“Let’s consider the three fundamental behaviours of human beings:
1. We chase that which moves away from us.
2. We want what we cannot have.
3. We only place value on things that are difficult to obtain.”
~ Oren Klaff
There is no denying that the concept of magnetic marketing (also known as inbound or attraction marketing) works. As business owners we all know the difference between standing in front of a person who really, truly, needs and wants what we are offering, and a person who is indifferent to our product or service. As a marketing consultant and copywriter I’ve worked with many entrepreneurial business owners whose businesses have been transformed when their ideal clients started calling them, rather than the other way around (which is the essence of direct response).
My question then became…
WHY is Magnetic Marketing So Effective?
Oren certainly didn’t do all the research that proves those three fundamental human behaviours himself, but he stated them very succinctly.
Magnetic marketing relies on those three human qualities to draw clients who actually want the solutions we offer into our orbit and to repel people who are not a good fit. Imagine the difference this would make in your business as we look at how this worked out for a client whom I’ll call Sarah.
Sarah is a nutritionist whose target audience is men and women who want a tailored, highly nutritious eating program that works for their time and lifestyle commitments, health and fitness goals, and preferred eating style. When she started her business she was doing most of her week through GP referrals and she discovered that just as clients started to get results their Medicare or health insurance benefits ran out and they stopped coming to see her. She was continually getting people started on the journey, but only a small proportion were pursuing the journey.
Together we applied the psychology outlined above, and here’s what happened…
We Chase That Which Moves Away From Us
Sarah did two things to increase the desirability of her services:
- She created a program specifically for people who were only committed as long as their nutrition journey was supported or who just wanted someone to get started. Now she has outsourced this aspect to an employee;
- She created a survey to discover prospects health and nutrition goals. Only those who met her pre-determined qualifying criteria were offered her premium program, the others were sent straight to the option described above.
She made this quite clear to her prospects before they took the quiz so they knew they were being invited to qualify to work with her. This completely transformed the follow conversations she had with them because they no longer had any excuse for perceiving Sarah as needing them: They needed her!
She also found that GPs were no longer her primary source of clients. The number of clients coming from specialist referrals and from her own promotional efforts increased exponentially.
We Want What We Cannot Have
Some of the clients who were funnelled into the lower level program tried to retake the quiz. Others talked to her about upgrading immediately. Sarah made it very clear that based on their responses to the questions they had been directed to the most appropriate program for them at that time. She had the opportunity to discover whether they were really the kind of person she wanted to work with (based on their goals and compliance) before they could upgrade.
Most of the time her qualifying quiz was an extremely accurate predictor of the most suitable program for people so she won on both ends of the spectrum: less committed prospects enrolled in a program that was affordable and suitable; those who really wanted her premium services appreciated them more and worked with her longer.
When Sarah did upgrade people to the premium program levels, they were pre-disposed to be incredibly committed and grateful for the opportunity so their results were especially impressive.
We Only Place Value on Things That Are Difficult to Obtain
Not only did Sarah find that her business was more profitable she also found that she enjoyed her work more because she was spending her time with people who were truly invested in their nutrition journey, rather than with people who simply ‘needed help with nutrition’ but didn’t really care.
Because her clients knew that they had ‘qualified’ for her premium program they placed a higher value on it and generally gave more positive feedback.
So, the quality of the clients she attracted went up, her income went up, and also… because she made sure that her public information was clear about what she did and did not do… she spent very little time dealing with enquiries from people who really weren’t her target market.
Magnetic Marketing Systems Make Life Easier
Just like Sarah discovered, many business owners find that when they set up a carefully designed attraction marketing system and fill it with the education and information that appeals to their target market, their pipeline suddenly fills with a steady supply of ideal clients.
From a marketing perspective, that also removes the pressure to constantly create new ‘content’ (a word I hate) in favour of building evergreen information and educational materials that lead your prospects on pre-determined journey.
We have all worked with clients who really weren’t a great fit for our business, but whom we accepted because we needed the money and so we ‘hoped’ they would not be too great a problem.
One of the things I love about my own magnetic marketing system is that I rarely talk to prospects who are not a good fit for my services. These days the main reason a prospect I talk to doesn’t work with me is that our schedules don’t work out due to their timeline and my commitments.
If you’re in Melbourne, why not visit our Magnetic Marketing Mastermind which meets monthly in Box Hill. To learn more and sign up for notifications visit https://memg.com.au
