John Landsberg of Bottom Line Communications writes a monthly marketing column for Small Business Monthly. He also is an adjunct professor of marketing, consumer behavior, sales and public relations at three colleges.
IT'S NOT ALWAYS EASY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT MOTIVATES CONSUMERS KC SMALL BUSINESS MONTHLY BY JOHN LANDSBERG, OCT. 2009 Consumers are funny folks.Not necessarily “funny” as in hilarious, but funny in that they often operate in very strange ways. We have all seen commercials for new drugs on TV. Sometimes they contain so many warnings that it is difficult to determine what the actual drug is supposed to help cure. As an example, the side effects of one common prescription drug notes candidly “may include infection, diarrhea, dry mouth, constipation, decreased appetite, sleepiness, dizziness, sexual side effects, nervousness, tremor, yawning, sweating, weakness or insomnia.” One would think the side effects alone would scare the heck out of most people from ever taking the drug, but millions of folks see those warnings and promptly ask their doctor for the pill. My favorite is the warning on a very popular diet drug. It notes that after taking the drug, “You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom.Until you have a sense of treatment effects, it’s probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work.” Now, I can’t speak for everyone, but as a college instructor I might think twice about taking that diet drug. “Uh, class, I realize that we have only been here for five minutes, but I think it might be a good idea to call it a night….” The product warningsbeg the question: “Who would take this stuff if it can cause all kinds of other problems--- or cause you to soil your pants during an important business meeting?” The answer:Consumers who are desperate to have their needs met.If you have a certain medical condition then just about any new drug on the market will interest you.Overweight folks are desperate and willing to do virtually anything to lose weight.Damn the side effects!! Unfortunately, for most of us small businesses people selling a product or service is not as easy.Getting them to buy our product or service is extremely difficult.And once they become customers it is hard as hell to keep them. Consumers are fickle.One bad experience and they may be lost forever.
Copyright 2010 Bottom Line Communications. BLC is a Media News Web site that analyzes media and marketing issues. Please give credit or link to http://www.bottomlinecom.com when using any materials. Click on the FEEDBACK tab to send any media tips/comments/thoughts to us. We honor all off-the-record requests and will correct/clarify any information found not to be 100% accurate.
