As we indicated in the chapter above, you can often sell things through the associations you make with it. In this chapter, we are going to discuss how linking your product to things that are familiar to your customers can help to breed a cozy familiarity that is appealing. For products that are new, it can even be a way to overcome the resistance to buying if you link the product with something they already know.
One of the easiest ways to do this type of association is to link your products to some cultural phenomena or fad that is currently in the forefront of the mass consciousness. Once it is associated with some fad, by default your product also gains tremendous popularity along with the fad. However, you do have to be careful that when a trend ends, that your sales don't dwindle too. The positive aspects of linking to a popular subject are obvious, but the negative aspects can sometimes be ignored and impact your sales. So, remain aware that you always have to understand that linking your product to other cultural trends works both ways.
The Strategy
You will want to identify what trends are foremost in the mind of your visitors. They could be cultural, ethnic, behavioral, or simply a shift in the public's awareness. As an example, if you are selling kid's toys and there is a popular television series that has enormous popularity, if you can link your product to this series, you will experience good growth in your sales.
Your product doesn't even have to be directly related to the event that you are exploiting, for it to work. As long as it draws attention - even controversy - to your sales ad. Online controversy is a sure way to gain attention even if it can be explosive. If you understand how to manipulate a controversy to your advantage, you can even use these controversies to sell your products. At the very least, you will increase your site's traffic.
Sometimes an event is a good thing to link your products to, like a historical event. This is actually done around major holidays when all sort of Christmas-themed wares and/or gifts show up in the stores. But, beyond the holidays there are events that can influence your visitors to buy your products: Earth Day for greenies, for instance.
Highly controversial or anticipated events can be great product promoters. The American national elections, for instance, is a giant boon for people who sell items with logos. Now, they can sell T-shirts, bumper stickers, and all sorts of different types of products by linking them to either the Republican or the Democratic candidates. As different controversies erupt over the candidates it can be a gold mine for people who want to show their party loyalties through the products they buy.
But, this strategy isn't just relegated to fads and controversies, it's also about making new products or unusual products more familiar and cozy. An example of this is an ad that was printed in the past selling smoke detectors that look intimidatingly high-tech which compared it to a very sensitive nose. Suddenly, the smoke detector wasn't so odd and frightening, but rather familiar to the average human being. In the process, the smoke alarm is reframed to something that a person can rely on every day to keep them out of danger without being too concerned about the mechanics of it.
Jose
No comments:
Post a Comment