Many companies have turned to content marketing as a clever way of driving traffic to their site, expanding the business, attracting customers, and boosting sales. However, in order to make your campaigns more persuasive, you need to understand and address the demands of your target audience.
The aim of every experienced marketer is to convert the attitudes of their customers in a way that would benefit their business. The most reliable method of achieving such a goal is to employ the principles of behavioral psychology. Once you understand how they work, it is time for you to focus on 5 basic psychology laws that can take your content marketing from decent to amazing.
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Here, I'm going to discuss with you The Reciprocity Theory, The Social Proof Theory, The Paradox of Choice, The Information Gap Theory and The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.
The Reciprocity Theory
In psychology, the concept of reciprocity is based on a simple principle of returning favors and treating others like they treat us.
Since it is recognized as people’s inclination to feel grateful for someone's positive actions, the Reciprocity Theory is often used in content marketing for building customer loyalty.
Whether your content is in a form of blog posts, articles, infographics, or e-books, it needs to be clear, insightful, and highly informative. You want to provide valuable content to people
By providing high-quality articles that are helpful for the users, they're more likely to pay forward by sharing your article through social media.
In addition, if you're providing resources for your potential customers, it is likely that they will decide to purchase from you in the long-run.
The Social Proof Theory
According to the representatives of OMG SEO Sydney, social proof and content marketing are inseparable allies. The Social Proof Theory proposes that people tend to conform to the actions of the larger social groups they trust. This means that we are unconsciously attracted to products that others have shown a positive reaction towards.
This psychology principle is proven by the study conducted by CompUSA and iPerceptions, which shows about 63% of consumers would rather browse a site that contains product ratings and reviews. This is why businesses should have transparent social sharing and counts that display the number of followers, likes, or shares a particular article has.
Social proof is a key factor in the growth of small-scale businesses. In order to establish the ultimate authority and reputation, you should always share vital data, such as case studies, research, and statistics.
The Paradox of Choice
According to the researchers of Columbia and Stanford University, the freedom of choice is the basis of customer satisfaction. In content marketing, it enables buyers to have full control over their decisions. However, the study goes on to explain that having too many choices can be as difficult as having too few.
Namely, most of the people tested would rather purchase from a limited range of products than from an overly wide range one.
In order to encourage your customers to take further action, you need to keep your content concise and straightforward. It is always recommended that you avoid a multitude of unnecessary options that would result in visitors leaving the site.
Information Gap Theory
The Information Gap Theory is defined as curiosity developed when there is a gap between people’s knowledge and the information they want to acquire.
In content marketing, employing this principle means finding something your target audience would like to know and serving it up on a plate.
This means researching to find out what information and questions your prospects or current customers have regarding your industry or business. Is there a frequently asked question that your customers are trying to get answered? Write a blog for it! Are they looking for a guide to DIY something? Create an eBook for it.
Not only are you writing evergreen and original content for your website, you're filling that information gap as well.
The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, also known as The Frequency of Illusion, plays an important role in content marketing. It's when a person encounters a product for the very first time but then starts to see them everywhere else in real life.
When potential customers come to your website, you want to leave an everlasting impression for them that encourages them to come back. For customers that have already purchased your products, you want to provide content and information to them that will have them remember your brand.
The best way to keep your customers and prospects reminded of your brand is by creating unique articles and sending them targeted emails. You can also create retargeting advertisements as well.
This way, both brand awareness and the possibility of gaining new customers will increase.
In Conclusion
Every company, from world’s largest corporations to small-scale businesses can benefit from the use of behavioral psychology. The laws mentioned above will help you understand the power emotions and attitudes have towards your audience.
By utilizing psychology to trigger action with your content, you will be sure to create unique content that can set your business apart from your competitors.
Have other laws of psychology that works well with content marketing? Share it with us in the comments below!
on
This is the reason why psychologist get the top job in marketing. With new google updates coming up, I fear content marketing will be abused like other link building methods. Rather then building links marketer should aim for user seasons, they will be more helpful
on
Such a good article for business owners! The issue of Paradox of Choice is so important when choosing how much variety will be overwhelming. I personally hate buying from websites that don’t have an easy way to review their products, especially clothing stores where women’s sizing varies so much! I’m always surprised to see sites without this option.
on
This is really interesting! I believe the most powerful law would be the Reciprocity Theory, only because once a customer develops an emotional connection to a company, they tend to become loyal very fast. Customer loyalty is really important. A lot of larger companies that have intense customer loyalty (ex Apple v Android) spark a lot of controversy over their products, giving them a lot more attention, and that’s really powerful.
on
Thanks for the comment Pamela.
I could not agree with you more. But you must keep in mind that company wouldn’t have any impact on the market if their product didn’t offer a REAL VALUE to the consumers.