As told in “Guerilla Marketing” by Jay Conrad Levinson, a survey of 5,000 shoppers was once conducted by a marketing research firm to determine why people shopped where they did.
Here’s what the surveyors discovered. The prime reason — not the only reason but the PRIME reason why people shop where they do and buy what they do from whom they do… boils down to one word: CONFIDENCE.
Customers or clients want to have confidence that what they purchase will perform as claimed and that the store or manufacturer or service provider will stand behind their product or service.
People need to have a certain amount of confidence to even call you up, email you to inquire, or walk into your store. So your marketing has to have as one of its prime goals, building
confidence.
There are many ways to accomplish this:
- “Third-party endorsements” are the most important. That includes testimonials, awards, newspaper and magazine articles, TV and radio interviews.
- Actually seeing the product or service in action helps greatly.
- The correct image for your marketing materials is vital. If your website, brochure, ad or other items don’t look professional, that’s two strikes against you.
- Anything that demonstrates or asserts your expertise in an area is a confidence builder. That includes degrees and certifications, descriptions of your background and experience.
- Case Studies are great – especially with graphs or charts that demonstrate results.
- “White papers” – whether by yourselves or others – build credibility as objective evaluations of the scene.
- Repetition and continuity build confidence. Seeing the same logo over and over, people eventually decide you must be okay because you’ve been around so long and seem familiar to them.
Whatever else you do, if you don’t have the prospect’s confidence, you won’t get a lead or a sale. So build confidence!
