There are only two different types of consumers, the optimists, and the pessimists. The overwhelming majority of those consumers will try to call themselves optimists, but that is because they are unwilling to face reality.
Your marketing message, especially the slogan, has a significant impact on the customer’s involvement. For example, a message or slogan might use particular words or be phrased in a way that does not fit the audience. So the ideal customer now becomes turned off or much harder to persuade. Either way, it is bad news for you.
The question is “how do you market specifically to the pessimists and the optimists?” You simply conform your message to fit their mindset, whether it be positive or negative.
A prime example can be seen with toothpaste. The optimists will find “whiter teeth & fresher breath” appealing, while the pessimists will find “prevents cavities and gingivitis” to be the inspiration for their investment.
The difference between these very different marketing tactics is sometimes hard to spot. Do you see the difference? The optimists are drawn toward the positive aspects of even whiter teeth and fresher breath, while the pessimists are drawn toward the idea of preventing the negatives that are likely to become a problem down the road (gingivitis and cavities).
You will be dealing with both optimists and pessimists, and they will not come to you wearing a sign that says what type they are. This is exactly why you market to both groups and look at the results. For example, you may try out a positive and negative marketing approach and see that you are selling 18% more of a particular service or product with the negative advertising approach. At that point, you can safely say you are dealing with a pessimistic audience.
Simple advertising statements are another way to show the separation between the pessimists and optimists. Saying “click here to get massive traffic to YOUR website” and saying “click here to prevent YOUR website from losing money” might sound the same, but the results of clicks and success with each will tell two very different stories. If the positive marketing tactic receives 22% more clicks, then you will want to continue with that marketing tactic.
You can also segment your audience into different groups by analyzing the way they think. For example, you might be pushing a new slogan for your investment niche. When appealing to the younger audience, the goal would be to stress the large profit or ROI. On the other hand, the older audience would be drawn toward the idea of a steady flow of income. It would not be wise to think of the younger audience and older audience as pessimistic or optimistic. It would boil down to getting into their mindset. The older men and women would want to further their wealth and prevent deterioration, and the younger audience would be willing to make some risky investments to get their journey started.
The bottom line is that you will likely come into contact with men and women that are very diverse because of their age and mindset. You need to recognize this and market accordingly. Making two different sales pages for each group might seem like a lot of work at first, but the results are going to encourage a bigger audience and a significant increase in sales.
1. You’re too boring. This is number one because I honestly feel that it is the most common mistake. When you finish your email just read the darn thing. If you find it boring, then you have a problem. Reading anything you write and describing it as boring means the person reading the email would be ready to fall asleep. It might take a lot of work but try to take the boring email and completely redefine it. Make it compelling, interesting, funny, etc… When you master this, the email will manage to embody several of these. It is usually better to just shoot for one.
2. Burying the message: In journalism, the most important or most interesting aspect of an article is referred to as your “lead.” When you write an article and put that “lead” at the end or somewhere other than the top, it is referred to as “burying your lead.” Do not “bury your lead.” Put it as close to the top of the article as you humanly can. By doing this, the reader will continue reading and continue to follow you as you progress through your work.
3. Personalization failure. If you have received an email saying “Dear _______ “ then you know exactly what this feels like. Each and every email you make for an important client should be directly tailored toward them. Showing your interest in them invites them to do the same.
4. All the solicitation emails. Perhaps the most frustrating thing in the world is to constantly receive emails telling you to buy the same product or purchase a product that has no special deal attached to it. Never do this to your clients. Send them interesting emails, emails that tell them about current deals, or emails telling them about things to come in the future. Sending them solicitation emails will annoy them and make them feel that you are only after their money.
5. Stating the obvious: You are wasting your time when you send out an email that includes basic knowledge that everyone on your list or in your niche already knows. It is fine if it is going somewhere or pointing them to some elaborate point, but reading boring information they already know is likely to frustrate them and encourage them to delete the message.
6. Not being precise: Connecting several points in an email and putting them together to spark interest and promote excitement from the reader is fine, but when it comes to selling the opposite is true. Do not try to push two separate products in the same email. Each product deserves its space and description so pushing them together can be more trouble than it’s worth. More importantly, it creates an unneeded battle in the reader’s head as to which product they need more or which product they deserve at this point in time.
7. The wrong time vs. the right time: It is always a good idea to explore the responses you receive at different times. For example, you might send an email every Thursday at 9:00 a.m. and receive very little feedback, while your email at 9:00 p.m the same day gets tons of feedback. The amount of feedback depends on your audience, and you will only find the perfect time when you gradually shift from hour to hour.
8. Inspire some action. A huge problem for any business comes when they fail to encourage an action based response from their audience. For example, saying “click here” to “learn more” is like telling someone to act for an unknown reason. Saying “click here to fix the problem” is better than using the words “learn more.” The goal is to make sure they know what they are getting when they click.
