Understanding Psychological Marketing Tactics

| by Daiv Russell | February 22, 2008
Abraham Maslow presented a theory that ordinates wants and desires in a comprehensive, consecutive, arrangement. According to Maslow, a person's desires develop from the lower order desires, such as feeling safe, to the higher order desires, such as a sense of belonging and feeling loved. After these desires are developed and fulfilled, a person begins to desire esteem and self-actualization. The higher order wants only begin to develop after the lower order wants, like the physiological needs for food and shelter, are satisfied.

When we understand that markets, as a whole, with common human emotional tendencies, act like individuals whom that market represents, we can examine markets and trends in the same way we would examine an individual. The most appealing aspect of Maslow's theory of needs is that it can be applied by proxy to an entire market.

Advances in communication technologies play out against high odds and it is easy to trace how it can come to be. In a market, necessities together are evident to all the members of the market. An evaluation and counting of necessities can be made by a governmental organization reflecting the people's desires. People can tell everyone their wants and desires in an elected government. In a democracy, people's desires and wants are articulated by proxy when voters elect a representative with very similar thoughts.

The need for survival is the core of Maslow's hierarchy and therefore the military usually reaps a good deal of taxed proceeds. This is because they are the arm of society that is given the power to physically enforce survival. A like example would be in towns where fighting fires is typically a shared expense; those areas are more efficiently endowed.

If you go further into the Hierarchy of needs, you will notice that after the biological needs are met the next need is safety. This is when an individual's fight or flight will emerge. If you're looking at it from a marketing prospective, during the cold weather a commercial for jackets is the most appropriate. Timing is everything in the marketing aspect of this level. The next level describes relationships as brand recognition.

Consumers are often loyal to companies with which they have had positive experiences. Therefore, if you are working with a company with a stellar reputation for customer care, that aspect of your job is already done. However, when working with a company that has not yet built a reputable foundation for itself, excellent marketing is essential. A seasoned marketing group will work to bolster their sales, attract new customers, and further the relationships with existing customers. When working with a company for the first time, the artist's job will be to express the concepts of the marketing group to satisfy the needs of this client.

The artist can speak to the buyer and build a sense of belonging between the buyer and the product. This will be done by the creation of good and efficient visuals. The first two wants in the hierarchy are universal. The physical necessities and the need to be safe are common for all people. When dealing with the next want, the artist needs to be more creative. Only the buyer can decide what to love. The marketer must make him feel connected to the company, service or product when the marketing machine is put into motion.

Daiv Russell is a marketing and management consultant with Envision Web Promotion. Read more Articles about Small Business Management, learn about Maslow and the Abraham Maslow theory.

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About the Author

Daiv Russell is a Software Engineering Strategist with Envision Software, a software project management and development outsourcing company committed to helping information technology organizations solve problems, increase revenues, and reduce costs by guiding software development teams through project management chaos. Envision publishes Luminary, a monthly software project management newsletter.
DRussell@EnvisionSoftware.com » Read more articles by Daiv Russell
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