How to do marketing promotion? Master these 14 methods!

Marketing promotion is never just about making people demand and interested in the product.

In many cases, we will rack our brains and spend a lot of time analyzing user needs, sorting out product selling points, and laying out product promotion channels ... Then, users will be interested and think it's great.

However, they ultimately didn’t take the next step and didn’t buy!

What's the problem?

Having interest and demand does not mean purchase.

This is a typical marketing problem nowadays. Everyone has been using most of their resources to emphasize how great the product is, but rarely constantly telling consumers "how easy it is to make a decision", "how simple it is to take action", "many people have already done it"... They have not tried every means to make consumers feel that it is easy to achieve their goals, nor have they dispelled their purchasing concerns.

Yale University once conducted an experiment in which students were required to go to the school hospital to receive free tetanus vaccinations. The experimenters prepared two versions of the tetanus manual, and different groups received different versions.

One group received the high-fear version, which used exaggerated language and highly stimulating pictures, and listed severe tetanus patients as examples; while the other group received the low-fear version, which used relatively plain language.

The result was unexpected. One month later, the proportion of students who actually got vaccinated was the same, only 3%.

The experiment continued. This time, nothing else changed, except that the experimenter added two small details to the manual:

One is a geographical location map of the school hospital, and the other adds the specific time for vaccination.

However, these two seemingly insignificant contents led to a significant increase in the number of students seeking vaccination, with the proportion increasing to 28%, an increase of more than 9 times.

Obviously, this has nothing to do with the product itself (vaccination), but more about the map and specific time making the behavior of "going to the school hospital to get vaccinated" seem easier to achieve and with fewer obstacles.

That is to say, when consumers make decisions, it is not enough to have interest and motivation. If the decision faces a lot of obstacles, they may give up buying.

So, how to solve this problem and make consumer actions smoother?

There are two directions to start:

1. Reduce barriers to decision making

If something is easy to accomplish, we are more inclined to do it; if it is difficult and faces various obstacles, it is easy for people to give up.

When consumers have demand and interest in a product, the biggest problem is to eliminate the barriers to their decision-making.

The most critical issue is the consumption cost, which is not just monetary cost, but also image cost, action cost, learning cost, health cost, decision-making cost, etc.

Simply put, it means money, face, saving time, saving effort, no risk and security.

We need to accurately identify the costs they may have to pay, and break down and remove obstacles one by one to reduce their consumption costs.

1. Remove price barriers

Most people are sensitive to prices, and once they feel something is expensive, they may give up on buying it.

At this time, we need to effectively reduce the obstacles for consumers to buy expensive products and make them more willing to buy them. for example:

1) Create an expert image - "You buy expensive things because you are an expert."

2) Defeat motivation – “You buy expensive things because cheap ones can’t help you achieve your goals.”

3) Take advantage of the group - "You have to buy expensive things because people who shouldn't buy them have already bought them."

4) Transfer classification - "You should buy the expensive one because it is not expensive under this classification."

5) Close the distance to the goal - "You should buy expensive things because you have worked very hard."

6) Transferring consumption - "You should buy expensive things because you want to use them to do more meaningful things."

For details, please refer to "In the era of consumption upgrading, how to make consumers more willing to buy expensive things?" 》an article.

2. Strengthen authority transfer

To put it simply, authority transfer is to seek endorsement for a product. Create an authoritative image, create authoritative high standards, be reliable and guaranteed!

Find some more reliable, authoritative, reputable and influential people/platforms to endorse you. For example: authoritative institutions, KOL experts, celebrity endorsements, CCTV advertisements, etc.

The purpose of this endorsement is to transfer the authoritative image of other platforms to one's own brand or product, so that consumers have stronger trust and make decisions faster.

3. Show customer testimonials

Gold and silver cups are not as good as the reputation of the people.

You have to tell consumers that people similar to them are using this product, so that they are likely to rush to use it as well.

The trust of old customers in your products will be transferred to new customers' trust in your products. Previously at the Xiaomi Pinecone chip launch conference, in addition to talking about the innovation and quality of his own products, Lei Jun also listed a series of highly praised comments about Xiaomi from a large number of Mi fans, which is essentially a high-level customer testimonial method.

