Six Marketing Tactics all Boxed Up: Face Two

As we discussed in the previous blog, one face to the cube of persuasion is the Law of Reciprocity; we like to repay what another person has provided for us. As each face is equally as important and required to box up a sale, the second face to marketing tactics and branding strategy is looking at people’s behaviour patterns or tendencies. You can deliberately shift attitudes and subsequent actions to persuade others to achieve your ends. Or simply recognise when others are using these common sales and marketing techniques on you.

(more…)

Six Marketing Tactics all Boxed Up

The amazing thing about many leading novels is that the psychology of marketing is embedded within almost every facet of life.

Whether it is making friends in the sandpit, or making sense of your partner’s ramblings, marketing tactics and branding strategy are about understanding your goals as well as the objectives of your peers, effectively achieving a mutually beneficial solution. This, essentially, is the process of persuasion.

Like a cube, there are six faces to persuasion, each equally important and all equally needed to box up a sale. In psychologist, Robert Cialdini’s book, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” he discusses the Six Laws of Persuasion. By understanding these laws, you can control how much people influence you, as well as how to use them to your benefit during negotiations – both in the workplace, as well as in personal life.

The First Face to Persuasion is the Law of Reciprocity

Naturally, when human beings are given something, they feel obliged to give something back. We all feel it is right to return favours when they are given to us. Similarly, when Mr. and Mrs. Johnson brought a salad when they are invited over to your last gathering, you may feel the need to arrive at theirs with at least a bottle of wine in hand.

When sponsors give out free drinks at festivals, when you go out for a test drive for a new car, or when a charity gives you a flower, no matter how small a gift may be, these marketing tactics and branding strategy make people feel the need to “return the favour.”

There’s no wonder we hear sayings like “Do unto others as you would have them do to you” or “What goes around, comes around.” It’s about fairness and equality. Give a little to a prospect, and you may end up with a customer.