Human behavior is extraordinarily complex.
And the hardware underlying it, the brain itself, is mind-boggling in its sheer complexity.
There's a reason why “brain surgery” is used colloquially to symbolize something incredibly intellectually demanding.
But at the same time, people can be surprisingly predictable in a lot of ways. If we weren't, psychology as a science wouldn't exist.
As you can imagine, when it comes to marketing, there are quite a few psychological principles you can use to your advantage.
Using psychology in marketing is nothing new, of course. It's been around since the dawn of modern advertising, marketing, and PR, whether or not it was explicitly recognized as such.
In a recent article from Entrepreneur, marketing consultant Amar Hussein talks about how you can use basic principles of human psychology to increase your bottom line.
Two of the biggest ones are reciprocity and social proof. You can read more below.
Tap into reciprocity
As you give away blog posts, articles, podcast episodes, eBooks, webinars and even free trials, you are activating the reciprocity principle with your customers.
When people receive something for free, even when it isn’t particularly valuable, they feel indebted to you and want to return the favor.
As an entrepreneur, you can create something valuable, then give it away and build trust with your customers. The customer responds by joining a mailing list or by buying a product.
Leverage social proof
Have you ever been in a social situation where you didn’t know what the correct course of action was? Of course — we all have.
But what did you do? You likely observed others, then followed suit because you assumed this to be the “correct” behavior in that given situation.
This is known as social proof, which is a form of conformity. Simply Psychology defines conformity as “a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group.”
For example, testimonials and social sharing are 2 amazing ways to utilize social proof.
You can learn more over at Entrepreneur about simple but powerful psychological concepts you can use in your own marketing.
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