Entrepreneurs and marketing professionals create experiences that fit to their marketing persona in the hope that it will lead to more sales. You can either focus on solving problems or on satisfying desires.
Jay Alvarrez published his YouTube video called Summer, which currently has 22 million views. The video invites viewers into his rich-kid lifestyle. Kids watch the movie midday and still fantasise about it when going to bed. He is not solving a problem, he is creating a desire. How can brands create a desire for their products or services?
1. Know your marketing persona
It all starts with understanding who your customer is. Use the AIO lifestyle model developed by Philipp Kotler and research the following variables to understand your marketing persona:
- Activities
- Interests
- Opinions
2. Create desire
Instead of only emphasising the benefits of your products, analyse the dream lifestyle of your buyers and then connect this lifestyle to your brand. Michael Kors does a good job. Check out the video Michael Kors Access Smartwatch. Throughout the 30-second video, not the watch but the lifestyle of the models is emphasised. They wake up in a kingsize bed, cleanse their face in a bathroom decorated with golden faucets, check the city view from their hotel balcony, train in a private sports club, go to a fancy nail salon, and make several selfies with their model friends. Viewers associate the product with the lifestlyle of models and some might think: “I would love to be a model and experience this lifestyle as well. If I buy this watch, then I might bring a bit of this lifestyle into my own life.” A new desire is created in just 30 seconds. Repeat the advertisement a couple more times through a well-thought out advertisement campaign and new sales will 100 percent flow in.
3. Build an integrated communication strategy
Your customers will remember your brand because of the desires it instils, especially if the campaign includes several ads that promotes with the same theme. Through Facebook and Instagram ads, you now can even retarget your audience. At the end, promote your campaign across all your marketing channels: your website, social media accounts, and your partner network. A single ad on a single platform will simply not make the cut. But when you create a well thought out integrated communication strategy, then you will generate without doubt fantastic results. At the end it all comes down to this:
„Getting the right message to the right people via the right media and methods – effectively, efficiently, and profitably.“ – Dan Kennedy, The Ultimate Marketing Plan
