As marketer Frank Kern once said, "unless your customer was genetically modified in utero to have a completely different psychological disposition than the rest of the human race, this stuff (well thought out marketing and advertising) will work!"
It is crucial to understand how we as humans make purchases. When it comes down to buying behaviors, it's straightforward.
All humans buy on emotion and justify with logic.
The above statement might seem overly simplistic, but its simplicity is tremendously powerful.
Can you remember a time when you had a deep desire to purchase something? Maybe it was a family vacation or a new cell phone. What starts as a small thought begins to nag you, and suddenly you feel as though your life will be better with that purchase.
The result?
You just purchased on emotion. And we as humans are conditioned to feel good about consumption.
After the dopamine hit, you most likely back-filled your buying decision with a series of logical justifications.
Buying on emotion and justifying with logic is in play when generating ticket sales and getting people to attend your event.
It's important to remember there is a dark side to human buying behaviors. e.g., Drugs, illicit activities, or running up massive debt on credit cards. So if you're going to use the Jedi mind tricks of marketing, please do so responsibly.
If you haven't had an opportunity to read it, I strongly recommend "Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D. In his book, Dr. Cialdini explores case studies and clinical research directly related to human buying behaviors. Cialdini's book is a fascinating read!
Years ago, I recorded a special training on Cialdini's Weapons of Influence. If you'd like a link to that presentation, reply to this email.
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