There are five levels to the Hierarchy of Needs and your potential customer’s motivation falls somewhere between them. When you can successfully identify where your customer’s motivation is coming from, you can determine anything from the pricing structure you should use to the font for your logo.

Let’s take the example of a hotel. Hotels range from seriously terrifying at $30 per night to extremely exclusive at over $3,000 per night. Understanding your customer’s motivation would help you figure out where to align your brand.

If your customer is struggling to meet his or her physiological needs, your hotel is simply protection from the elements of the world- they will take the absolute cheapest room available. If your customer has their physiological needs met, they will look for a hotel that is safe and comforting- perhaps one that is in a decent part of town and has a front desk attendant. Beyond these elements, they aren’t going to be too picky. If your customer has their safety needs met, they will begin to shop around likely choosing a hotel based on location, amenities, rewards points, and other features. If your customer has their belongingness & love needs met, they’re going to be looking for luxury accommodations. Perks like room service, a spa, dry cleaning, on-site dining, and the like will be non-negotiables. Finally, if their esteem needs are met your customer will be looking for exclusivity. They’re only interested in hotels that are not available to the general public or are so expensive that most people cannot afford them.

Determine where your customer stands as far as their internal motivation and you’ll be able to create the offering that they’re uniquely after.

3. Regulatory approach

Some people are very cautious while others actively seek out risk. Some people prefer to bargain shop while others are happiest in designer boutiques. Very often our regulatory approach is less of a conscious choice and more of a subconscious focus.

In his book, Marketing to Mindstates, Will Leach describes the theory of regulatory approach as “our internal GPS or Waze that tells us what path we should take to reach our goals.” He goes on to explain: “once you have insight into the regulatory focus of your target consumers, you can frame your brand with visuals and copy that provide a path of least resistance for their nonconscious to follow.” For more on framing, check out this article I wrote on the power of putting things in perspective for your customers.

In order to use framing as a technique, you have to be very aware of your customers’ regulatory approach.

Understand their risk vs. reward system

A broad way to categorize risk and reward is to group your customers into one of two segments: promotion-focused or prevention-focused. A Harvard Business Review article entitled, Do you play to win- or to not lose? excellently explains the concept of promotion and prevention biases.

The article reads:

“Promotion–focused people see their goals as creating a path to gain or advancement and concentrate on the rewards that will accrue when they achieve them. … Prevention–focused people, in contrast, see their goals as responsibilities, and they concentrate on staying safe.”

The same scenario looks very different in the eyes of someone with a prevention-focus than in the eyes of someone with a promotion-focus.

For example, when considering buying a new jacket, prevention-focused people will consider what might happen if they don’t buy it: “Will I be cold? What if I’m not stylish enough? Do I need this color? What are the consequences of not buying this jacket? Will I feel remorse or regret?” Whereas, promotion-focused individuals will think about all the wonderful things that will come from buying the jacket: “I will look so good. No one has this kind of jacket, I’ll be a trendsetter. I can’t wait to walk around in this, I’ll feel so confident.”

Neither prevention or promotion focus is better, they are simply different. They both have unique strengths and weaknesses. If you can identify which category your target customer falls into, you can frame your marketing and sales strategies accordingly.

For a prevention-focused strategy, aim to highlight the practicality of your offering. Make it clear that you’re solving a problem that the consumer has and try to answer some of their internal-monologue questions with your marketing copy. Show visuals of people better off after using your product or engaging with your service.

Example of prevention-focused marketing

For a promotion-focused strategy, try to hone in on the positive feelings one can anticipate having after using your product or service. Reinforce their optimistic beliefs and use pictures that help them visualize themselves living the life they dream of or aspire to have.

Source: The Next Web

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