How to Accurately Appeal to Potential Customers

What is that special “it” factor that makes some businesses more appealing than others? In a perfect world, you would put out a tweet or an ad and customers would instantly flock to your store or website. However, in the world of marketing, you have to do some very specific things to make an impact and grab the attention of potential customers.

There are some specific psychological triggers you can use to appeal to potential customers. Figuring out what makes your target audience tick is the main component of appealing to them. Here are seven ways you can stand out to the exact people you most want to reach.

1. Tell a Story

There are many benefits to using storytelling in marketing. Telling a story gives consumers the chance to get to know your company on a more intimate level. When you meet someone new, how do you get to know them? You share stories and life experiences. This is the same thing you need to do on your website. About 92 percent of consumers say they want brands to create ads that tell them a story. If you can focus on storytelling, you'll be ahead of the game.

On their Instagram account, Mouth Foods does a really good job of telling a story with nearly every photo they post. In the screenshot above, they share a snippet about daylight-saving time and then tie it into drinking coffee as you adjust to the time change. However, there are many other examples on their Instagram of them sharing little stories along with posts highlighting their products.

2. Show Your Product in Real Life

If you spend any time at all on Instagram, you probably have noticed the story feeds, where companies share photos of real people using their products. You can apply this principle to almost any social media platform, ad or page of your website. Ask your customers to send you photos of how they use your product. If you sell clothing, customers should send photos of themselves doing various things wearing your brand. This type of image allows you to show potential customers how others are using and loving your product.

3. 360-Degree Videos

360-degree videos offer an up-close-and-personal look at a company and the way they do business. In the past, the real estate industry was the biggest user of these videos, but as Facebook debuted their 360-degree video capabilities, and companies began to see the benefits of a close-up look at their inner workings or product uses, the videos have become
more commonplace.

Look at the way Hydroworx uses the 360-degree video to show the capabilities of their product and how it might look in a specific facility. Customers get an in-depth look at how their therapy pools work. This approach appeals to the customer hunting for a therapy pool, because he or she can see the item at all different angles before making a decision to buy.

4. Get Your Product in Their Hands

Another way you can reach out to potential customers is by offering a free sample of your product, which puts your brand in consumers’ hands. The idea is that once they try the product, they’ll want to keep buying. Of course, this method works best with consumables. You can either ask people to pay for shipping, or you can offer a set number of freebies. Another idea is to attend a trade show that attracts your target audience and hand out free samples there in exchange for contact information.

5. Show Your Humorous Side

People love to laugh, and evoking any kind of emotion can draw attention to your brand. Of course, you do need to be cautious, because humor can be a subjective thing. You want just the right amount of sarcasm. Too much, and it could impact your image negatively. When in doubt, run your ideas past several different people with different senses of humor.

Wendy’s restaurants has created quite a buzz with their funny Twitter account. First, they started to respond to people asking what a Big Mac cost or where to find the nearest McDonald’s. They said the cost of a Big Mac was your “dignity,” and posted a photo of a trash can for the nearest McDonald’s. Their hilarious roasts of McD’s have netted them more than 2.36 million followers. The post above pokes fun at McDonald’s for their new claim about using fresh beef.

6. Create Anticipation

If you can get people excited about a new product before it even hits the market, you will sell out quickly and gain the attention of people who otherwise might not be interested. It’s an aspect of “keeping up with the Joneses” in that everyone thinks they need the next big thing. Apple is a company that does this really well. They hold massively publicized events touting the new features of their upcoming iPhone release, and everyone clamors to be the first to have that item.

You can learn a lot from the way Apple creates buzz around their product releases. Their approach is multi-tiered. Not only do they get wall-to-wall media coverage, but they also send information to their stores and third-party retailers, such as cell phone carriers. These people help heighten the anticipation around the upcoming release, giving them excellent word-of-mouth advertising.

7. User Testimonials

One way you can make an impact with possible customers is to share testimonials from happy customers. Ninety-two percent of consumers trust reviews from those they know. If they talk to someone who says they enjoyed a product or service, that recommendation is far more powerful than anything your brand can say or do to drive them toward a potential purchase.

Encourage your customers to share their experiences with friends, family and on social media platforms. One way to get them to share more is to offer an incentive for referrals, which gives your customers a reason to tell others about what you have to offer and why they like it.

Think Outside the Box

If you want to stand out from the crowd and reach new customers, you need to think outside the proverbial box. How can you make an emotional impact, but do so in a unique way your competitors haven’t thought of? At the heart of appealing to customers is understanding your target audience and knowing how to show them you have what they want. If you can tap into their hopes, dreams and emotions and meet a need, you’ll have better success at finding new leads.