There are a number of mental triggers you can tap into with your marketing which will make you more influential to your prospects and customers. Authority, trust, likeability, reciprocity, community, social proof & scarcity are a few of the main ones. You can build on these mental triggers and create a powerful desire for your product or service. Let’s look at each one individually.
Authority: It’s widely documented that we tend to do what we are told by a person in authority, without question. Check out the Milgram Experiment on Wikipedia. It was an experiment where a subject (the teacher) had to ask another subject (the learner), who was out-of-sight in another room, a series of questions. They could talk to one another but not see each other. If the learner got the answer wrong, the teacher was instructed by an examiner (in a white coat), to give the learner an electric shock. In actual fact the learner was an actor and the shocks weren’t real. The teacher didn’t know this and would give the shock as instructed by the authority figure, while hearing the learner scream. The teacher had a board of switches, which he or she would use to administer the shocks. These switches were clearly labelled how large each shock was. As the experiment went on the shocks would supposedly get larger and larger (and the teacher could see this clearly). The teacher had been told that once reaching a certain level, the shocks could be fatal. Shockingly they found that around 63% of people would give an apparently lethal shock to the learner if instructed by the authority figure to do so!
Now I know this sounds very negative but it does prove a point that if you can build yourself to be an authority figure, people are more likely to do what you say. I’m hoping you will use this for good not evil!
So how do you build yourself as authority figure using video? There are several ways to do this. You could create video content that educates your target market and solves some of their problems. This could be done either on your website’s landing pages or through YouTube, Facebook & Linked In Videos. When it comes to Linked In & Facebook people are comfortable when they are on these platforms, so create your content to add value on the platform within your video before presenting your call to action (to learn more off the platform via a sign up form on a landing page for example).
Trust: If you trust someone they’re opinions are much more influential to you than someone you don’t trust or know very well. Trust is normally built over time. You could do this through tips and tricks videos or a free video course which gives your prospect time to get to know and trust you while getting massive value from what you have to say.
Likeability: People want to do business with people they like and trust. A lot of people worry about being likeable on video. My best advice is to be yourself, be genuine and let people into your world. Tell your story, show your flaws and show you’re human. Think about it…when you watch those talent shows on TV, they always show how they have struggled or how they have had vocal problems that week. We can’t help but buy into these human stories as we relate to them ourselves. So getting people to buy into your story will build your likeability factor and help you connect with your prospects.
Reciprocity: If you give something to someone, they feel it’s their duty to reciprocate. Have you ever received a gift from someone at Christmas and not had one for them. You feel awful don’t you? We can use this in our marketing. Give people lots of value up front and they will be more likely to buy from you when the time comes. You could do this by creating useful actionable video content and offering advice within your chosen field. This also builds trust and authority.
Community: People follow others and generally want to ‘fit in’ and be part of a community. I kitesurf and surf in my spare time. There’s a trend in kitesurfing, especially amongst the freestylers, to wear board shorts on the outside of your wetsuit. If I’m kitesurfing in a place where it’s good for freestyle, everyone is doing this and I feel obliged to fit in and follow suit. Now, If I go surfing or wave kitesurfing no-one, I mean no-one would be seen dead wearing board shorts on the outside of their wetsuits. So of course neither do I! This is because we have an inherent urge to fit in with the community…So what?
Using social media sites like YouTube and Facebook it’s easy to build a community of like-minded people. And when people see others in the community taking an action it could be liking or sharing a post or video, or making a decision to buy and then expressing their gratitude for a great product, this is a powerful buying trigger for others in that community to follow suit. Have you ever seen a Facebook comments section under a free video and in the video they prompt people to leave a comment or question? Well this is to build community within their marketing. When others see hundreds of others interacting, expressing interest or buying then we are more likely to take action ourselves.
Social Proof : When we hear rave reviews from others about a product or service we are interested in, that can be very influential when it comes to making a buying decision. Whether it’s a testimonial or a client case study, social proof can be a very powerful mental trigger which you can leverage in your marketing. Video is a fantastic way of presenting these testimonials in an authentic and trustworthy way.
You can add a few customer testimonials throughout your company video or they can make up the main part of your video. And this will help to create the feeling of social proof. Check out the example video below we made for Nisos Yacht Charter, where we used this powerful mental trigger.
Scarcity: We are all procrastinators at heart. Building scarcity into your marketing will give people the nudge they need to take action. You can add scarcity into your marketing by making time sensitive offers, for example 25% off your product if you buy in the next 2 days! This will increase your sales massively by getting people off the fence and clicking that buy button!
So there’s seven powerful mental sales triggers you can build into your marketing and super charge your videos! If you would like help with your video marketing, contact us and we’ll be happy to chat over your requirements.