Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
You’ve spent all afternoon getting ready, and you look like a million bucks. You head inside the restaurant and your date stands and smiles. He thinks you look good too. First impressions are more important than we realize. Sometimes a simple look or smile can make you weak at the knees. Like a great first date, your product should leave people wanting more.
You may have spent hours upon hours creating a product or developing an excellent business model. You may have a perfect location in mind for your new storefront or restaurant. All of this could help you thrive, but one of the best tools for seeing success is feeding off the desires of the consumer and making a great first impression.
Studies have reported on feelings that consumers experience between the time they decide they want to purchase a product and the time when they make the purchase. This sense of desire, produced by the hope of having the product, creates happiness in the hearts and minds of consumers. This happiness leads them to believe that this investment will substantially add to their overall well-being. They make the purchase hoping their feelings of happiness will only continue to grow once the product is finally in their possession.
If you can create an experience that draws people in and feeds off the desire that the product will contribute to overall happiness, then you’ll see enormously more success than if you rely on the excellence of the product alone. Put time and detail into what consumers see first when they encounter your product or service. Like picking out your best outfit for a first date, create a way to get noticed and get people’s attention.
Designed packaging and beautiful displays make people curious to learn more. It’s more than just complementary colors and the right fonts—get creative and make something captivating. Allow it to show off its confidence and the benefit it might bring to people. Branding should not be “good enough,” it should be enticing. It shouldn’t be an afterthought; it should be a prioritized aspect of product plans. Let it draw people in and whisper that it is the missing piece to people’s happiness. It’s difficult to talk yourself out of desire; it’s a feeling that we can’t control. No matter the price or the obstacles that come with ownership, once you gain consumers’ desire, they can’t help but go to great lengths to enjoy what you’re offering.
Materialistic consumers believe that the happiness of their lives depends on whether or not they can acquire the object they desire. They see something and need to have it. This desire can become a like a drug—creating a cycle where they continually make purchases to maintain the “high” they experienced when seeing something they want to have.
While you want to create a product that is worth the money, you need to do everything in your power to see the success of your product. This success means marketing to people’s desires and creating a feeling that your product will significantly add to their overall happiness. Marketing to feelings is crucial to the growth of your business. You can tell consumers how great your product is all day, but if you don’t create that deep desire, you likely won’t see them follow through with the purchase.
How can you put this into practice? Think about your consumer in every step of your business: marketing plans, package design, advertising, etc. Figure out what your customers are looking for most in life, and show them that your product is the answer. Everyone wants their lives to be the best they can be, and they will probably try their best to see this ideal life become a reality.
You can create a good product, or you can satisfy a desire. Show people you have what they’ve been missing. Who knows, that first date could lead to a life-long relationship.
Written by Elizabeth Lambert, Lead Copywriter