In her acceptance speech at the 1985 Oscar awards, Sally Field said “You like me, you really like me.” It’s an interesting moment from a content marketing perspective because she spoke to the heart of every consumer buying trigger a product or service can offer: relevance.
This quick article is like the game of poker, easy to learn and takes a lifetime to master. Relevance needs to come from two places, your end product and from your content marketing, whether that’s verbal, printed, or in video.
Triggers to content marketing success
Whenever anybody makes a purchase, they are doing so because in that moment (and sometimes for the long term) that purchase is helping that person feel relevant. For instance, if I’m playing football like Betty White, relevance sits at the heart of the reason why everyone buys. Everybody has different triggers that cause them to make a purchase, in fact there are 5 buying triggers as researched by Mr. Seth Godin (we can’t have a post about marketing and not bring up Mr. Godin).
The 5 buying triggers are as follows:
- Status
- Affiliation
- Dominance
- Belonging
- Scarcity
These triggers are just the switch that cause people to buy, but they all service the purpose of making the person feel more relevant. As a person considers whether they are going to make a purchase or not, they are going through a cycle of questioning “What’s it do?” and “Does it work for me?” What’s it do is simply the function. Nike sneakers –
- What’s it do: they make it easier to walk or run
- Does it work for me: only if the product satisfies that persons buying trigger
It’s not about your product
This gets us to the hard truth of every purchase: your client doesn’t actually want what you’re selling – they want to feel an anticipated emotion once they purchase.
The only way to enact that emotion is to make sure your content and product speaks to your audiences buying trigger which is the gateway to their feeling of relevance.
It’s not about the sale
One of the biggest mistake business owners make is focusing solely on getting clients across the finish line. Doing this makes you appear “salesy” and your potential clients will leave you feeling like they need to take a shower. You will have far more success if you realize and spend your business day following these two aspects:
1. Your product must solve a persistent problem that your audience actually has
2. The goal of your content and pitch is to make your audience want to get to the next stage of the process so they can learn more about solving their problem.
Stuck on a business problem? If you’re feeling overwhelmed in your business and don’t know where to start, we’ll help you gain focus, build a plan, and craft your branded content. Drop us an email at info@bookable-online.stackstaging.com, book a call, or message us by clicking the link at the bottom right of your screen.
contribution by Martin Knapp – see his “Small Business School” videos on YouTube
Martin is a business & marketing strategist and founder of Bookable.