There are multiple factors to consider when considering your ability to influence a customer as a marketer. These four factors are: motivational, demographical, behavioral and attitudinal.
To help break down these factors, let’s use an example relevant for us as marketers in higher education. Some of you may very well be tasked with increasing revenue from textbooks. Here’s how each of these factors can help us be more effective.
Motivational
This factor focuses on the “why” behind the purchase. This is the easy one for us. We know that students are likely purchasing textbooks because they are required for their courses.
Taking this further, though, we should consider the value we can create in buying from a campus bookstore instead of a third party like Chegg or Amazon. It could be price, convenience or the guarantee that the student is in fact purchasing the right textbook and not an outdated version.
Once the benefits of buying on campus are identified, they can be used to better inform your strategy.
Demographical
This factor is pretty self explanatory. While it’s easy to assume that our students fit into one general demographic, it’s important to consider all students. Having this information is crucial to informing a strategy because an 18 year-old is not the same as someone in their mid-30s.
Behavioral
Not all customers behave the same. Some students may be more likely to purchase optional textbooks than others. It could be that students in one discipline are more likely to purchase these resources than others.
It’s information like this that will help you determine how much effort to spend in marketing those optional resources to the right students.
It’s also important to consider how students are purchasing textbooks. Is this happening in person? Through a website? On an app? Are students more likely to rent than purchase? These are all behavioral factors worth identifying.
Attitudinal
Attitudes are also an important factor. Some students may be more open to a shopping experience than others. We need to identify and segment these individuals to be as effective as possible when developing our strategy.
Overall, this holistic approach to evaluating factors in our ability to influence will make us more able to effectively influence. There may be more than just these four factors, but as noted in The Platform Marketer, this is a good place to start.
If you have the time, I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of the book and check out the resources available on the authors’ website.
Do you already employ these factors when considering your strategy’s ability to influence? I want to know how it has worked for you. Share your experience in the comments below.
Also make sure to check out last week’s post , where we covered IMC, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter before you go!