Marketing: How many times has it happened to you that you have wish listed a product on Flipkart or Amazon and thinking whether you should buy it or not and then suddenly one day you see that a special offer is running on that product only for today?
Also, below there is written, “Hurry! Only 2 left in stock”. And so without delaying any further you decided to place the order immediately. And then after a few days of buying the product, you think “I had placed the order in a hurry.
Weapons to Boost Your Branding and Marketing
I should have to wait for few more days”. If something similar had happened to you then congratulations you had become the victim of scarcity weapon. The scarcity principle says that when the supply of a product becomes limited or rare then its value in the eyes of the consumers automatically gets increased.
This is the reason now the mobile phone companies are selling the newly launched mobile phone only on flash sale. Because by selling through the only flash sale they are creating an artificial scarcity in the mind of the consumers. As a result, their sale is getting increased by many times.
Someone who was thinking of buying a phone after 1 or 3 months, he is now thinking “No one knows when the next flash sale will come. How long will I wait? Let’s buy it now.” This scarcity principle is not only applicable to marketing but also to our personal life.
If you remain available 24 hours for someone then to that person the value of getting your company will be reduced day by day. But if you remain available for a limited time then the value of getting your company will be increased.
This is the reason, celebrities always fix a time duration before attending any interview or shows. So that people perceive getting their company more and more valuable. So to influence someone tries to develop a sense of scarcity in him.
For example, do you want to have someone as your life partner? Then try to build an image of you in her mind so that she believes she has to regret if she says no to you. Or do you want to sell some product to someone? Try to add terms like limited time offer or limited edition to create a sense of scarcity in the mind of your customer.
So, Influence weapon 4: ScarcityAre you looking for influence weapons 1,2, and 3? Now let’s move on to the next influence weapon.
When everyone around you is using a particular company's mobile phone then it is natural that if you buy a phone you will also want to buy that company’s phone. This is called social proof. What everyone around us does, we think that's the right thing to do and so we also do the same thing. Before placing an order on Flipkart or Amazon, you may also check reviews and ratings, “Let me see what other people have said before placing the order”.
Now the truth is many times these reviews and ratings are used to be fake. The seller hires someone to post fake reviews and ratings.
And believing that fake review is genuine you fall into the trap of social proof weapon. To understand the influencing power of social proof researchers conducted an experiment.
An old person sitting on a bench in the middleof a park suddenly started acting as if he was having a heart attack and cried indefinitelyfor help. It was being observed in that situation at first people started looking at each other and then because no one went forward for helping that old man, no one else went forward.
Then they went to another park and did the same experiment again. But this time the old man instead of indefinitelycrying for help, pointed to a particular person and said “Sir, you with the blue tshirt,please take me to the hospital. I think I am having an heart attack”. When the old man definitely asked someonefor help then as that person came forward to help, along with him others also came forward.
So when we become confuse about what we shoulddo in a strange situation then we look for social proof, that is what others are doing. And then we act accordingly. Using this tendency of us, marketers makeus victims of social proof weapons. So, influence weapon 5: Social proofYou may have noticed nowadays many chips or lipstick companies encourages their customersto take a selfie with their products and post it on their social media account with someparticular hashtag to participate in some competition and win a handsome prize money.
So, why are these companies running on thesecompetitions with such a large amount of prize money? Because it is an excellent marketing strategy. In this way the companies are hitting twotargets with one arrow. First of all when you take a selfie and postit on your social media account with some hashtag like “I love this xyz” then itworks as a social proof for all your social media friends and followers.
And secondly after you declare it to the wholeworld posting on your social media account that xyz is your favourite product then toremain consistent with what you have said you will continue to use that xyz product. So that no one can accuse you saying, “Hey! Haven’t you posted on social media thatxyz is your favourite lipstick? Then why are you using abc lipstick now? Did you lie on social media?”. We all want to be consistent with what wesay. Because those who say something and do otherthings, are called fraud by the society. And we don’t liked to be called fraud. Using this human psychology, marketers makeus victim of consistency weapon.
So, influence weapon 6: Consistency So now if I sum up this whole then toinfluence someone you can use these 3 influence weapon
4. Scarcity: The supply of the product is limitedor rare, by creating such perception in the customer’s mind, influence him to buy theproduct.
5. Social proof: Everyone around is using the product and all of them are praising it, by creating such perception in the customers mind, influence him to buy the product.
6. Consistency: Make the customer declare to his friends and family that it is her favourite product so that to be consistent with what she said, she continues to use the product. I have learned these things from the book“Influence” by Robert Cialdini. If you are interested in this topic, you can buy this book by following the link given below in the description. Now, I would like to thank one of our highest donors, Dr Jaideep and Dr Pema Namgyal Sherpa. Wish you all the very best.
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