For customer testimonials, we can use customer on-site testimonials, customer videos, customer audio, screenshots of web page reviews, customer handwritten letters, customer appreciation meetings, etc.

Furthermore, the more similar the person providing the customer testimonial is to the target audience, the more persuasive the testimonial will be. It would be best if you could let the target audience see you and resonate with you.

In addition, when it comes to customer testimonials, don’t make them sound like hard advertising. Don’t write things like “I used to have such and such troubles, but since I used this product, the problems have been solved and I’m very happy!” It’s like the micro-business style in the circle of friends , and you can tell it’s an advertisement after just one sentence.

Regarding customer testimonials, Lao Zei has two suggestions:

First, it should be colloquial. Real clients don’t care about literary quality when writing. Their comments are very casual and may even contain typos and grammatical errors. This is all acceptable.

Second, the perspectives and tones of what different clients write are definitely different. It would be embarrassing when you put several client testimonials together and find that they seemed to be written by one person.

4. Alleviate image concerns

Many times, consumers want to buy a certain product but are worried that their image will be damaged or will be different from what others expect.

what to do?

At this time, it is necessary to change consumers' cognitive judgment of the product, eliminate the negative image brought by the product, and improve its positive image, so as to reduce this image barrier.

Just like the previous Japanese rice cooker product case, the advertisement was: cook faster. Many housewives want to buy it, but they are worried that their mother-in-law will think they are lazy and it will damage their image.

Afterwards, the rice cooker company changed its advertisement to: Give your family healthier meals.

At this time, these housewives paid money to buy it, because at this time their image became a good daughter-in-law who cares about her family.

This will dispel consumers' concerns about the bad image, and a change in the wording will make them more willing to buy. Overall, it is to continuously increase the positive image brought by the product and eliminate the possible negative image.

5. Rationalize the purchase

In short, purchase rationalization means finding a reasonable excuse for consumers to make purchases, and not letting consumers have psychological obstacles such as "guilt", "sense of indebtedness", and "self-doubt".

This situation often occurs when purchasing various hedonic products, luxury goods, non-essential items, etc. For example, many people who buy luxury consumer goods will feel: I am so wasteful! Sometimes there is a strong sense of guilt and insecurity.

At this time, we can advocate enjoyment, emphasize the need to enjoy a good life, and live every day to the fullest, so as to reduce consumers' psychological barriers.

Of course, we can also tell him that this product is not for enjoyment, but can be used to compensate oneself, to motivate oneself, to compensate or to express gratitude to others, etc.

6. Take advantage of herd mentality

People's behavior in a group is often influenced by others, and they may even react accordingly based on the reactions of those around them. Most marketers are already aware of this concept and its importance cannot be overstated.

A previous experiment pointed out that when people do not follow the crowd, they will feel excluded, but following the crowd will make them feel more comfortable.

The herd mentality also has a kind of self-suggestion to reduce losses. If you don’t follow the crowd, you feel that you will lose something. For example, when shopping, you would think that the products ranked by sales volume on Tmall must have the best price/performance ratio, and the “selling volume” of paper books would make you more willing to spend money…

When businesses create the illusion of "hot sales", it often leads to real hot sales. For example, the phrases commonly used in advertisements such as “cumulative sales of XXX”, “circling the earth XX times”, “ranking first in sales for N consecutive years”, etc., are all common methods of sales promotion.

For five consecutive years, Xiangpiaopiao milk tea has been far ahead in terms of sales volume, and it can be circled around the earth ten times.

Pinduoduo is a shopping app that 300 million people are using

Vipshop's registered members exceed 100 million

Huoshan short video * 100 million people are playing

Even if there is no specific data or cases to create hot sales, advertisements can still imply the popularity of a product by showing countless people in a certain scene using or admiring a certain brand of product. Many brand advertisements such as Wanglaoji and Coca-Cola have long used this suggestive technique.

7. Don’t make users start from scratch

When you give consumers a choice and hope they will complete it, don’t let them start from scratch. This will be boring and their desire to act will not be strong.

You don't need to deliberately lower the threshold required to complete the task. There is a way to make him more willing and complete the task faster.

The approach is to design the decision so that it has already begun, rather than starting from scratch.

