It hit me the other day while I was working on an inbound marketing plan for a client. There are only really 5 reasons why people buy anything. I’m glad that it’s such a short list because it makes selecting the right marketing approach much easier.
Regardless of how you’re going to reach your target market, you must have a clear understanding of why they would buy what you’re selling. Once you’ve figured this out, then the next step is to narrow in on why they would buy from you.
Let’s take a look at the 5 reasons people buy:
1) To take care of bare necessities – many, if not most, purchases fall in this category. This is your basic food, clothing, shelter, and health that people need in order to survive. The types of food, clothing, and shelter purchased are often influenced by the next two reasons.
2) For enjoyment - this can be for personal enjoyment or to bring joy to others. The experience of buying and the feeling one receives after buying play a large role in this reason why people buy.
3) To impress others - social standing and one’s reputation often determine what people buy. If someone is not buying something for their enjoyment, they are usually buying to impress someone else.
4) To make more money - this is one of the earliest buying behaviors ingrained into people from childhood – “Get a good education so you can get a good job.” When adults say a “good job”, they actually mean “make a lot of money”. Numerous books, courses, and institutions exist for the sole (or implied) purpose of helping people make more money.
5) To find love - it’s human nature to want some form of companionship whether it’s only for sexual gratification or it’s for finding one’s soulmate. For single people, a gap in the love department needs to be filled through dating, online dating, porn, visits to strip clubs, and for some, spending an evening with a “professional”.
Let’s take it further and recognize that these 5 reasons why people buy are actually problems that they’re trying to overcome, and when they encounter your product or service, it’s core message needs to align to help solve one of these 5 problems.
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Do you think there are other reasons why people buy? Let me know in the comments below.
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I think people are driven by the idea of doing good. This is a very important factor in today’s economy. At the same time, companies have become aware of the fact that spending in marketing thru traditional channels no longer delivers results. People are now interested in helping and doing good as well. And for a company to succeed, it needs to address its customers’ interests –> so many contribute a part of their marketing budget to charity as a way to fulfill their customers’ needs. And this is Voucherry. Voucherry, connects cause supporters with excellent service merchants to generate more sales and more contributions. And that make people buy, knowing that with each of their purchases a non profit is helped.
Good point! I think the idea of spending money to do good is a growing reason and some companies have created their entire message around this concept. Think of TOMS, for example.