How to Inspire People to Action

Great marketing has a way of breaking through the noise to captivate, motivate and inspire people to action.

It’s been said that you see over 5,000 advertising messages every single day. But if you tried to count each one, you would never get to that number. That’s because your brain is really good at tuning out any and every message that is not relevant to you.

So how do you break through the noise and get noticed? Or better yet, how can you drive action with your marketing and advertising?

Simon Sinek says there are only two ways to influence human behavior. You can manipulate people or inspire them.

Manipulation might be a scary word, but you are being manipulated by advertising and media every day (if you’re tuning in). Examples include FOMO (fear of missing out), price drops and peer pressure.

When it comes to products/services, Sinek (in his book “Start with Why”) says, “Manipulations work.”

But manipulation is only temporary. It doesn’t breed customer loyalty.

If you’re looking to build a sustainable, repeatable business model, then you should ditch the manipulation and look to inspire people to action.

There are four steps to inspiring people to action. But first, you have to make sure you’re in it for the right reasons.

Unlike the salesman who brags he can sell ice to an eskimo, you have to believe that your product or service truly makes your customers’ lives better. If this is the case, then your job is to seek out all of the people in the world whose lives will be made better by your product or service, then introduce it to them.

Your words, messages and advertising placements are how you connect with the people who need your product or service. Yours is a very important job.

4 Steps to Inspire People to Action with Marketing and Advertising

1. Understand (Then Connect) Your Brand’s Purpose to the Purpose of Your Customers

A professional copywriter may spruce up your mission statement, but if when the branding project is finished, you forget all about it, then it’s not going to help you at all.

Great branding and marketing connects with people where they are. The best advertisements don’t tell the brand’s story. They communicate the customer’s story, everyday experiences and challenges (and they do so on a human level).

In order to get this right, you have to understand how your purpose connects to your customers, then you have to make that connection in everything you do.

2. Shape Your Purpose-Driven Message

Once you understand how your purpose connects to your customers, then you need to shape this message in a way that speaks to that connection.

A data-driven marketing process might make you forget that your customers are real human beings with real struggles and real goals.

Your message should communicate how your product/service can take them to where they are to where they want to be.

3. Produce High-Quality Creative and Collateral

Face it, poorly designed or outdated sales collateral is a bad business decision. Rather than working to help your team close more sales, it works against them by eroding your brand’s credibility.

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to understand that poor design negatively affects outcomes.

Invest the time and money necessary to develop creative assets that help you share your story and connect your purpose to your customers in a visually compelling way.

4. Distribute Your Message in the Right Places

“If you build it and they will come” is only true in the movies. Customers aren’t going to just magically appear on your website or at your front door.

But if you know your customers inside and out, then you should know where they are online. Whether it’s a website, a Facebook group or a series of search terms in Google search, if you know where to find them, then you know where to distribute your purpose-driven message.

Don’t waste your time and money blasting your message to people who will never be your customers. Invest in learning how to locate your prime customers online, then go to where they are with an offer they can’t refuse.

The #WeAreSlam Show is a digital marketing podcast where you’ll learn marketing trends, best practices, and ideas to help your business or brand grow.

Created and produced by SLAM! Agency, the show exists to help marketing professionals, directors, and executives grow their brands and reach their customers in a more effective way. The #WeAreSlam Show is released weekly and featured on all popular podcast and video networks.

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