Why People Buy

We marketers love getting immersed in the nuances of the marketing process and branding theories.  It is fun - but it is not that complicated.  People buy for three reasons; reasons that have been around as long as humans have been around.  The emphasis is on “buy”; the actual transaction, not “brand awareness” or “lead generation”.

Image

This is a purchase made because of how the product reflects their personal beliefs, self-image, etc.  Examples:  BMW, Starbucks, Apple, Urban Outfitters

Value

This is the best deal; the product that has the best quality-to-cost ratio.  It also has to do with convenience and location.   Examples:  WalMart, Hyundai, Southwest, Holiday Inn Express

Best

This is being the best product/service on the market.  This could be related to “Image”, but is typically about usability, quality, and/or features.  Examples:  Bose, John Deere, FedEx, RitzCarlton

Many products will have more than one of these - or sometimes all three.  The key is to be at least one of them.  Giving people a reason to buy that doesn’t fit in to one of these means you competing against thousands of years of human nature.

Some of this matching your story with the story they tell themselves (as brilliantly laid out by Seth Godin in “All Marketers are Liars”) - but often the true reason is not what they tell themselves.  That is why you have to dig beyond the “lie” they tell themselves (”I’m buying this car because of the gas mileage”), to the REAL story (”My friends will be so jealous when they see me in this!”).

Keep in mind that any of the 3 can be word-of-mouth friendly.  People talk about all three when done right.  All three are also social media friendly.

So when you are creating your own out-bound business development (sales, advertising, WOM et al) strategy, pick one that best reflects your offering and go with it.  Of course, this does not supersede being able to articulate your Simple Idea, having a perfect brand identity, and an unexpected customer experience.  But it will help you keep it simple - and stay focused on the most important metric of all - sales.