Planning an excellent communication activity is inseparable from these points

The foundation of communication studies is psychology. Only by fully understanding the group psychology and emotional flow of target users can we plan a marketing case that will trigger a collective climax among the masses.

It can be said that an excellent marketing case requires the right time, right location and right people. Of course, this is too abstract. Allen thinks that to put it bluntly, there are three points: trigger point, dissemination node, and dissemination form.

• The trigger point: that is, "content". Content is the "physical condition" that carries the marketing event. At the same time, the content itself must meet and fit the target users' visible or invisible "essential needs". These "needs" make the event and the target users form a certain "interest binding". Only then will the target users be likely to spontaneously spread, disseminate or pay for you. (Because essentially, everyone only cares about things that are "relevant" to them)
• Communication nodes: "Content" is the detonating point, and the communication node is the "loudspeaker" that spreads the matter to the outside world. As the saying goes, "Even good wine needs no bush." ​​Even the most communicable case will not spread if it lacks a sufficient "exposure threshold." Communication nodes can be big Vs , newspapers, television, etc. Of course, for specific cases, planners need to consider "adapting to local conditions" to choose effective and appropriate communication nodes.
• Communication form: that is, the communication path. Only by sorting out the communication path clearly can the marketing event be effectively and smoothly communicated in a more "lossless" way. For example, a complete marketing communication path: social media (content export) - portal website (diffusion) - traditional media (sinking) - social fermentation (feeding back to social media)

Above, Allen explained the three major elements needed for a phenomenal marketing case : trigger point, communication node, and communication form.

So next Allen analyzes what universal rules can be followed in order to create content with a "trigger point". (PS: Because the communication nodes and forms need to be adjusted according to different cases and to meet different purposes, there is no relatively fixed "format", so Allen will not elaborate on it here.)

A "content" with a trigger point must be able to hit some "needs" of the core users, which can be: desire fantasy, self-superiority, emotional needs, rational sharing, value principles, etc. If they are classified, Allen believes that they are nothing more than satisfying the three major needs of the general public: id needs, ego needs and superego needs.

In fact, we can understand that there are three little people living in everyone's body, the id little person, the ego little person and the superego little person. External stimuli of different natures will cause them to react to different degrees. The existence of these three little men means that before planning each marketing event, you must figure out which little man in the target population you want to tame, and know their characteristics and weaknesses.

The Self

Achieving one's own goals by satisfying the target users' ego needs is the most common marketing technique used by companies. Id needs only need to satisfy the user's subjective sensory pleasure. For example, sex, gluttony, beauty, spontaneous travel, and even personalized reading are all in line with the needs of the self. Remember this: the principle of the ego is to pursue self-pleasure and immediate satisfaction.

To hit the user's ego needs, it is not necessary to pursue logic too much, because the point of satisfying the ego needs is to arouse the user's emotional right brain, rather than to reason and use logic, or to analyze and persuade rationally, but to directly demonstrate, seduce, and describe the experience eloquently.

1. Visual display

Beautiful advertising images, a pretty heroine with jet-black hair, and the slogan "Pantene believes that each of you is unique and has unlimited potential for beauty." Has your little self begun to imagine that after using this brand of shampoo, your terrible hair will slowly become as silky and smooth as in the advertisement?

Figurative display is the most common method used in advertisements to hit the users’ ego needs. There is no need to tell users what healthy ingredients are in the product or how advanced the formula is for adults. Cold data analysis does not apply here. It only needs to influence the user's most basic and direct senses and convince their ego to work.

2. Experience Marketing

" Maoyan Movie , new users only need to pay 1 cent to buy movie tickets for the first registration!"

This is the most common free trial marketing, which allows users to participate personally, directly stimulates users, and makes users’ ego unable to stop and rush to tell others.

3. Create conflict

Creating conflicts can easily stimulate users’ subjective feelings, and such content has a natural “viral factor”.
Typical examples include:

“As long as there is sand in your heart, everywhere is the Maldives.”

self

Ego needs are exactly the opposite of id needs. Their consumption scenarios tend to be rational. At the same time, the consumption amount may be larger, the frequency is lower, and the consumption decision-making process is longer. Therefore, it is not enough to simply stimulate the user's "id". In these categories, Allen believes that only by influencing and guiding users' rational thinking and judgment, and acting in accordance with realistic principles, logic and common sense, can the desired effect be achieved.

The principle of satisfying users’ self-needs is to stick to reality, help them analyze the current situation rationally and personally, convince them through logic and arguments, gain their rational trust, and then slowly guide them to engage in “trust monetization” consumption.

A typical example is the advertisement of Touareg TOU AR EG:

"The top speed is 225 km/h, and the 0-100 km acceleration is 8.1 seconds, leaving only the taillights as a topic of conversation."

You know, in the automobile market, the target users are mainly males who are generally rational, and automobile products are commodities, so the consumer decision must be made by the little ego in the body, which focuses on performance rather than simple experience.

Superego

“No buying, no killing!”
"Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints."

The above public service advertisements all try to strike at people’s superego and persuade them to act according to certain principles, allowing them to feel their conscience, social norms and self-ideals and gain some kind of self-praise.

In addition to public service advertisements, many top-tier brand products also prefer to create "super-ego" characters to achieve the goal of "deepening into my heart."

Like diamonds: "A diamond is forever, and one lasts forever"
For example, Patek Philippe, a famous watch: “No one can own a Patek Philippe, it is just kept for the next generation.”

Diamond products do not emphasize its rarity, but sublimate its symbolic meaning: permanence; Patek Philippe does not deliberately highlight its preciousness, but indirectly talks about people's "attitude" towards the brand. In fact, behind these marketing cases, what is struck is the superego in the human body. Without exception, they all point to a "beautiful yearning" that everyone pursues and establish a positive value guide.

Of course, in addition to luxury goods, some mid- and low-end products with serious homogeneity also try to increase their popularity by satisfying users' super ego. For example, the initial positioning of Xiaomi mobile phone was "born for enthusiasts", which is to give identity recognition to the mobile phone enthusiast group, so that buyers can buy the identity of "enthusiast" when buying a mobile phone. It symbolizes a better understanding of hardware and advanced concepts. The Hammer phone, which was created to sell feelings, has the same effect.

Conclusion

Of course, in some products, you will sometimes see refinements that are specifically aimed at the user's ego villain, as well as refinements that take into account the superego villain. In essence, these three are not in conflict, but you must be clear about which villain in the body of the target group you want to tame is the core of the consumption decision-making of this type of product.