A while back, I was sitting at my computer with my finger poised over the Buy button for a copywriting course that cost $997.
Should I go for it? That was a lot of money for a single online course.
Or should I go with one of the other courses that I had researched on a similar topic? Both of my other options cost significantly less and were from reputable companies.
…
…
I took a deep breath…
And hit the Buy button for the $997 course.
Now, I won’t go into any detail about what all the courses included, because to be honest, none of that really mattered in my decision.
In fact, my decision to buy the high-priced course wasn’t logical at all. It came down to two things.
What were those two things?
Well, it turns out that there are two well-known marketing principles that came into play in my decision (and you better believe they impact your buying decisions, as well)–and even though, as a marketer myself, I’m well aware of these principles, it still didn’t matter. I bought anyway.
The first principle is this:
“People buy from other people that they Know, Like, and Trust” (otherwise known as the Know-Like-Trust (or KLT) Factor.
You see, I’ve bought multiple courses from the guy who sold the $997 course. I know his work, I like what I know about him personally, and I trusted that his course would deliver.
All of which gave me a feeling in my gut that I could safely take the leap and buy the more expensive course.
And that leads me to the second principle:
“People buy emotionally, then justify their purchases logically.”
IF I had gone through all the pros and cons of each of my options logically, made a chart, and compared all the features of each program related to the price to determine its value, I might have chosen a different course to buy.
But I didn’t do any of those things.
Why? Because I Know, Like, and Trust the guy with the $997 course, so I acted on my gut (that is, emotionally), and then after the fact, I justified my purchase with all kinds of logic to prove to myself that it was the right decision (and it turns out it was the right decision, as it was a great course).
That’s just how the human brain works.
Now, you may be wondering what the point of this little story is.
Well, as you know, I’ve been writing in my recent posts about the importance of content creation for growing your business.
And one of the biggest reasons that putting out a bunch of high quality, free content for your audience grows your business is that it turns the Know-Like-Trust Factor up to 11 (random This is Spinal Tap reference).
So, how can you put the KLT Factor to work in your own consulting business?
I’ll break it down for you across three posts. For today, let’s just look at “Know.”
How do you get your ideal audience to know you?
Well, it’s pretty simple. As I’ve been saying, the key is to show up frequently and consistently in their world (their inbox, their social media feeds, etc.).
The guy who sold me the $997 course? He’s someone I get emails from every day. Every single day, no matter what, this guy shows up in my inbox.
And the more emails I read from him, the better I feel like I know him.
So, when I’m presented with three options for an online course on a topic I’m interested in, and one option is this guy and the other two options, while clearly credible, are from people I don’t know as well, then my emotional response is to automatically lean in the direction of the guy I know best.
And that’s my tip for today…
Find one marketing channel (email, social media platform, blog, podcast, YouTube channel, whatever) and turn up the frequency and consistency. Get your smiling face all up in your audience’s face as often as possible.
And when you have something to offer them, and it comes down to a choice of buying from you or some competitor, they’re going to buy from you because they know you.
To Your Success,
Willy
P.S.–While all the various content platforms have their advantages, there’s one that’s head and shoulders above the rest: your own in-house email list.
If someone’s on your list, it’s easy to get your message in front of them. You just write an email and hit Send. The chances are much higher that they’ll open your email and read what you have to say than it is that they’ll see your social posts, which disappear faster than a snowball in a toaster oven.
What’s that, you say? You don’t HAVE an in-house email list? No bueno!
If you’d like to explore how we can help you create your very own lead-generation process to build a highly-responsive email list, just reach out. We’d love to help!
