The Fascinating Seven: Emotional "Triggers" Every Marketer Needs to Be Aware Of

Feb. 08, 2012

Many marketers (if not all!) have, at some point in their careers, come across basic principles of behavioural psychology. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is one prominent example that marketing professionals have historically drawn upon to understand some of the psychological motivations for action.

Sally Hogshead, international keynote speaker and author of the book Fascinate, has become a force to be reckoned with in attempts to understand human action. Receiving acclaim for her recent work, which brings together market research, behavioural and social studies, along with neurobiology and evolutionary anthropology, Hogshead has identified patterns for understanding how to captivate today's attention-deprived consumer. Hogshead argues that fascination is the "most powerful way to influence decision-making", even more persuasive than marketing or advertising.

In Hogshead's definition of "Fascination", every individual and brand are motivated by different combinations of 7 triggers. She argues that fascination plays a key role in every decision you make, every brand you align yourself with, every friend you have and every purchase you make. She concludes that rationality and logic are largely non-existent in the process of a consumer becoming "fascinated". What does this mean? Take heed, product marketers: that oh-so-practical feature list may not always be the best way to capture your target audience.

Originally a publication geared toward marketing professionals, Hogshead's concept of Fascination has (fittingly!) captivated diverse audiences around the world, who have flocked to the website to take the "F Score" test, which measures how the world perceives your brand, or your personality. Companies have used this test to examine their brand's personal strengths, using these to craft messaging that is much more fascinating to their target market.

Now, without further ado, here are the 7 triggers:

1. Passion

Need for emotion, communication, and human connection
A "right-brain" approach
Creative and expressive

2. Mystique

Need to pique curiosity
Desire to maintain privacy and independence

3. Prestige

Need for respect
Aspirational
Can be intimidating to some

4. Power

Confidence
Need to be self-motivating and authoritative

5. Rebellion

Need to examine different options, be innovative and broaden one's horizon
Refusal to accept the mainstream
Driven to challenge the "normal" way of doing things

6. Alarm

Motivated by fear of consequences
Action-oriented as opposed to emotionally resonant
This trigger relies on scarcity and urgency to get immediate results

7. Trust

Focus on clear patterns and expectations
Stability, dependability and boundaries are essential

How can marketers use these triggers? Forget the shotgun effect; you can't effectively target all 7 triggers at once, although your brand can choose to pull different triggers for different campaigns.

If you want to strike an emotional chord with your potential customers, for example, using the "passion" trigger would be best. Or, if you want to position your company as an authority or leader, you would employ the "power" trigger. If your objective is bring in as many sales as possible in a short period of time, you might consider using the "alarm" trigger (or likewise, the "trust" trigger to foster long-term loyalty).

One particular trigger that Hogshead examines in more detail is "prestige". Individuals respect and attribute value to things they respect, and although this may not necessarily translate into a direct sale, there is considerable brand equity to be earned from this trigger. How can this trigger be applied to the arena of small business, for example? It could be very useful to examine your company's offering and isolate the single most unique/impressive feature of your product or service. As Hogshead instructs, "Find one way to own an area in which you have created the ultimate". This can then function as your brand "badge".

As many already realize, prestige is about raising people's perception of your brand or business by over-delivering in one particular area. A perfect example of the "prestige" trigger is found in the marketing of the luxury vodka brand, Grey Goose. Hogshead reveals that Grey Goose is founded not on a recipe, but on a high price point, a perception of value.

Check out the full interview between Behind the Brand's Bryan Elliott and Sally Hogshead below. If you're intrigued, be sure to also check out the second part of the interview, where Hogshead delves into more detail around the application of fascination.

One key takeaway? As Hogshead succintly points out, the measure of fascination doesn't lie in what a brand says about itself but in what people say about it. This could very well be that wake-up call for marketers operating in a vacuum, neglecting to take into account that all-too-essential part of the marketing/branding equation: consumer perception.

What do you make of Hogshead's concept of fascination? You've likely encountered variations of this concept already, but how can marketers integrate these 7 triggers more deeply into their brand presence?

Posted by Nicole Capelo at February 8, 2012 11:45 AM

Comments

fBYeUymU

Great post. I couldn't agree more. I try to get B2B marketers to look at buying triggers as an element of the buyer persona. If you segment buyer personas by job title, this isn't possible as triggers will vary. But there is a part of the buyer persona that I call the Product Persona Connection that captures the buyer persona's engagement with the vendor's product. That's a great place to capture buying trigger insights, and while there may still be more than one trigger, it should be easy to see only a few patterns. I really like your recommendation to avoid combining content for similar triggers. The more specificity, the better!