The Why Behind the What

Have you been struggling with sales and not sure what is missing? Is your product design and execution off the charts, but you just can’t seem to elevate the stats like you feel you should? While your product may not need any more work, maybe your representation of it does.

As humans, we are driven by emotions. Set aside your profession for a moment, and think of yourself as what you are first and foremost — a consumer. When we search the market for a product to fit our needs or wants, we have a lot of options, and quite frankly, they all tend to blur together after a while. For example, think about if you are on the hunt for the PERFECT frying pan. Just the right size, an aesthetic that fits with the theme of your already-purchased cookware, non-stick so you don’t have to worry about your delicious food sticking to the beautiful finish — there are probably millions of perfectly good frying pans on the market that will check all of those boxes for you. But, you only need one, so how do you choose?

Branding incorporates a mix of psychology and science both, to appeal to our emotions and make us, as consumers, connect with the  message being portrayed. When we see a brand for what it truly is, we see a story behind the product. When we hear the story of why the item sitting in front of you came to be, we are compelled to admire it even more.

Back to the frying pan example; you find two pans that check all the boxes on your list, but one costs a significant amount less than the other. However, the more pricey one is from a brand that you know is ran by a single mother who started from nothing and created this amazing, non-stick frying pan perfect for all your cooking needs in her own kitchen against all odds, and now she has a show on Food Network that you watch religiously each Tuesday night. Which one would you choose to purchase?

If you don’t focus on communicating the story behind your product, you rely solely on selling your product’s features. The problem with this is that no matter how amazing your product is or how many special features your product has opposed to your competitors’, if they have the lower price — they will sell. The only exception being that you sell your story alongside your product. Consumers buy based on lowest price OR impact of the brand. Products have life cycles, but brands will always outlive products.

So, now you may be asking — how exactly do I sell my story alongside my product? For this, you have a few different avenues to choose from. Share one or all of these to relate to your buyers on a whole new level that will keep them interested in your brand for much longer than ever before.

1. Inspiration behind the product:

Showcase why you created this product and why you think it is necessary to your consumers. Does it fill a void in the market place? Did you have a problem with no product as the solution, so you decided to create it yourself? Was there an “aha” moment that made you realize this product could change buyers’ lives?

2. Process of Creating:

Present the story of the product itself, from inspiration to creation all the way to the current state of selling. Start with your personal story and what caused the seed to be planted in your mind that this idea was necessary to our marketplace. Then, tell about the creation process — people who care about quality, care about the process. Sharing how a product came about will give the consumers a personal insight to what they are buying. They will see themselves in the story as well as picture themselves using the product in their own life.

3. Why it can help the consumer:

At the end of the day, it all comes down to how you can help make your buyer’s life a little bit easier or more enjoyable. Portray this by showing how the product has done that in your own life. By sharing why this product is amazing for you, you will convey that it will be just as amazing for them, and they won’t be able to live without it. By using the story behind the item to do this, it will subconsciously force consumers to put themselves in your shoes and relate to the product on a whole new level.

Ultimately, consumers will digest a higher price if they are moved by the story behind the product. By implementing this strategy into your brand, they will relate more to your product on a personal level, thus creating more of a need to buy from you rather than your competitors.

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