Chapter 2: The Power Attractors | Scale Up the Attractiveness of your Products or Services.

The Power Attractors

In chapter two of creating demand for your products or services, we are going to build on top of the demand you’ve begun creating and scale up the attractiveness of your product or service.

Let me really magnetize your marketing efforts.

There are four main factors that affect the effectiveness of your marketing.

They are called power attractors.

To understand how they work, let us do a quick comparison of the power of wants I wrote in chapter one. Unlike the power of wants in chapter one which is embedded in the subconscious mind, the power attractors are much closer to the surface. People can be consciously aware of the power attractors although they may not start to analyze how or why they are affected by them.

Another difference is that the power attractors are primary attributes of your product or service itself or of its marketing rather than something embedded in the brain.

Power attractor #1: Familiarity

Have you ever asked someone what they think of a product or service and they answer by saying “Never heard of it” the person is implying that the product or service or company in question is undesirable or of dubious value and by what measure lack of familiarity.

Conversely, people are naturally attracted to that which they are most familiar with. The reason is twofold. The first familiarity means less risk. Most people harbor a natural aversion to risk most of the time. The more familiar they are with a product, service, company, or person the more comfortable they are with it and thus the risk is reduced.

Secondly, the brain likes to take the easy route with something that is unfamiliar, the client’s brain has to expend time and energy by first making sense of it and then by evaluating it somehow. But its brain has to spend no time or energy processing something he's already familiar with so he instinctively prefers the Familiar over the unfamiliar.
 
Makes sense? hold on a minute, I hear you saying: Aren’t there times when we are attracted to the unfamiliar? Aren’t there times when a consumer is willing to assume some risk? After all, people don't always go back to the same restaurant all the time; they want to try an unfamiliar restaurant once in a while. Likewise, people want to see new movies, meet new people, travel to new places, and adopt a new hairstyle right? Yes but it takes a conscious effort to seek newness and override our fears or step out of our comfort zone whereas it takes no conscious effort to automatically gravitate towards the familiar. 

Familiarity driven by instinctive subconscious desire dominates most of the time.

Here's how to build familiarity: repeat your logo or brand name often there's almost no limit to the number of times your logo or brand name should appear everywhere it can or everywhere budgets can allow. If you have a physical store or office where a customer enters you need to have your logo in prime visibility everywhere. Have your brand or logo impressions everywhere in order to create familiarity with numerous smaller impressions.

For example: On Monday at a new customer you’ve never let us call her Cristal, spends 25 minutes on your online store makes a purchase and leaves also on Monday, a new customer Mark spends 5 minutes in the store makes a purchase and leaves, on Tuesday Mark returns, he spent 5 minutes on your store makes a purchase and leaves and Wednesday Mark returns again for 5 minutes before purchasing and leaving he does the same thing again on Thursday and on Friday. For the week Cristal, has spent 25 minutes in your store, so has Mark, but which one are you most familiar with? Mark’s numerous visits albeit for a short amount of time increased his familiarity level substantially over that of  Cristal.

Power attractor #2: Restraint is the practical application of the less is more theory for example you might want to restrict the availability of your product or service. Restraining availability can increase its perceived value. After all, rare things are more valuable than common things. Some marketers offer a particular product for a limited time only after a certain date it's taken off the market. You can also create demand by restraining availability at the beginning rather than at the end. You promote an upcoming release date for a product that cannot be purchased until then. That's how some marketers create lines of customers anxiously awaiting the hour and minute when the doors open as the product goes on sale.

Be careful about this however, restraining availability on the frontend or the back can be effective but don't restrain accessibility once someone purchases in other words once the customer completes the purchase transaction that gets the product in your hands or the service underway right then and there or as soon as possible. Another way to use restraint is to limit physical space. Think about this, you and your friends are headed for an exciting night in the town and you've narrowed your choice of nightclub down to two. 

The first place is packed with people by 9.30 pm when you arrive. In fact, people are standing in line to get in. The other nightclub across the street has no lines to get in and lots of empty space inside. Which place do you choose? which is more attractive? and on that particular occasion, most people would choose the first place since it appears to be where the action is the second place appears actionless and therefore less desirable.

Now here's the interesting part, both nightclubs had the same number of patrons inside, 200 let us say, why then did the first place appear to be happening and the second place dead because the first place was physically smaller and held only 200 people so it appeared packed. The second place was much larger so the 200 attendees were dispersed throughout and it appeared almost empty. The nightclub that restrained their physical space boosted their appeal.

Think about perfume, I am sure you have noticed that the most expensive and desirable brands come in very small bottles. Space has been restricted to create attractiveness. Prior to the investigation of the microchip in the early 1970s, physically larger products used to be more attractive than smaller products.

Nowadays with electronic devices getting smaller and smaller, as they get ever more powerful, the old larger is better perception has changed. Smaller is now perceived to be powerful, prestigious, and not just electronic items either. Some soft drinks are available in rather smallish eight-ounce cans and ounce for ounce they are a bit more expensive than a twelve-ounce can of the same stuff and the small can sells well.

