defective products or because its 2 days before the expiry
date (in case of food items). Wouldn’t you and I think the
same way when we see a similar message?

Give them a true believable reason. For example, let’s say
you have a slow time of the year and you want to increase
your business during this period. Make a special, limited
time offer. Offer to throw in an extra free bonus or a
special discount simply because it`s your `slow time` and
you need to pay your staff anyway.

Don’t you think people will believe it? If you can give a
solid reason for a particular action, people will have no
doubts about what you say - there is simply very little
room for doubt.

Greed

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People are greedy. I`m not talking about food but `greedy`
in a marketing perspective. Everybody feels from `what’s in
it for me” syndrome. They really want to know how your
product can benefit them. Notice that, the `customer`s will
buy benefits and not products`. Confused? You`ll see what I
mean in a minute.

Analyze the following list of benefits written about a
digital camera.

* Can store over 200 photos

* Supports every color you can see

* Manual included so you can start even if you have no
previous experience

This will certainly open the eyes of a person who has an
idea of bu`ying a camera one day. This is in complete
contrast to the following, where the `product` is
described.

* Has a memory of 6000k

* Supports 16-bit colors

* 60-page manual included

Customers don`t want a memory of 6000k, but they want to
store 200 photos. Get it? You must clearly tell the
customer how will they benefit by bu`ying your produc`t.
You can then describe the prod`uct itself, when they are
looking for more information.

To make this point clearer, understand that,

`Customer`s will bu`y benefits and `not` the features.`

Okay.. Whats the difference between features and benefits?
Features describe the product itself - what it has.
Benefits describe the advantages a customer gets by bu`ying
the product. The first list above is a benefits list and
the second is a features list.

Benefits will drive customers to explore more information
about the product. This is when you should give them the
features and describe the product itself. To summarize, get
customers into looking for more info by telling them the
benefits and then describe the prod`uct. This will assure
the best results.

I laid out just 3 powerful strategies here. There are many
more `explored` and `unexplored` tactics, and hope you can
discover a few too. Please let me know if you do. I hope
this information was helpful to you and wish you good luck
and success in your future mark`eting efforts.