THE POWER OF DECODING THE CUSTOMER BUYING IMPULSE

It’s no surprise that we are in the middle of an economic slump right now. The majority of the retail sector has taken a beating. With major corporations like Circuit City filing bankruptcy and calling it quits, it is apparent that consumers are gripping their wallets tightly.

But right in the middle of the doom and gloom, certain niche markets are exploding. While most retailers feel the pinch from their once-loyal clientele staying at home and not spending money, those same people are spending money like there is no tomorrow in other areas. What is it that motivates these same cash-strapped individuals to run out and spend their money on certain other things as if money is no factor at all?

Its due to the fact that someone figured out their buying impulse hot button. When you hit the buying impulse hot button (BIHB), the wallets fly out and the purses snap open at super subconscious speed, almost in an involuntary reaction manner. The people who decode the buying impulse and then push the BIHB are the ones stuffing money in their pockets while everyone else whines about the recession. It’s a fact.

But this is nothing new. In fact, the Bible tells us that there’s nothing new under the sun. This same concept has been used for good and evil since time began. The snake in the garden used the BIHB to get Eve to eat the apple. Moses used the BIHB to get his people to follow him when he led his people out of captivation. Hitler used the BIHB to convince his formerly WWI war-torn citizens to follow him on his quest to world domination. I could go on and on, but you get the point.

Activation of the BIHB is what is behind people spending money to buy things they can’t afford, even when it is to impress people they can’t stand. Something drives them to impulsively and subconsciously come to an immediate buying decision regardless of what logical thinking would say otherwise.

If you decode the customer buying impulse (CBI) for your target market, and then act upon it by hitting the BIHB, you will stuff MONEY into your pocket.

More on the CBI and BIHB later. Stay tuned. You won’t want to miss this.

Carlton Flowers
Social Media Marketing Consultant

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INTERNET SALES SET TO GROW 14% IN 2009

With the recession looming and financial institutions nursing their wounds, can you believe that internet sales will actually GROW by 14% in 2009? Yes, it is true. Right smack dab in the middle of the worst recession our country has ever seen, spending will increase on the web.

Experts (other than myself) are predicting a total market share of $141 billion for web-based retail sales & service this coming year. This is mind-numbing. I tend to believe the prognosticators who are making this rather bold prediction. As people tighten their wallets, the general tendency is to find bargains any way possible. What better way is there to find the lowest prices and highest value other than the internet?

I’ve been saying for quite some time that we will be seeing two major shifts in the local business world. The first will be the impact upon traditional media advertising due to the meteoric rise in social media site usage. The second will be the stampede of local business owners and professionals rushing to get connected to the majority of local residents who are using the social media sites on a daily basis. Critical mass will occur once the first local business owner reports tangible gains utilizing social media for marketing purposes.

This brings me to the question in the title of this post. Local business owners and professionals, when it comes to advertising and marketing investment, where’s YOUR wallet? (forgive me, Capital One, I had to use your snappy catch phrase to make this point!)

Right now, the overwhelming majority of local business owners are keeping their advertising bucks in stonehenge media (my pet name for the age-old media venues). However, while the status quo continues pouding their hard-earned dollars into stonehegne media, a select few are going to flank their business sectors on the battlefield for customers and launch a surprise attack with social media marketing. Smart business owners will start to balance their advertising dollars between stonehenge media and online social media. If you don’t believe it, just watch what happens in 2009 and call me in a few months so I can tell you “I TOLD YOU SO!”

There will be a large percentage of local business owners and professionals in due time who will wise up and want to make the investment in social media, but many will be completely clueless on how to go about doing so. When the time comes, Mr. & Mrs. Local Entrepreneur, you better be looking up Carlton Flowers in the Yellow Pages and making a fast phone call for help.

Carlton Flowers, Social Media Expert

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