Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a smartwatch. Today, we will answer the following question: “how do I convince people to buy my products?”
Convincing people to buy: where do you begin?
Convincing people to buy your product takes many steps. At the foundation of the process, you have to know what your marketing strategy is. What are you selling, who are you selling it to, and what are your goals?
Step 1 is the most important: create a good or sell a service with excellent Product-Market Fit (PMF). If you sell something with great PMF, you can be forgiven for many mistakes in your marketing plan.
There are two parts to this. First, you must know your target audience. Who are they and what do they like? How do they make decisions?
Next, you have to understand your audience’s needs deeply. Make sure your product or service is meeting those needs.
You have to get this right before you promote your products, reach out to people in the industry, seek reviews, raise funding, or run ads. If you’re not sure, start small and fine-tune your product or service until you achieve great PMF.
What Are Really You Selling?
There is an old cliché in marketing that still rings true. Customers want ¼-inch holes, not ¼-inch drills.
Know your product and all it has to offer. Marketing is most successful when you are conveying the true value and worth of your product to your audience. Remember: this is value as your customers see it, not as you see it. Think about their needs first!
Once you understand why your product or service pleases your customer, everything else becomes easier. When you promote your good or service, people will pay attention because it’s relevant. Reviewers will look upon your good or service favorably. Raising funds becomes easier.
When in doubt, remember four rules:
- Make the product or service valuable to your customer based on their needs.
- Find simple ways to show them that you’re meeting their needs.
- Let them know you can meet their needs by promoting yourself in media they read or in places they hang out in.
- Follow the social norms of the places you enter.
Where do I meet my audience, and what do I say?
We covered #1 and #2 above. Now let’s focus on #3 and #4. There is a wealth of channels you can choose from to market on. Even considering social media alone, there is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and much more.
The point is, there is a channel that does almost anything you are looking for. There is a subcommunity for nearly anything you can imagine. Tap into those platforms. Work your way into those subcommunities. If you make board games, get on Board Game Geek. If you make books, get on Goodreads. Lurk on the communities first, then become a member and get to know people.
Still not sure how to promote your work and convince people to buy? When in doubt, show your product or service in action. If it’s really all it’s made out to be, at least a few customers will take notice. That’s often all you need to get things to snowball from there. Word-of-mouth is powerful like that.
Final Thoughts
Convincing people to buy your products is hard. There is no way to hide that. There is no one size fits all solution.
While it is hard, it is NOT impossible. A few simple principles apply to every industry. Always think about the customer and their wants. Pick your target audience carefully. Test your product or service on a small scale.
Once that works? Find out where your target audience hangs out and what media they consume. Work your way into the community. Take your time!
More so than anything else, trust that the product you are selling has value and is special – because it is!
