Growing a small business requires good marketing offered on the proper channels and targeting the correct audience. Of course, you know that content is vital for your digital marketing. You have probably also admired the hype caused by avatar marketing, NFTs, virtual reality, and AI marketing technologies. These significant innovations are incredible weapons in the marketing arsenal, but small businesses cannot afford to implement most of them.
However, logic says that marketing still boils down to one crucial element, psychology. This is where the secret of the next big thing in small business marketing lies. And when using psychology in your small business marketing, you need to know what consumer psychology entails and how it has evolved.
Updated Thoughts on Consumer Psychology
Consumer psychology relates to how customers think, react, and behave towards your products when shopping. So whether you aim your small business marketing at securing leads or getting sales, your goal is to influence their decisions. You can only do that by fully comprehending how your customers think.
Some everyday decisions based on consumer psychology have been around for ages, including discount pricing strategies and product placements. However, as consumers change, not all forms of consumer psychology are still influential today, so here are a few things to keep in mind.
Information Overload and Brands
Searching for information today is easier than ever. However, according to studies, consumers have difficulty making decisions despite the convenience because of excessive availability and freedom to choose.
One problem with information overload is that consumers often choose not to engage with a brand or develop a negative impression of it. Therefore, when planning your small business marketing efforts, provide your audience with short and clear videos and content that includes infographics that make it easier for them to choose the correct product/s.
Don’t Give Consumers Room for Toxic Comments
Since some users use generic user names, it has become easier for them to provide impulsive, scathing, and negative reviews that can damage your brand. Therefore, you need referral marketing, ensuring that your happy customers get you high-quality leads by spreading the word about your small business; you want to prevent unpleasant comments.
There is a way to avoid the problem: to introduce several decision points in the customer journey, ensuring they take more rational actions and making them less impulsive. One such decision point is including a specialized review section on your website where they need to fill in their details before answering specific questions about their experience with your service or product.
Social Conformity and Its Advantage
More prominent brands like The Body Shop use social conformity to market their products, allowing third parties to air their point of view with user-generated content. Social approval works well with social media and allows your small business to use it for marketing while giving your consumers their moment of fame. Therefore, think about asking your happy customers to post about your offerings online and watch how others start to take notice of your small business.
Another aspect of social conformity that will continue to remain huge is influencer marketing. Influencers already have a vast and engaged audience. However, your small business doesn’t need to aim for celebrity influencers because micro-influencers are just as good. Their advantages are that they have often found a niche in the industry and are considered “normal folk” by your consumers.
Fast-Paced Content
The average online consumer attention span has diminished with time and is currently at 8 seconds, four seconds less than the previous decade. Therefore, you must present your audience with fast-paced and visually appealing video content to ensure you grab their attention.
Make sure you do this by making video information simple and easy to digest, using engaging music, and basing them on trending content on things that your audiences care for. Additionally, videos with human faces get more views.
Empowered Consumers Want Socially Sensitive Brands
One study on modern consumers found that when brands don’t act as their consumers expect on social issues, they don’t think twice before expressing their dissatisfaction online. Therefore, since your consumers are investing time and effort in your brand, you need to work on the human side of your business by positioning yourself wisely on issues. Therefore, make an effort and gain consumer loyalty by quickly responding to issues and global trends; otherwise, your empowered customers will not think twice about preferring the competition.
Bottom Line
Psychology is the next big thing in marketing your small business right now since it allows you to tap into human nature to create successful marketing efforts. Your small business can gain a lot by combining new technology, traditional SEO, and consumer psychology to achieve the ultimate marketing advantage.
Digital marketing is not just about creating attractive ads; it’s also about understanding consumer behavior and using it to your advantage. Therefore, to stay ahead of the curve, you need to focus on psychology and use it to market your small business better.
What is the average attention span of an online consumer?
The average attention span of an online consumer is 8 seconds.
What is social conformity?
Social conformity is when people conform to the norms and values of a group or society.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is when brands use people with a large following to promote their products or services.
What are some of the advantages of using psychology in marketing?
Some of the advantages of using psychology in marketing include understanding consumer behavior better and using it to your advantage. Additionally, it can help make your marketing efforts more successful.
What are some paid options to quickly test marketing messages?
Get a Google Ads Agency to create ads around the messaging or to modify your existing campaign. Google Ads is the only paid advertising platform that allows small businesses to target customers precisely and granularly. You can create campaigns based on location, devices used, age of users, interests, etc., which means you reach more people for less money than other marketing methods. In addition, Google Ads offers many A/B testing options, reports on user behavior, and the ability to adjust campaigns for better results. Be sure to optimize keywords and bids to get more from your budget. Native advertising (Taboola, Outbrain, Dianomi, and others) is also a good option.