Can you increase your product's attractiveness by restraining physical space in some way? think creatively and the answer may come.

Power attractor #3: Distance or Proximity in some cases the further away from the customer’s hometown the origin of the product is, the more attractive it is. Which vase would you rather display with pride? the one you brought back from Egypt or the one you bought in the discount store down the street. You can tell a lot about someone by simply observing what beverage they ordered in a restaurant or a bar. If they order an imported beer, they are very pleased with themselves I've noticed. Foreign brewed beers appeal to discriminating tastes or at least the customer wants you to view them that way. The word imported attached to some items can make them immediately more attractive. 

The name Haagen-Dazs makes it sound like the ice cream is imported from outside the United States and that seems to give it an added appeal. However, Haagen-Dazs is made in the United States. I'll let you decide whether that's deceptive or just clever marketing.
 

I'm simply pointing out it works and I can't resist mentioning the expert from afar phenomenon. If you're a consultant or expert of any kind your level of wisdom and therefore your attractiveness, will be perceived by the client to be greater in direct proportion to how far away you are based from the client. 

Another way of putting it, clients have a very difficult time hiring experts that are based in their domestic nation. In other cases, proximity is more attractive, the closer your product's origin to where it's purchased or consumed the more attractive it can be.

A vivid example is with sports teams because people naturally support the team that is geographically closest to them. Say you want your driveway paved, would you rather a company based far far away or one based in your own town?  which would you have the most confidence in? a politician is going to have a very difficult time winning the election if he or she hasn't spent several years living in the jurisdiction in which they seek office. Voters do not want an outsider just to show up and tell them how they live or claim to understand local interests.

Determine whether distance or proximity is an appealing attribute that you can attach to your product, service, or company. Then play it up in your marketing or at least make mention of it.

Power attractor #4: A Good Deal

In chapter one, I mentioned a high price supply status and is therefore attracted to the buyer. Let us review for a moment,  in greater detail, how that can be. A £1,800 suit is more desirable than a £200 suit wouldn't you say?  An £80,000 car is more desirable than a £20,000 car. A £10,000 watch is more desirable than a £19.95 right ? and who would you rather go to, an expensive orthopedic surgeon or a cheap one?

You can see how a high price can be attractive. Buyers are even proud of spending a lot of money on something, don’t we wanna show off our expensive new clothes? expensive house? an expensive car? Don’t we want to brag about that high-dollar decorator who we’ve hired or that budget-busting exotic vacation we just returned from? 

When a customer talks about your product or service to others and uses the word expensive when you're describing it, they may be doing you a favor they're spreading attractiveness, desirability unless they're complaining about something they're unhappy with, we will assume that's not the case because you do a great job of keeping your customers happy being perceived as expensive can be a good thing.

Having said all this about how high prices can be attractive, let's make another observation: isn't it true that consumers are trying to save money and pay as little as possible when they buy things.

Well yes! While we are attracted to expensive things, on one hand, we want to pay as little as possible when purchasing those things on the other hand.

Buyers it turns out, want two opposites at the same time they want to own something expensive and they wanna get a deal or bargain when they make a purchase and I'm not just referring to low-income money-strapped individuals who look for bargains wherever they can get them, multi-millionaires even billionaire's care about what they pay.

Say such a person might spend big for a super expensive yacht but you can bet they expect to drive a hard bargain and get a really good deal on it. No one wants to suffer embarrassment or humiliation for stupidly overpaying. 

Consumers want expensive things and they want a good deal. Is there a way you can exploit this desire? Is there a pricing model that addresses this exact issue?  well there it's called the expensive deal strategy and like everything else I recommend, it's very simple.

Here's how it works: you use a high price to heighten attractiveness yet you sell at a lower price to give the buyer a deal. Car dealers have been using the expensive deal strategy forever it seems. Customers will spend the money to own an expensive vehicle but they expect to get a really good deal price-wise right.

Furniture dealers like the expensive deal strategy and the same mentality hold true that customers will spend a lot of money on top-of-the-line furniture but not unless they get a deal of some kind on the price the expensive deal strategy isn't just for upscale or luxury brands. 

Discounters can use it just as easily, fast food restaurants for example usually have some higher-cost items on the menu. Yet the customer can get a deal by choosing one of those value meals that discount the price when a burger, fries, and drink are purchased as a set.

Here are some guidelines for implementing the expensive deal strategy. For higher ticket items that the consumer buys irregularly, let us say less than once a year, offer the buyer a discount of some kind. Remember your prices can be high that creates desire but you also need to give the buyer a deal that consummates the sale.

For lower ticket items,  which the customer buys with some regularity, let us say more than once a year. Having some kind of discounted option in effect all the time that fast food example from a moment ago where the customer can choose the value meal is a good example and some retailers use an everyday low price model that doesn't require any additional discounting to give the buyer a deal.

Here's another effective way of using the expensive deal strategy. Let the consumer earn the discount, this is an excellent way of offering the customer the deal they want yet it gets you what you want too.

