People don’t buy logic.
If they did, no one would propose with a 4 karat diamond ring and everyone on the planet would drive an electric car.
This isn’t rocket science, but the desire to wear a rock on your hand the size of a golf ball is about as logical as driving a car that is rated in GPM (Gallons per mile).
Yet we all do it, ever day.
That is because people buy emotion. They buy from the heart based on things like status, who they like, or how they feel at a given moment. This is precisely why we eat chocolate ice cream when we are depressed and why we join the gym for a year to work out for two weeks after the winter splurge.
All emotion. The only thing rational about any of this is that it is entirely irrational.
So What is With All The Technical/Literal Product Marketing
Since the above is entirely obvious (should be) to anyone with eyeballs, then why do so many companies still find themselves creating vast wastelands of technical content and marketing? This is a marketers version of Feature/Benefit selling, no?
Of course specs and data sheets will be necessary come deployment time and someone in a technical capacity will even have to bless the product before the CFO signs off on the deal, but that isn’t how technical documents are being used.
We are in a world where brands are still jamming data down our throats to try to convince us to buy something when logic plays a very small part of the final buying decision.
Humans Buy Humans
In an increasingly Social world it should be noted by now that people form relationships with people. Brands are a byproduct of the human relationship between the consumer and those that represent the brand. I am comfortable saying though that with only a few exceptions our relationships in this world are with people.
The challenge today is people are waiting longer and longer to connect to humans within a brand so much of their exposure to products and services that brands offer is through their digital presence.
If that presence is stocked up with fact based product marketing then building a relationship is going to be all but impossible.
So why do companies continue to do this?
Working Within Realms of Comfort
Back in the day when product marketing required technical support because sales was out pounding the pavement, breaking bread and sharing a round of golf, the relationship was often secure so the requirement for the details was greater.
Today with relationships being built online, many are less secure and more transactional increasing the need for human relationship building.
Accomplishing this through human engagement is key and should be done with Social Media, Content AND your sales force.
Your brand should target first and foremost to build relationships that include trust and that make your company likable. This doesn’t mean that the technical data doesn’t need to be there, it is just to say that this information won’t drive anyone to say yes unless they are already sold on your company.
So exiting the comfort zone is key for companies, and the continued proliferation of technical data not supported by a likable and relatable brand is mere fodder taking up infinite space on the “Internet of Things”
Make Each Connection Count
Marketers and business owners have an amazing opportunity to connect to their customers by attaching to them emotionally.
Talking about what your business believes, how you are different and why you exist. People that can relate to that will quickly move toward the more logical and rational purchasing details.
But until you can get past the emotional barriers that buyers hang themselves up on, your technical jibber jabber means nothing to the clients you seek to attract.
If you want to make each connection count, start connecting to what emotionally drives your buyer and steer away (until the appropriate time) from details that won’t matter until much further in the sales process.
What are the best examples of Marketing you have seen tying emotions to buyer? Share your insights below!
Daniel Newman is the co-founder of V3*Broadsuite and is an experienced C-level executive, serving as a strategy consultant for small and mid-sized businesses. He’s also an insight/analyst partner to four Fortune 50 enterprises and previously served as the co-founder and CEO of EC3, a hosted IT and communications services provider. Prior to that, he served as the CEO of United Visual, Inc. in Chicago Illinois.
He is a widely published writer who contributes weekly to Forbes, Entrepreneur, Huffington Post and industry publications such as Commercial Integrator, Sound & Communication and Corporate Tech Decisions. He’s also author of three best-selling business books including The New Rules of Customer Engagement, The Millennial CEO, and just recently Evolve: Marketing (^as we know it) is Doomed.
Daniel has established a reputation as a leading thinker in topics such as Social, Big Data, Cloud and Mobile. He has been named to many top influencer lists in all of these areas, including recognition by the Huffington Post as one of the 100 business and leadership accounts to follow on Twitter. He is also an adjunct professor of management at North Central College.