For example, some fitness institutions issue membership cards, and they will stamp your card every time you recharge. After you have 10 stamps, you can become a senior member and get attractive bonuses and benefits.

What they did was very clever. When they first issued the card to you, they already had three stamps on it. (Only 7 chapters are left)

Think about it, if we change the way to “starting from zero stamps and becoming a premium member after getting 7 stamps”, what would be the result? Both require 7 chapters, but it is obvious that the decision-making obstacles are completely different.

The closer people are to achieving their goals, the easier it will be to find ways to achieve them. You just need to help them get one step closer.

8. Zero risk commitment

The last one is the zero-risk promise. Needless to say, a reassuring word will make consumers feel more confident about paying. The simplest ones are something like “ten times compensation for fake products” or “30 days no-reason return and exchange”.

This thing is completely different if you have it or not.

Well, after reducing the obstacles to consumer decision-making, don’t rest, take one more step for better results.

2. Limit your choices

By reducing the various decision-making barriers for consumers, the possibility of their decision-making has been greatly increased. But don’t forget that besides choosing you, consumers may still be hesitating about other options.

At this time, what we need to do is to actively limit the range of choices and make him feel that you are the better choice.

1. Actively create contrast

When consumers make consumption decisions, instead of letting them look for comparisons on their own, we should take the initiative to help them do the comparison.

If an object is placed in front of a consumer alone, it is difficult for him to feel its value; but if it is compared with other things, the value of this object will become very clear, even beyond his cognition.

At this time, we can create various comparisons between products, and "skillfully" use the comparison of strengths to appropriately elevate ourselves, highlight the advantages and disadvantages, and prove that your product is better.

Every product has its core selling point or key highlights. We can compare these items with those of its peers, just like Tian Ji's horse racing. It's up to you how to compare.

For example, Xiaomi mobile phones are experts in all aspects. Various parameters and prices are often compared at product launch conferences. They seem to have a very high cost-effectiveness and are good in every aspect.

2. Increase added value

There is a saying that goes, "I have what others don't, and I am better than others." To limit consumer choices, we can increase the added value of our products and strengthen the chances of our products being chosen.

The simplest understanding of added value is other attractions besides the product itself. For example, giving an exquisite gift, providing a super attractive giveaway, giving a title, etc., can bring more surprises to customers.

This is just like when we buy a computer, we are often told that it will come with headphones, a mouse pad, a USB flash drive, etc. In fact, you bought all of these with your own money, but saying them separately will make you feel that it is a better computer to buy, and you get a lot of free things as well.

Let’s take a look at the following 3 simple statements. Which one would you choose?

1) Computer for 5999, with free headphones, mouse pad and USB flash drive;

2) Computer 5900;

3) Computer 5900, headphones 50 yuan, mouse pad 9 yuan, USB flash drive 40 yuan;

There is a saying in marketing that when encouraging consumers to make transactions, it is necessary to disperse the benefits. In fact, this is also to increase the added value of the product.

3. Preferential benefits create scarcity

Consumers are accustomed to judging the value of something by how difficult it is to obtain it. The harder something is to obtain, the higher its value is likely to be. Therefore, scarcity motivates us to strive for it, and if there is a sense of urgency, it will be even more difficult to resist.

Naturally, there is not much time to compare other options.

Therefore, sales methods such as "deadline", "rush purchase", "limited quantity", "flash sale", etc. have been stimulating consumers to buy immediately. Adding restrictions to the discount in the copy , whether it is time limit, price limit, quantity limit, or crowd limit, it still works.

When it comes to creating scarcity, we have to mention the DR diamond ring: a man can only customize one in his lifetime.

The DR diamond ring (Darry Ring) brand has set a romantic rule since its inception. A man can only customize one ring in his lifetime with his ID card, and give it to the woman he loves the most in his life, which means "one true love in a lifetime." When purchasing, you sign a lifetime true love agreement which cannot be changed for life.

Is there any room for choice when it comes to such a scarce symbol of true love?

4. Highlight surprising product facts

Although the consumer is already interested in and has a demand for your product and already knows the facts about your product, he will be more interested if you can further demonstrate more amazing facts about your product. Is that right?

At this time, we can use our wits and courage to show the facts of the product, and use facts to show that it is better than anything else.

