Not too long ago, a friend of mine named Ken Robbins who runs Response Mine Interactive told me there are only three things people are interested in paying money for — Love, Weight Loss and Getting Rich.
He was simplifying things a bit. After all, Ken’s company sells plenty of things that don’t have to do with love, weight loss or getting rich. But his point was a good one — that humans function in very basic, very instinctive ways. And if you, as a marketer, can tap into those instincts, you can make a lot of money.
How can you tap into human instincts and make a lot of money?
It’s simple, really.
Actually, it’s not all that simple. But it’s not that hard, either.
The starting point is to understand what motivates people. And when you come right down to it, there aren’t all that many emotional triggers for humans.
Here’s a list of the 13 most important emotional triggers for humans. If you can wrap your product or service around one (or more) of these, you’ll have unlocked the secret to successful marketing.
Here goes:
• Sex
• Greed
• Flattery
• Fear
• Self-improvement
• Love
• Better health
• Weight loss
• Longevity
• Exclusivity
• Fame
• Uncertainty
• Doubt
Putting the 13 Emotional Triggers to Use
How can you use these for your own marketing purposes? Here are a few headlines I’ve written around each one, in order.
• Sex: “The secret to better and more frequent sex”
• Greed: “How to make millions on the internet and retire wealthy”
• Flattery: “Why people with blue eyes attract more attention from the opposite sex”
• Fear: “1 out of 4 homes will be the victim of a burglary this year”
• Self-improvement: “How you can get twice as much reading done in half as much time”
• Love: “What the Eskimos know about love that you should know, too”
• Better health: “How 3 simple ingredients in your home can help strengthen your heart”
• Weight loss: “The secret to weight loss may be staring you right in the face”
• Longevity: “7 secrets the French know that can help you live 20 years longer”
• Exclusivity: “The fine wine for people who don’t have to ask ‘how much?'”
• Fame: “How Julia Roberts got famous. And how you can get famous, too”
• Uncertainty: “Why risk Lasik surgery on someone who is offering cut-rate prices?”
• Doubt: “Would you want your children to drive in a car with unsafe brakes?”
The key with all of these is to pick one or two of them and wrap your product’s marketing program around them. That way, you can tap into basic human emotions to help drive your sales and revenue.
I hope you enjoyed this post and will come back for the third installment of our series tomorrow.
Posted by Jamie Turner, Founder of the 60 Second Marketer and in-demand keynote speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.