The Open Source Marketer

In Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, he talks about all the many ways that we influence and are influenced by others. It is this psychology of influence that allows both offline and online marketers to sell products and services.

If you have not read Cialdini’s book I highly recommend it. I am about half way through it myself and I find myself amazed at how effective the psychological triggers can be and true to life his examples are.

In fact I can honestly say that his book saved me thousands of dollars when I bought my car this year. It was his examples and teachings that helped me to identify many of the sales triggers that are used by car dealers and even financial lending institutions. You can ready all about my experience in my post, how to automate an up sell and a cross sell. I detail all the different ways that the financial lender used to try and sell me more than just my car loan.

Another fantastic example of how big companies use psychological influence, or triggers to attract and retain buyers is the video below by Bryant Simon from Temple University. I the video Bryant give several examples where Starbucks uses the implied association to transfer certain feeling from object and concepts onto the customer so they will feel a sense of belonging, status, and social responsibility. This is a very thought provoking 17 minute video and one that will teach you some of what Cialdini covers extensively in his book.

Think about it,

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com