The Rolls-Royce car advertisement by copywriter Ogilvy is one of his most famous works: in this Rolls-Royce that travels at 60 miles per hour, the loudest noise is its electronic clock.

In just one sentence, the product facts are vividly displayed.

There are even more amazing ones, using some unconventional methods to present product facts in an amazing way. All consumers can do is choose, choose, and choose again. There is no need to choose anything else.

The American Texas Armoring bulletproof glass company is a classic example. Their chairman Trent Kimball asked employees to put the bulletproof glass (about 2 inches thick) produced by his company in front of them, and then asked the employees to hold AK-47s at a distance of less than 5 meters and shoot directly at the glass. Every shot was aimed at his boss's head.

After firing a few shots, there were obvious bullet holes on their glass, but the glass was not penetrated. Kimball smiled with satisfaction after a close call. After that, this video quickly became popular on the Internet , and everyone knew that Texas Armoring’s bulletproof glass is really bulletproof and reliable.

5. Unleash higher-level benefits of products

Previously, I have recommended the probability of "Product Benefit Ladder" to everyone. The so-called product benefit ladder means that for a product, we can conduct a layered analysis from its most basic product features, to product functional benefits, and then to higher-level benefits, just like climbing up a ladder layer by layer.

In this way, you can more clearly sort out the benefits and selling points of your products, match products and users, and build competitive barriers with your competitors.

I divide this product ladder into: product features → product benefits/advantages → consumer benefits → emotions/values. For example, the previous Vivo X7/X7 Plus advertisement can be analyzed using the product benefit ladder method.

Product features: 16 million soft light selfie function;

Product benefits/advantages: Bright and clear photos of people, illuminating your beauty;

Consumer benefits: It is easy to take beautiful photos of yourself;

Emotions/values: Show the best of yourself.

When we need to compete with other products and limit consumers’ choices, we need to ask ourselves a few questions:

What are the salient features and functions of my product? (feature)

What benefits can this function or feature bring to users? (Product Benefits)

What value can this benefit create for users? What goal is to be achieved? What practical problems are solved? (Consumer interests)

What kind of emotional resonance can this benefit given to consumers trigger in them? What kind of values ​​can it bring? (Emotions/Values)

If you clarify these issues, your product marketing strategy will be completely different.

When others are still talking about the basic features of the product, you can talk about the product benefits; and when others are talking about the product benefits, you can be more advanced and talk about the consumer benefits, highlighting the product value through higher-dimensional benefits and gaining the upper hand.

6. Convert value into another category

Each type of product has its corresponding value attributes and classifications. We can transform them through marketing means to give the products different classifications and values.

For example, candied fruit was originally a pitifully small category. After Ye Maozhong planned "Liuliumei" as "Eat Liuliumei when you have nothing to do", it was suddenly transformed from being classified as a snack to being a pastime product for killing time. This is how the market size later reached over billions.

Besides, Xiangpiaopiao has changed from a milk tea to a drink that means “When you feel a little hungry or sleepy, drink some Xiangpiaopiao”. At this time, its value positioning has become that it can relieve your tiredness and increase your sense of fullness.

In this way, Xiangpiaopiao has created more consumption scenarios and is no longer limited to the best-selling milk tea in winter. Whether you are at work, exercising, or staying up late to watch TV series, you may feel a little hungry or sleepy. As long as you feel hungry or sleepy, you may have a consumption scenario.

Similarly, you can also find new value classifications for your products, such as practical functional value, identity value, social value, symbolic value, spiritual value, emotional value... and so on. Under this classification, you are no longer in the same category as other similar competitors, so how can you compare yourself with them?

For example, a cup sold for hundreds of dollars is indeed very expensive, but if Swell bottle transforms it into a high-end decorative item, it does not feel expensive because the price is normal for a decorative item.

In short, being attracted does not mean buying.

Even if you convey all the selling points of your product to consumers, even if your advertisements are attractive and your products are amazing, consumers may still postpone their purchases or even give up directly due to various consumption barriers...

What we need to do at this time is not to continue to ignorantly emphasize how great the product is, but to find out the possible concerns of consumers and dispel them one by one.

source: Mumuseo ​