How Understanding Psychology Make You More Money

Content marketing is crucial to growing your business online, but your content can’t just be good. It has to connect in order to convert. Connect to what exactly? Psychology.

Before I dive in, I want to make it clear that by soaking up this knowledge, you have the option to use your powers for bad. But I know you. And you’re going to prioritize connection over manipulation, right? Right.

The power of emotion

Emotion influences our behaviors, specifically what we buy. Content that taps into our emotions can be very powerful, but first you have to understand what triggers these emotions. What are their deeper desires? What resonates with them on a deeper level?

Social Proof

Get the idea out of your head that social proof has to be a slimy thing. When you’re buying something online or you’re hiring someone, you want to know it’s legitimate. How do you do this? By making sure other people have been satisfied. I don’t just want to see that you have clients. I want to know how you make your clients feel.

The Power of storytelling (This is where MLMs give marketers a bad rep)

Stories can help you connect with your ideal client on a deeper level, which can lead to an increase in trust and loyalty (and also sales). 

Cognitive Biases:

Cognitive biases are errors in our thinking that can also influence our decision-making. Remember when I said earlier that we need to remember to use our knowledge for good? You’re going to need that mindset here. By understanding common cognitive biases such as confirmation bias, anchoring bias, or scarcity bias, you can create more effective content.

This is probably where you’re familiar with giving someone a sense of urgency or scarcity (or a reason they should buy right NOW). This is a very nuanced conversation; Sometimes it’s okay to have a sense of urgency or scarcity. But there’s also a  slimy way to do it. I’d say the best way to figure out what’s better or slimy is to remember your intention. Did you say that you only want a group of 20 people because you want it to be a tight-knit group? Or did you say that so they know there’s a limited number of seats so they sign up faster? See what I mean? It’s a pretty gray area.

By understanding psychology and human behaviors, of course we can make our marketing more effective, but it also opens the door to causing real harm. Knowledge is power. Remember that.