Start by answering this question: What do you want the client to do? Of course, you want them to buy. But besides that, what do you want them to do? For example, you might want the customer to buy a larger quantity or you might want them to pay 100% upfront instead of 90 days after you invoiced them. Or you might want the buyer to make the purchase decision this week instead of sometime down the road. Simply offer specific discounts for each specific behavior you desire you're familiar with quantity discounts I'm sure. 

The buyer spends more in total which is good for you as it elevates your top-line revenue but they get a lower unit price which is a good deal they're looking for. Why not offer your clients a 10% discount off the top, if they choose to pay upfront.  

That's a good saving for them that really helps your cash flow management.

90% in your pocket right now it's probably a lot better than 100% of your pocket whenever they get around to paying you whenever that might be. You might allow the client to earn a discount if they signed a contract before a certain date but be careful about one thing, you don't want to appear desperate for money or overly anxious nor do you want to be guilty of applying too much pressure on the buyer.

Find that sweet spot of time that gently nudges them in making a decision yet doesn't make them sweat. What other things might you want the customer to do if it's something reasonable and a win-win for both parties, devise a discount that the buyer turns when they choose to do it.

Another great way of implementing the expensive deal strategy is to offer package discounts. This is a set or bundle of related but dissimilar items that are sold as one item.

Looking back at the fast-food example one more time, the value meal is a package of dissimilar items that are sold as a unit and a customer gets a discount when they choose it.

Microsoft Office is another example; it's a package composed of different software applications that are sold as one unit. The buyer saves quite a bit of money compared to purchasing each application separately.

Here are four tips for creating effective packages.

First, design your package to include three-four or five items.

If you go over five it becomes too complicated requiring too much thought on the customer’s part. If you have less than three items, one item is not a package and two items are not enough, you will need to be able to promote the package featuring and making it exciting, but you need 3 to 5 items in there.
 
Secondly, make sure the items in your package are all different types of things. The common bond can be a theme like our favourite value meal example. The team is  “launch” yet the items in the package are all different from one another. The value meal doesn't contain free cheeseburgers; it contains one cheeseburger, one sleeve of fries, and one drink.

Here's another example of a really good package containing four items in this case each dissimilar from one another but related by theme. A hardware store near my house offers a gas grill package that includes the grill, assembling of the grill, a full propane tank, and delivery to the customer’s house. 

They sell these packages every spring. By the way, I noticed that two of the four items; the grill and propane tanks are physical products, and the other two items assembly and delivery or services. Products and services go really well together as parts of a package.

The third tip for creating good packages and thereby implementing the expensive deal strategy, make sure that one or possibly two of the items in your package are very high margin items, something that costs you very little compared to its perceived value. 

Back to that value meal example; which item? The burger fries or drink is a very high-margin item. You are right it is the drink. How about the gas grilled package? Which is the very high margin item? it's the assembly. Once someone has assembled one or two grills, they can do any other really fast. One experienced employee can assemble several grills of the time.

In fact, the consumer perceives assembly to be worth a pretty penny since he knows it will take him a good amount of time and a lot of trouble doing it himself. The reason why you want one of your package items to be very high margin is so that the discount you give the buyer or purchasing it doesn't hurt you in fact selling packages at the special deal price helps your finances because one or two of the items in your package are probably things the buyer won’t typically buy as a stand-alone item but they do end up buying it as part of the package.

Stick some high-margin item in there, something the buyer might not otherwise buy, and boost your gross margin every time the package is purchased.

The fourth tip for creating an effective package is to name your package. You make it promotable and you make it easy for the client to buy it. Mcdonalds calls one of their packages the Happy Meal.

Think of how difficult it would be to purchase it if it had no such name. 

Ah yes, I'd like that colour for back there and then a cheeseburger and fries and put a child's toy in there too. Or is it a lot easier just to say: I'd like a Happy Meal. That hardware store with the grill package calls it: “The grillers Delight”.  A heating air conditioning dealer has a package that includes among other things, a complete check-up of the homeowners' central air-conditioning system they named it: “ The Spring Tuneup special”.

I didn't say your package name has to be super creative, clever, or exotic quite often as a simple descriptive name works very well. 

Let's review what we discussed in this chapter, there are four main ways to magnetize your marketing: they're called the power attractors.  

The first of them is familiarity and what that really boils down to is logo or brand name exposure. I want you to think of simple inexpensive ways of doing that.

The second power attractor is restraint, can you shrink the walls either literally or figuratively so that whatever contains your product: a building, tighten up the supply, can you restrict availability either before the product hits the market place or after it has been out there for a  while.

Our third power attractor is distance or proximity. This one may not apply to you but if it does, don't hesitate to promote the fact that your product or service either comes from far away or originates right in the buyer's home.

The fourth power attractor is a good deal. I've offered no way you can make the buyer feel he or she is getting a good deal on the price yet you benefit also in the next chapter, I will discuss how you can put people into decision-making mode which is necessary if you want them to make the buy decision.

Read Chapter 3 - do not forget to share this page with your friends on social media. Bookmark this blog and do not forget to leave a comment. Your feedback really matters. See you you soon :)

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