This exercise is inspired by Randy Ingermanson, an author, speaker and teacher, who operates the largest fiction-writing e-zines out there. He suggested this for authors to better understand what motivates their readers to purchase something.
I pose this same question to you no matter what your product.
Pick the last three purchases you made (excluding necessities or food.) What motivated you to hit “buy” or swipe the card in the store?
Start at the beginning of the process:
– I needed shoes for riding my bicycle that wouldn’t get torn up by the gears. I choose to go to DSW because of the store’s reputation, visibility online and friend’s recommendations. I found suitable shoes (didn’t recognize the brand, but trusted the vendor, DSW, to sell a quality product.) I purchased them in the store.
– Go through this for three purchases and see if there are similarities: brand recognition? trust? email visibility? friend’s recommendations?
Now consider how best to apply this to your own business. Do you need more word-of-mouth marketing? Perhaps we start an ambassador program to reward those loyal customers who do spread the word. Do you need to start an email newsletter to promote products? Do you need to start some Facebook advertising to increase visibility?