Brain Rule 5 – to turn failure into success

How to avoid a sub-optimal marketing campaign

Many marketing-campaigns are sub-optimal. This article covers the 5th brain rule, a very basic one, but many marketers forget to use it  in their brand strategy and therefore lose many clients.

Why do people show up at the event of your competitors and not at yours? Why don’t they buy your new vitamin product or invest in your new technology?

Psychology plays a big part when people make a decision. Offering pleasure and a better future is not a main driver to getting them into action. That’s why you shouldn’t focus on pleasing your clients.

What kind of person is most likely to buy a hamburger? Right, somebody who is hungry! Not the people who just like hamburgers or those who have had hamburgers in the past. Although those last two groups could be good leads, too. They need to be hungry… So what does this mean?

Let me give you another example.

Who is most likely to buy your weight management product? An overweight man or a lady who needs to fit into her evening dress to meet her new lover? It’s the lady. Why? Because, like the man who is hungry, she is facing a problem, that she wants to solve.

Avoiding immediate pain is much more motivating than gaining immediate pleasure. This means that, talking about the direct benefits of your product will not immediately grab people at first. When do you immediately take action? Not if you are promised something nice in the future. You take action if you want to move away from a negative situation.

Problems (pains) trigger our urge to survive and make us take action

The 5^th Brain Rule says: Focus on the Pain, not on the Pleasure

Your reptilian brain, that takes the decisions, wakes up if there is a problem. It will tell you: be careful, danger! And will immediately be alerted and take action in order to survive.

The 5^th brain rule is related to the most basic of all Mazlow’s needs: the need to survive. Haven’t you heard about Mazlow, yet? Read the first brain rule to learn more.  The need for survival is the need for food, drink, shelter, sleep and oxygen. If you are cold, sick or hungry you will do your utmost to change this situation.

So, what can you do take bring this rule into practice?

How can you make people decide for your brand, event, therapy, company or hospital, using brain rule 5?

1 Describe the real PAIN

You can press the Survival Button of your clients by describing their pain.

Domino’s Pizza shows a good example. They knew that their consumer’s true pain was not that they didn’t have pizza. The real pain was in not knowing when the pizza would arrive. By installing an online ordering system that tells you exactly when your pizza is on its way, they increased sales exponentially.

So, find out what the real pains of your ideal client are. Ask them, search which posts have many reactions, check which books on your topic score high on Amazon. Mention their problems in your communication, so they will feel understood and feel the urge to take action.

2 Translate your USP’s into Survival Triggers

Translate your USP’s into the impact it has on financials, time, relationships, health or happiness. These have a real impact on your clients.

For example: a kidney clinic helps clients to improve their lifestyle. That’s a USP. How can you translate this into survival triggers? Improved lifestyle can result in less dependence on others and therefore improved happiness. Less dependence on others is a stronger trigger than an improved lifestyle. Also improved mobility and less time that you need to spend on check-ups are strong triggers.

3 Create Scarcity and Urgency

Show your clients that they need to be fast in order to not miss out on your offer.

How this works? Your survival button is pressed when something is taken away from you. You will immediately take action. May be you have heard of FOMO before: The Fear Of Missing Out. This is one of the most impactful psychological strategies you can use to increase the success of your marketing efforts and brand promotion.

People hate it if they miss out of something. A study states that 69%of millennials feel a fear of missing out when they cannot attend some sort of event. This applies to users of all age groups!

So, use phrases like:

Don’t miss out
Only 10 places left
Tomorrow higher price

 

4 Create Contrast

Be very clear about where you are different than others. This makes it very easy for potential clients to choose for you. This can be done by a contrast-rich description versus the competition, but even better by a picture.

Our reptilian brain, which takes the decisions, is very alert to contrast. Our forefathers were alerted to a sudden movement in a calm landscape or any other change. This helped them to survive.

 

Brain Rule 5 triggers your customer’s need to survive. This makes them take action. So, it is not about listing the mode of action of your product, what kind of services you offer or even your USP’s. Knowing and listing your customer’s problems triggers them. And offering them a scarce solution that they should pick urgently helps them make up their mind. Apply brain rule 5, help your clients solve their problems and create a unique position!

Do you know more ways to trigger the need to survive? Share them in the comments.

Want to learn more ways to build a leading market position? Click here:

How you add 95% to your influential power

3 Do’s & Don’ts to engage your customers

Don’t introduce your brand without using these 3 strategies

10 ways to increase your revenue through trust

With survival greetings,

Karin

Senz – brand positioning & client attraction, www.senz.biz

p.s. Want more strategies to build a leading market position in the healthcare or services market? Click here to get access to our FREE resources with the newest marketing strategies and Senz & Brain Tips

Brain Rule 2 – 3 Do’s & Don’ts to engage your customers

For Ultimate Client Binding

Have you ever asked yourself why some sales reps and business people sell more than others?
Why they have more loyal clients? How they were able to build a unique position?
They use brain rule 2!

I had to order new business cards and stopped at a few print shops. Pretty amazing how they treat their potential clients! One found his food more important than me, the other just mentioned the price and showed me his own, ugly 😉 business card.

Then, a friend advised me to go to Jameson.
This business-card-specialist touches the paper with love and explains the differences between mat and shiny cards full of dedication. So, he obviously loves his job and believes in his product. But there is more… he also asked me questions about my preferences, about my business. He listened to what I find important. He made me feel important. I matter to him.

The same goes for top salesmen. Many salesmen talk a lot, but have you ever noticed that the top salesmen actually listen more and are really interested in you?

This brings me to:

Brain rule 2: Value & recognize your clients & employees

 

Even if you do not always realize, everybody needs attention, recognition and to be valued. Your reptilian brain, the part of the brain that takes your decisions, is very self-centered (learn more about the reptilian brain). It feels: I am the only important person on earth. It needs attention and acknowledgement.

It has already been said that the brain rules are very closely related to
Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs. See Brain Rule 1.
The 2nd brain rule is very closely related to self esteem.
We all desire to be accepted and valued.

So, what are the 3 do’s and don’ts to value and engage your clients?

 

1. Listen more than you talk

Don’t: Just talk about yourself and your product. Don’t try to impress them by your knowledge.

Do: Listen to what your clients really want. Ask questions and listen to their answers. Impress them by your understanding.

Easy Win: Notice today how often you ask a question (it all starts with awareness).

2. Use more ‘YOU’ than ‘I’ or ‘We or ‘Our product’ at your website

Don’t: Just talk about yourself & explain about your product or service.

Do: Talk to your clients, say you. Talk about the gains/benefits for your client.

Easy Win: Search for ‘I’, ‘we’ or ‘the name of your product’ at your website. And see how you can replace this by ‘You’ or ‘Your’.

3. Recognize the point of view of your clients

Don’t: Just try to convince them about your product.

Do: Get involved in your clients. Understand where they are coming from. Give them the opportunity to interact and react. Each piece of information should be about them: from their point of view! Mention the problems/issues/ struggle of your clients. Use their words.

Easy Win: List the issues of your previous and current clients (in their words). You can also do this with your team. How can you use this information to adapt your acquisition, your website, your sales talks and/or your offer?

This is how you can start engaging your clients. Make them feel important! This way you build a unique position.

But what if your team members don’t make your clients feel valued?
What if they don’t feel valued and engaged themselves?
What are the do’s and don’ts in this case? I will share this with you next time (brain rule 2 continued).

With engaging greetings,

Karin