Thursday, February 7, 2013

Finding the trigger

By the time someone has hired the competition, or purchased another product, it is too late.  You didn't win their business.  You didn't get the result you wanted.  It may not have been your advertising or that you weren't persuasive enough.  It may have just been your timing.

No event happens in a vacuum.  They are all the result of a cause and reaction.  The cause is the trigger.  The event that sparks action, changes habits, and forms new bonds.  

Target knows that most people are fiercely loyal to their shopping habits.  They always buy electronics at BestBuy, groceries at Sprouts, and household goods from Walmart.  But when a life altering event happens, ie. moving to a new home or having a baby, everything changes.  These events disturb the patterns and habits that we are so loyal to.

Target sees these events as an opportunity.  If your patterns are out of whack, you may just be open to changing them, or at least altering them slightly.  In Target's case, you may be interested in buying electronics, groceries and household goods from them.  

Target realizes that the best time to advertise to someone is when they are going through a life changing event, so, they look for the markers.  If you're about to have a baby, you start to buy things you wouldn't normally buy like diapers and morning sickness lollipops.  This tips Target off to the fact that you may be willing to change your habits in the near future.

If you want more business, you need to have your timing right.  This day and age, by the time someone is ready to buy, they have already made up their mind.  You can compete for their attention by supplying potential buyers with the content they're looking for, or you can start one step further back.  

Identify the triggers that make your potential customers start looking.  Their's nothing like a devastating house fire to get the neighborhood interested in fire insurance.  If you're the first one on the scene, you don't have to compete for attention.

What triggers your customers to buy?

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