Marketing opens up an infinite number of interpretive possibilities and is crucial for the success of any business. This can sometimes be seen as a major disadvantage for your company and your product, but with the right methods, you can successfully control the behavior of your target audience. In this article, we take a look at 6 different phenomena that help you reach your target group in an effective way.

1. Word of Mouth

Word of mouth is how we share events and products on a daily basis, both online and in real life

People tend to trust other people’s words and recommendations, in particular friends and people they trust more than they trust advertising.

Quite reasonable and also something you as a marketer can use to your advantage. The most important thing of all is to keep the experience of your company and product on top, as this can also have a negative impact. For example, you can ask for reviews or lead someone to speak well about you in their own channels. For this to work, it can also be good to offer something in return.

Here, it is good to use a lot of Social Proof which makes people want to be and do as other people. When we hear others talk about what a wonderful experience they had of a product, it therefore often results in us also wanting to take part in it, because who wants to feel left out?

2. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)

FOMO is when We Are Afraid To Miss Important Events that have an ”expiry date” or are limited.

Speaking of the feeling of exclusion. Imagine an upcoming big and exclusive event that you do not have the opportunity to attend, but all your friends are going there. The feeling that arises then is called FOMO. We are all afraid of missing important and big events, especially if people around us will participate. This is a very beneficial marketing strategy today. It can be combined with other methods such as the feeling of loss, which means that the feeling of loss is always stronger than the feeling of gain.

For example you can add a text that says ”x other people are currently viewing this product, buy now and save 30%”. But if you were also to add a timeline for how long the offer is valid will remain on offer, you would create a sense of urgency. This makes customers hurry to take advantage of this offer in order not to miss out on anything.

Authority — Use someone who is an expert in their field and has the trust of their audience.

In marketing, you can use an authority that gives a sense of expertise or be seen as a role model — a thought leader. For example, if you are marketing a pair of new training shoes, why not use a person who has expertise in just training. Ask them to test the shoes and thus act as a “promoter” for your product. This would give your customers, and potential customers, a sense of trust in you and your product.

4. Reciprocity

Reciprocity means giving something to get something back.

Make the customer/user feel personally met, regardless of whether it is an existing customer or a prospective. The important thing is to create a mutual relationship throughout the purchase, but also before and after. Customers expect more and if they do not feel appreciated, they look elsewhere.

Why not create a unique offer for your best customers? Or give new customers a certain percentage discount? Make them feel special through personal marketing and contact. In this way, they get both attention and the chance for good offers, which makes them more likely to give back what you want from them.

5. Presentation effect

The presentation effect is how people react differently depending on how the product is presented.

How is the product presented? Again, people react differently to choices presented as profit and loss, respectively. As an example: Buy 1 and get 1 for free. That is where the focus is on “free” more than on the price itself and we feel that we benefit from buying the product. What we forget is that we are still losing money on making the purchase. Furthermore, it also depends on the product you are selling. A luxury item, like a luxury watch, should be presented differently than the cheapest shoes on the market, as they target different people and different needs.

One example is shopping for a certain amount to get free shipping. Instead of buying the only product we were looking for from the beginning, we buy three more products, to get something for free. The price may happen to be double, but we got free shipping. It is about psychology, to trigger emotions and behaviors through manipulation. Here you can also use storytelling, to perhaps through a small film present a story about the product, to evoke a certain feeling in the spectator.

6. Status quo bias

Status quo bias is based on the fear of taking the consequences of a daring choice.

We prefer to leave things as they are and with a minimum required effort. Give the recipient suggestions that require as little effort as possible. We like to be comfortable and stay in the Status Quo.

Therefore, in your marketing, you should present how easy and feasible your solution or product is. For example, on Instagram, you should not ask your followers in one and the same post that they should like, comment, subscribe, and buy your product at the same time.

Start with a post where you might ask a simple question that they can answer in the comments field. Make it easy for your users to help you move forward and show how it can be to their advantage, rather than your own. Sometimes it is important not to rush into something happening at once. Instead, you can let it take some time and at the same time build relationships and give users a comfortable shopping trip, in different steps, to get through.

There are many different ways to reach out with your marketing in digital media. These methods are connected in many different ways and can be combined, which may make it difficult to understand where and how to use them. Our goal with this list is to give you new ways of thinking, or possibly refreshing your memory, with various tricks to achieve the desired results in your marketing.