This is the one question that every marketer is seeking the answer to. If you know how to motivate people to buy, then you can increase your sales and your conversion rate. And wouldn’t that be good for your profit and your business?

So what motivates people to buy?

It is often said that you should give people what they need, because that is what they are going to buy. That may well have been the case once but sadly today society has changed and people no longer buy what they need.

Instead they buy what they want and what they crave – hence people struggling to put food on the table, but have a 42” plasma TV, satellite system and a bottle of Jack Daniels.

You need to pitch your product not as something they need, but as something they absolutely must have; make it so they crave your product and absolutely must get their hands on it.

People also buy because they want to get pleasure from what they buy. Someone doesn’t walk into a car dealership and buy a top of the range Mercedes because they need it; a Chevy or Toyota would have done the job just as well.

They buy the Mercedes because they want the pleasure that goes with it. Whether this is the comfort of the car, the joy of all the gadgets, or the fact that it is a status symbol – they drive a Mercedes! Whatever their reason it will be because they have associated pleasure with owning a Mercedes and so they buy one when they could have saved tens of thousands of dollars and bought a cheaper car.
Another reason people buy is because they want to avoid pain. Volvo are one of the best selling cars in Europe. Why? They are not the prettiest of cars, nor that expensive, nor are they of the perceived class of a Jaguar, BMW or Mercedes.

Volvo’s sell well because people want to avoid the pain associated with car accidents. Volvo’s are some of the safest cars on the market and as such appeal to people who want to protect their family and passengers.

These are three of the main ways that people are motivated to buy. If you can work out how to use this in your sales copy, your emails, your newsletter and your website, then you can convert more visitors into paying customers.

Identify your target market and learn their pain – what problem are you solving for them with your product?

Understand this and your sales copy can become smoking hot and you can boost your conversion rate!

Three In Seven

Society is flooded with so much advertising that we face the danger of not being noticed by our prospective customers. Will your customers know who you are without an ad staring them in the face to remind them?

In other words are you trying to rely completely on direct response to your ads, or are you creating a broad and lasting awareness in the minds of your target audience? Without a strong attempt to brand yourself you will need to constantly advertise. By branding, I’m referring to the act of exposing prospects to your name, logo, tagline, etc. on a frequent basis, and to the extent that people are already aware of you when they are ready to purchase a product or service that you offer.

For best results a business needs to expose each prospect to the same ad impression three times within a week. By running a very strong campaign over the course of a month you can easily create a very lasting effect on the people you would like to have as your customers.

It is important to maintain continuity through use of the same logo, business name, or tagline in all your promotions so your targets are receiving the same impression with each exposure, regardless of the exact mode of delivery.

Radio and television and online video are by far the most effective means of brand creation available. These formats can be reinforced with outdoor, mobile marketing, internet advertising  or sometimes as even as an aggressive distribution of simple business cards.

You want people to be aware of your name, logo, or tagline and associate this awareness with your products and services well before they even need what you have to offer.

What can you start doing right now to see that your prospective customers are exposed to the same message at least three times over a seven-day period?

A couple of days ago, a colleague of mine asked what websites I use for idea generation.  I use quite a few, but I narrowed the list to just a handful.  Here are the links.  If you have any suggestions, please send them along.  Thanks.
http://www.imediaconnection.com/
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak
http://www.adweek.com/topic/digital
http://www.creativitypool.com/#pool
http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/
http://www.marketingpower.com/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessideas/index.html

From my hometown Detroit – I thought Chrysler 200 Ad featuring Eminem was really good.

Every year when the “big game” is being played, we get to see some very creative advertising. Apple’s ’1984′ Super Bowl commercial still stands as watershed moment in advertising. Today some would argue that Apple has become the establishment.

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According to a survey from the Association of National Advertisers and the Mobile Marketing Association, 88% of client-side marketers say they’ll utilize mobile marketing in 2011. Read More

The practice of using video games to promote a particular product or an organization is known as “Advergaming”. Wired magazine first used this term in a column to describe the commissioning of free online games by large companies, in 2001. There are three categories of Advergaming: ATL Advergaming, BTL Advergaming and TTL Advergaming.

ATL Advergaming can be vaguely explained as a promotional video game. The business incorporates interactive video games on their website so as to create more awareness about their product among the website visitors. This method is also used to attract more visitors to the site and to increase the traffic flow on the website. If the games are made for product advertising, the product is highlighted in the game.

Before the invention of the internet, floppy disks and later compact disks were used as a medium to promote games and in turn a particular product. It started with floppy disk basically to create awareness as well as product promotion. The first Advergame was distributed by American Home Food, which was developed by Chef Boyardee. Taco Bell and Coca Cola followed it by giving customers floppy disks containing promotional games. The first Advergame to be distributed on compact disk was by Chex and General Mill. The graphics of these games have matured from arcade style flash to three-dimensional.

BTL Advergaming comprises of recruitment tools like In-game advertising, militiamen and edutainment. Usually the mascot of the particular company is depicted as the hero in such games. Pepsi man and Burger man were the mascots used in promotional games designed by Pepsi and Burger King respectively. The storyline of these games can be commercial, educational or political like the game American Army created to attract more youth towards devoting their life to army and also games meant to promote sports like Formula One racing are also a part of this technique.

In-game advertising is more commercial type and is purely targeted for promotion of the product via the game. This is really picking up and even movies are promoted by this method. Like on the website of the movie, The Mummy, there are games which have a storyline similar to the movie and the player is given knowledge of the facts about the movie and its subject, Egyptian Mummy. Educational Advergaming refers to games that portray a moral message to the players.

These games can also act as a medium of advertisement themselves like in the video game of EA Sports; banners of Pepsi line the frame of the game. By using this strategy the companies are able to provide low price or free games to the consumers.  This is also effective in reducing the price of games that have a monthly fee.

TTL Advergaming or through the line Advergaming is the most rare form of Advergaming. URL links are embedded into a game that takes the players to the web pages, which has BTL Advergaming. Different methods are used to attract the player to a particular webpage. In the game ” Enter the Matrix” URL hyperlinks are depicted in the background, which the player is forced to click to learn about the facts relating to the plot of the next level and at the same time advertises about the product. The curiosity to learn about the theme of the game attracts the player, although it might not be necessary to click to finish the game.  Such kinds of games are usually known as link-chases as one link will lead to another. Website visitors are sometimes tempted with a prize to prompt them to click the URL.

This technique of advertising is really beneficial as it not only creates awareness among the player but also among his friends who lands the website upon friend’s suggestion. The success of Advergaming is dependant on word of mouth and thus is also known as viral marketing. In the year 2004, this industry generated around $83.6 million and involved 105 million players.

The advergame industry is expected to generate $312.2 million by 2009, up from $83.6 million in 2004, according to Boston research firm Yankee Group.

Industry statistics

• According to the Entertainment Software Association, 42% of gamers say they play online games one or more hours per week

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