Responsive. Creative. Passionate.

Many marketers focus on product or service benefits. They extol the virtues of their product being unique, bigger, better, and faster. But where is the connection to start building a relationship with your brand?

What makes people buy a product? You could say the price, but the top luxury brands in the world would disagree with you. Why pay top dollar for a black designer dress when a similar off-the-rack dress at a discount store would cost you much less? 

Logical Door #1:  People buy products or services that have the features they need. For example, you ran out of toothpaste, so the next time you go to the store you will make a decision on which brand of toothpaste to purchase. 

Similarity Door #2:  People buy from people they perceive (or want to perceive) to be like them. This door is 60% of the buying process and is so important to the purchasing process that some companies will pay well-known influencers – actors, musicians, or sports stars to appear with their product to quickly establish similarity with their targeted audiences. For a B-to-B high-tech product it could be an analyst quote or product review in the right outlet. Similarity governs how we phrase text and choose images related to your marketing.

Emotional Door #3:  People buy on 20% emotion. This door is where companies that understand the value of consistent messaging over the years. The stronger the emotion, the more likely they’ll buy today instead of six months from now. For a B-to-B business, the emotional gate could be on-time delivery, cost, good customer service.

Example: You need a specific widget – this is the logical door. You know that Joe over at Acme Widgets understands your business and your specific widget need. This is the similarity door. Acme Widgets has always been good to you and has sold you a variety of good widgets delivered on time over the years. They understand the challenges you face in your business and you trust them. The result is a product sold and perhaps at a higher price than their competitors.

What if you are a start-up in this market how would you get Joe to become a customer?
The logical door is Joe needs a specific widget. The similarity door is Joe has seen your website and took note of the similarity of the work examples shown and his widget need. He then reads your blog about the challenges of a job that required the same widget, but they took a different approach in solving the problem and you thought it was a good idea. You then watched a quick video to see how they did the new approach. The emotional door for the start-up company was innovation.

By showing you the problem and a new way of correcting it – they gave you a fresh outlook on an aspect of your business, it made you feel like a hero and created a new customer for the start-up!