There’s a potential analysis trap brewing as businesses see decent sales / revenue performance to start the year.
Highly likely this is pull-forward spending as consumers try to beat tariffs.
Embrace the boring stuff.
Internally, people usually want to do the flashy, exciting stuff. But boring keeps the lights on (and typically has a longer shelf life).
Externally, what’s boring to you is interesting to others. Because they aren’t in it every day like you are. Your boring is the hook.
Maslowvian marketing
“Human beings,” writes [Drew Eric] Whitman, “are biologically programmed with the following eight desires…”
- Survival, enjoyment of life, life extension.
- Enjoyment of food and beverages.
- Freedom from fear, pain, and danger.
- Physical companionship.
- Comfortable living conditions.
- To be superior, winning, keeping up with the Joneses.
- Care and protection of loved ones.
- Social approval.
By creating ads that appeal to these things, you are tapping into Mother Nature, harnessing the power of our inborn motivators to compel and sell.
via Very Good Copy
Trust boosts purchase potential. And transparency boosts trust.
I love this example from the Nudge newsletter:
This is especially true in food, but sectors have opportunities.
Peel back an element of your sector people assume the worst about, are suspicious of, or want made clearer.
Buyers are willing to pay more for things sellers are willing to charge less for.
Why?
Because the seller enjoys making it.
From the abstract for the paper Production enjoyment asymmetrically impacts buyers’ willingness to pay and sellers’ willingness to charge:
Buyers are willing to pay a higher price, are more likely to click on ads, and are more likely to choose a product or service when the seller signals that they enjoy producing it.
In contrast, sellers are willing to accept lower prices, and actually charge less, for products and services they enjoy producing.
Both buyers and sellers make the inference that production enjoyment leads to higher quality products/services, but only buyers rely on this inference when forming their pricing judgments relative to sellers.
Pricing is hard. The fulcrum is value.