With the Internet opening up greater competition in almost every business sector from food, drink and restaurants to hedge funds, estate agents and law, it is vital to thoroughly understand the purchasing behaviours of your target audience. Doing this could be crucial for improving your brand strategy, giving your customers a logical reason to choose your business over the competition and putting you in a better position to secure or retain a customer for the long term.
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can be directly applied to the behaviour of consumers and your business’s marketing. Until you truly understand the psychology of needs and the purchasing actions of your customers, you may struggle to create an effective brand strategy for your company.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs begins with the physiological element, before moving onto safety, belongingness, esteem and finally self-actualisation. Understanding each of these key psychological states and relating them to the stages your customers will move through to purchase from you will allow you to improve your marketing campaigns and speak to your customers on a deeper level.
By focusing on emotion through the physiological, safety and belongingness needs of your clients, you can open up new ways of communication and showcase that your business clearly understands your clients.
Similarly, ‘esteem’ can be offered in ways that boost your target audience’s confidence in and respect for your business. For example, you may promote your services as ones that will enhance your target clients’ performance and build on the great work that they already do in their given sector.
Finally, self-actualisation, which refers to personal growth and realising potential, can be exploited. By crafting marketing campaigns and building a brand that your customers can trust, you will be able to meet their needs and improve your sales in the process.
Whether you were already familiar with the work of Maslow or this is an entirely new concept, an understanding of it could be key to effectively communicating your business’s skills and services in ways that acknowledge and address the needs of your prospective customers and clients.
If you are seeking the most tailored and informed assistance with your brand strategy, positioning or marketing, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of the Futura team today.