Consider Consumer Psychology
by Darrin F. Coe, MA
Consider Consumer Psychology Darrin F. Coe, MA
In your marketing efforts, be they on or offline, it's wise to consider the psychology of the consumer you are targeting. If you've done your homework you've developed a profile of your ideal customer and how your unique selling point speaks to them. Now, as you begin to develop a marketing strategy, writing ad copy, developing radio copy, and creating web copy, it is an understanding of consumer psychology that will help you speak to the consumer.
What is the true need your consumer is attempting to gratify? This is the question you must answer before writing copy or launching advertising. Maslow, would tell us that there are five needs: 1) basic needs; 2) safety needs; 3) social needs; 4) self esteem needs; and 5) self-fulfillment needs.
Along with this information consider that in "The Ramsey Report" published recently by eMarketer.com, we are told that consumer "empowerment" is one of the factors driving the continuing boom of online commerce. Consumers perceive themselves to be in the consumer driver's seat when they are online. They can block popups, can spam, and surf away from site that they dislike. They feel as if they are no longer at the whim of the marketing magicians.
This does not surprise me given that recent research would also indicate that online users tend to suffer from depression, low self-esteem, and loneliness. The internet addresses these issue through empowering them and giving them a perception of control.
Now, as a marketer it is up to you to use this information to speak to the needs of your consumer. Consider someone marketing heart-rate monitors. Whether in a retail sporting goods store on online, what need are you really fulfilling by selling heart-rate monitors? You can assume your client has some athletic training; perhaps they are detrained and attempting to recover their fitness? Perhaps they are an average athlete attempting to go to the next level of athleticism? Or maybe they are recovering from an illness or injury and are working with a personal trainer?
This consumer is dissatisfied with their current state of existence. They want to perceive themselves in a more positive light. This consumer perhaps has low self-esteem and is depressed because of their poor level of fitness or perhaps they are dissatisfied with their level of athleticism because they know they can excel beyond where they are currently. The bottom line is they are dissatisfied with themselves, with their social image, and with their level of achievement.
With this in mind you're not selling heart-rate monitors, you're selling positive, and encouraging feedback. The heart-rate monitors tell the consumer that they are achieving and meeting their goals. The heart-rate monitor gives positive feedback and brings pleasure to painful exercise. The heart-rate monitor brings satisfaction to a dissatisfied outlook. What you're really selling is pleasure in the midst of pain.
This is what I mean by understanding your consumer's psychology before you begin marketing and advertising. With the above analysis, someone selling heart-rate monitors can develop a marketing campaign that speaks directly to the heart of the consumer and hopeful turns more prospects into purchasing customers.
Take the time to analyze the true needs of your consumer and how your product meets that need before you begin writing your and developing your marketing and you'll be at a distinct advantage over your competition.
Darrin F. Coe, MA holds a master's degree in psychology and works as a mental health professional, wealth building advocate, weekly columnist, and author. His latest information product is "Consumer Thinking Exposed" available at http://dcoe1.tripod.com. Contact him at coe@ris.net or subscribe to the Darrin Coe Ezine at http://dcoe1.tripod.com
About the Author
Darrin F. Coe, MA is a mental health professional and author of the special report, "Internet Consumer Exposed" available at http://dcoe1.tripod.com/exposed1
An Online Degree Has Never Been Easier to Obtain
Online education is steadily gaining acceptance in the academic
world and more people than ever are completing courses online,
working toward a degree. Online education at the higher level is
no longer looked down on by the rest of the academic world and
more colleges and universities are offering online programs
every day. In fact, there are now so many resources available to
someone interested in earning a college degree online that they
can be hard to keep track of. There are, however, a number of
web sites that have been designed to provide something of a
resource center for those interested in pursuing online
education. The site www.get-online-degree.com is one of these
and serves as a fantastic resource.
When searching for any online education program, of course, the
prospective student will want to make sure that the school is
properly accredited. Earning a degree from a school with a poor
reputation or from a non-accredited university may not win you
any points from prospective employers later in life. Web sites
like www.get-online-degree.com help students by providing
information about online degree opportunities and developments
via posted articles, monthly E-zines, and other such methods
designed to keep you informed.
Many schools already offer online degrees in several fields and
it seems that more are always on the way. Some degrees that will
probably never be attainable online (it would be impossible to
complete all the required work for a medical degree online, for
example) offer the opportunity to have at least some of its
courses completed online.
Online degrees are going to become more common as time goes on.
Online education will become easier to facilitate, is already
less costly than running traditional classes, and will show a
student’s drive and initiative better than any other modern
method of education, correspondence courses included. The world
of online collegiate education is brave and new, evolving at a
steady pace, as any relatively new concept will. Sites like
www.get-online-degree.com help keep you informed of the changes
that could affect you and your ability to earn your degree
online.
Students today may be the first generation of those able to
obtain their degrees online, but they will be looked back on as
trailblazers. Thirty, fifty, even one hundred years from now
when online education has evolved to the point where it is
commonplace, perhaps required, those students will be afforded
the chance to look back at the students of today and marvel at
the differences in the educational system. They’ll do this in
the same way that today’s students look at education in the
fifties and sixties and can’t believe how far we’ve come.
And, of course, those attending school in the fifties and
sixties looked back at the changes from the twenties and
thirties…. And so on.
If you’d like to learn all you can about the options available
in an online degree, visit the web site
www.get-online-degree.com today and see all of the amazing
information that is available.
About the Author
Shama San writes articles on online degrees and online
courses. Go to http://www.get-online-degree.com for more
information and articles related to online degrees.
Written by: Shama Sankaran
|
