David LaBonte came up with the concept of his book, “Shiny Objects Marketing,” while listening to a speaker drone on about a complex marketing theory.
“I thought, ‘Come on! It’s simpler than that,” says LaBonte, whose book launched a company of the same name, where he serves as Chief Strategic Officer. “Make your brand a shiny object, and you’ll sell truckloads.”
In the book, published by Wiley and Sons, LaBonte explains how to make any product, service or brand irresistible to customers. In this article I wrote for Smart Business magazine, LaBonte shared five secrets for attracting customers by turning your brand into a shiny object.
Read my original article as it appeared in Smart Business, or keep reading for my key takeaways below.
1. Capture customer attention. This is the main objective of shiny objects, but it’s more than just a “casual distraction.” To create brands that stop consumers in their tracks, “you must present the shiny object in its best light,” LaBonte says. “This requires excellent design, constant attention, appearances where your customers will see it and a clear, concise message.”
2. Create curiosity. Once you have their attention, keep it. You might do this through humor, fear, probing questions, provocative statements, tantalizing sneak peeks or alluring challenges, LaBonte suggests.
3. Stimulate an urge. Next, you need to convince consumers to actually try your product by offering samples, demos, seminars, free trials – or perhaps just an offer they can’t refuse.
4. Activate emotion. In the end, emotion is what sells, so your brand needs to elicit a response from consumers. “Every purchase, no matter how technical or rational it may seem, has an emotional factor,” LaBonte says. You just have to find the right triggers.
5. Demand ownership. Ultimately, you don’t just want to sell your product; you want to create a relationship so strong between your customer and your product that they own it. Some methods for building this relationship include:
- Consistently exceed your promises
- Create a sense of immediacy
- Make it emotionally difficult to leave your product
- Provide uncommon courtesy
- Sweat the small stuff
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