Copywriting: How to Tap into the Consumer Psyche
“People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies.”
― Blair Warren, The One Sentence Persuasion Course
Successful marketing leverages psychology to understand their customers and what goes on in a customer’s mind in a buying situation. Although subconscious, customer’s are always looking for key principles that will ultimately convert and sell them.
Want to know how you can boost engagement and drive conversions? Begin by incorporating these five persuasive tools.
- Encourage Dreams
Sometimes it takes courage to share our wildest dreams with others and there is nothing worse than being greeted with negativity or disproval. That is why it’s important for brands to not only support, but to encourage their customers to be more than who they are right now.
Brands evolve over time as do humans. This is an opportunity for both the brand and the customer to grow together and form a bond that ties them closely beyond just the product or service that originally got the customer through the door, but by the brand’s story and the experiential value. This piece is priceless and oftentimes hard for customers to articulate, but we know it’s there. Look at Nike for example. The genius of the companies marketing apparatus has enabled the brand to transcend itself and it’s product offering with the very concept of the pursuit of athletic achievement.
2. Justify their failures
The first thing marketers must realize is that before a customer is even a customer, they are a human. And one thing we can all agree on is humans fail. They do it often and they do it well.
Because this is a fundamental truth, why not talk about it. Too often, brands keep the dialogue very top line and superficial i.e. lacking substance. To resonate with your customer, speak like them. Speak like a human. Acknowledge the peaks and pits of everyday life.
In today’s world of data overload, consumers have a much higher bullshit radar than say back in the 50’s when cigarette ads were all the rage. A billboard would say ‘have a smoke’ and the consumer would say ‘if you insist!’.
This is no longer the way of the world. You should never underestimate your customer or assume they will buy into your fluffy and overcomplicated copy. Go back to the basics and keep it simple.
3. Allay their fears
Another part of being human is to experience emotions and fear is one of the most basic human emotions. In today’s volatile political and economic landscape, consumers are bombarded with fear mongering tactics by brands and institutions. It is wise to approach the current landscape with a mother’s touch, if you will, and provide a more consoling and nurturing message that makes consumers feel safe in an otherwise unsafe world.
With this understanding, brands should not exploit those fears, but rather address them head on and be a source of comfort. Sometimes, a customer just needs to hear the words ‘it’s okay’. It’s not enough to be silent and pretend like the news isn’t showing a revolving compilation of series of unfortunate events, but it also isn’t well received when the ‘end of the world’ theme is aggressively shoved in your face.
4. Confirm their suspicions
We are a suspicious generation. More and more, there is less trust everywhere you go whether it’s less trust in big business, in government, in politicians, in sales representatives, or in people at large.
In the advertising world, if a consumer has eyeballs they will be reached. Everywhere a consumer looks or clicks, they are bombarded with a pop-up ad, banner ad, billboard ad, timeline ad, you name it ad. The point is they’re inundated with brand messaging. A good way to set yourself apart as a marketer is to confirm their suspicions. Identify a common thread and sew it into the brand’s messaging tapestry. Become an ally.
Increasingly, consumers are aware that the news media does not always share the full story and yet they prompt you on how you are supposed to think about or view something. Instead of hopping on the bandwagon, be honest and open with your audience so they can see themselves in the human side of your branding.
5. Help them throw rocks at their enemies
There’s no greater bond than the bond of a common enemy. Do not quote me on that.
You will notice an underlying theme in this article is the human element which goes a long way in marketing and brand messaging. The lack of trust consumers have is oftentimes exacerbated by brands pushing a certain message that may feel out of reach or out of touch to an otherwise broad audience. This tends to plant seeds of deception and mistrust.
Instead of making fast enemies by continuing the trend of setting unrealistic goals or lifestyles, start with the real customer, the human. Understand who they are, how and what they engage, what kind of life they lead, and what they value. With this information, you may not know exactly what they love and adore, but it becomes pretty simple to eliminate what they do not like and what does not resonate with them.
Put yourself out there and take a stand on behalf of your audience. Be their voice and represent their truth. Use your platform for good. This alone will not only build trust, but it creates a foundation for authentic connections that will bind you closely with your audience in a much deeper and meaningful way.
It should be mentioned that if you are a good business that does good business it is much easier to execute these psychological marketing and copywriting tools. What I mean by that is if you are a brand with core values that pledge trust, openness, and honesty than these tools should come very naturally to you. If you are dutiful, than think of it as your duty to serve your customers and serve them well, they way they should be served.
