Building relationships with audiences that both meet their needs and align with the brand we represent is the underlying foundation of all marketing. A key part of this is finding out how to hit the hot button needs and get a response from our audience.
The “6 Basic Human Needs” that Tony Robbins uses as a foundation in his teaching can be adapted and applied to marketing:
1. Certainty.
Certainty is one of the hardest needs for brands to fulfil but if you can deliver certainty and consistency to your customers, you will have customers for life. Although surprising and delighting customers is something that many brand aspire to, everyone likes to know what is going to happen, – customers like to know the results of their potential experience before they buy. Trust paves the way to certainty so winning the trust of your customers is crucial. Trust can come in different forms – the trusted advice of a friend, or a customer trusting a brand because they have already had good experiences with it in the past.
2. Variety.
Marketing today is a vastly different environment to several years ago when there were sales pipelines and channels you could count on to reach consumers. The number and variety of channels that marketers can use to reach consumers is mind boggling to consider – and there are new channels entering the mix every day. Everyone loves variety and something different – consumers are using every channel available whether it’s Instagram, Snapchat, mobile apps, SMS text messaging or something we have yet to hear about. As marketers it’s our job to ensure the right story is told in the right context and delivered through the appropriate channel. As a consumer, the social media channel Snapchat offers a new, fun way to interact with brands. Being able to view a message for 10 seconds then have it disappear is a novelty for many people and offers brands a flexible environment to deliver creative key messaging.
3. Significance.
Everyone likes to be acknowledged for a job well done – it gives meaning to our lives if we feel good about what we are doing. One of the most significant challenges for brands today is giving their audience the significance they crave. Personalising your communications and stories with your customers on a one to one level goes a long way to making them feel special and important.
4. Connection.
Feeling connected to themselves and others around them is a basic human need. It is the main reason why social media exploded and is now a permanent part of modern society. If you cannot connect effectively with your audience, your communications will not have the necessary impact or inspire your customers to respond positively. To forge a real connection with your audience, your communications need to have authenticity and transparency.
5. Growth.
Human beings are built to never stop learning – ethically, psychologically, mentally and cerebrally. This is good news for marketers as part of our role is to help others be a success through communicating our stories. Once we understand our brands and products – how to use them, why they are better than other products available, this can be authentically communicated to our audience to help them grow and learn. The biggest challenge today is finding the right channel to send this information through – effectively cutting through the noisy, crowded market place. My company Energise, focuses on working with companies who want to grow aggressively and mature. Our specialty is working with companies to assist them in understanding their brand, products and how to best communicate their unique offering to their target market. This process helps a company to grow and evolve, and by extension, helps their audience to grow and learn.
6. Contribution.
Being engaged and feeling like you are making a significant difference increases your chances of connecting with others who have common interests. Everyone likes to feel like an important contributor whether it is in their work life or family and social life. Everyone likes to feel like what they are doing matters. You can use this in your marketing communications by making customers feel like they’re making a difference to the success of your promotion. This can also be used internally to get buy in to initiatives within your company by asking employees for new ideas and to share their experiences with others.
Tapping into these core values that exist in all humans can be a very powerful tool in your marketing initiatives. Hitting the basic needs that all people share will enhance your marketing efforts and push your audience to respond positively.
