How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth?: Powerful Lessons In Marketing &
The Psychology Of Selling - Part 4
To read the beginning of this special report, you can download
it here: http://www.trafficstrategiesonsteroids.com/popcorn.pdf
Let's continue to discuss the various marketing principles that
are involved in "popcorn marketing":
4. Engaging the "Senses"
You may already know that people usually buy for 'emotional'
reasons more than 'intellectual' reasons. You can try to sell to
a person by appealing to his intellect i.e. by providing dry
facts. Or, you can sell to him by stirring up / appealing to his
emotions, i.e. by offering him a 'taste' of what the future will
be like when he has your product in his hands. The latter is a
more powerful and effective way to sell.
People buy for emotional reasons. So, what can we use to stir up
their emotions? We engage their 5 senses!
Movie theatres make full use of this strategy by engaging your
sense of smell (using the aroma of freshly popped corn all
around you,) your sense of sight, (situating the popcorn machine
right in the middle of the theatre so it's the first thing you
see, using slides and ads about popcorn on the movie screen
several minutes before the movie starts), and your sense of
taste..or at least the memory of it from your last
popcorn-eating experience. And, of course there's the visual
images of others around you munching on, and enjoying, their own
bag of popcorn.
The bottom line is, the customer can either pay the high prices
or fight the aroma, the visual images, and physical reactions
(drooling) for the next 2 hours.
You can use this strategy for your product as well, by
describing in vivid detail how the product will benefit the
customer. Paint a vivid, graphic picture of what the future will
be like for him after he buys your product. Sell the benefits,
and engage all his senses! Get him drooling over the product
before he has even seen it.
There are many businesses out there who are still trying to sell
their products only by talking about the 'features' of the
products.
That's equivalent to selling popcorn by saying "You will get
approximately 200 pieces, approximately 1/2 inch in diameter,
white on the outside and golden brown on the inside."
It sounds crazy, I know. Yet, this is exactly how most people
sell their products. They focus on the 'features.' Not on the
benefits or 'end results' that the customer is seeking.
If you're selling a fishing rod, don't just give them the
dimensions and physical attributes of the product. Explain to
them how each of those features will benefit them. More
importantly, paint a picture of the satisfaction he'll get out
of holding that big fish, of enjoying the praises of his
companions, of tasting that first bite of his favorite fish,
prepared just the way he likes it, etc.
You're not just selling the fishing rod. You're selling the
'result' the buyer will experience by owning and using that rod.
5. Preselling the Idea
Continuing with the above concept, theatres are using the smell,
sight, and pre-existing memories within the customer to
"presell" the popcorn. The customer may not necessarily be
hungry or even want popcorn before he enters the theatre. But
once that aroma of freshly popped, hot buttered popcorn hits his
nose, and his 'mind', he suddenly 'becomes' hungry for some
popcorn.
Can you use a similar strategy to sell your product? Absolutely.
Before you sell the product, show the customer why that product
is so important and valuable to him?
For example, let's say you're selling home security products.
When you initially approach a customer, he may not be that
interested in spending money on alarms and light sensors, etc.
But