Friday 19 October 2012

MacDonald’s Hidden Hypnotic Brand Marketing Tactics Revealed (and its copy able!)

McDonald’s Hidden Hypnotic Brand Marketing Tactics Revealed (and its copy able!): by Jason Li 2012 ©

They may not be the tastiest burgers in the world (or brand marketing)...

In fact, they don’t even try to convince you they are tasty or quality...

But when it comes to Hidden Hypnotic Brand Marketing Tactics, this strategy helps them be the most in demand in the burger industry...

Here are some reasons why you may love McDonald’s restaurants and love their marketing.

Unconscious Love and McDonald's Hidden Hypnotic Brand Marketing Tactics

Here’s the scenario:

You’re driving around, it’s about lunch time and you weren’t even thinking about food - yet. Then you see the M sign and BAM, you spin the wheel as your arms dangerously cross over and screech into the driveway entrance of McDonald’s, no need to spin the car around to go back- this time. Relief... you’ve successfully avoided having to do a U-turn or a lap of the whole block; and how intensely does your gut want to make you feel rewarded when you chomp that first bite of your burger or slurp your milkshake – it’s pure chemical now!

Get tranced by McDonald's Hidden Hypnotic Brand Marketing Tactics

Let’s take this a step back and see how all this happened.

What do most people do when they eat something really yummy. They say “mmmm!”

When you saw the road sign from a distance, you saw:

M – mmmm

Why is it so high? It gives you enough time to go “mmm,” and time to decide whether to pull in or not.

Also notice on the products, M is spelt the same on the burger packaging on the menu and on the packaging – see the packaging for fries. You are hypnotised into thinking mmm. What a genius idea. As possibly the only business that explicitly openly carries out the suggested marketing techniques used, McDonald’s continually captures people susceptible to hypnotic brand marketing tactics.

McDonald’s Hidden Hypnotic Brand Marketing Tactics Marketing Mix – using a mix of power of suggestion tactics

Here is a different way that McDonald’s marketing mix has been developed.

Green colours in the restaurant – makes you think of freshness. Remember, McDonald’s main operation is a kitchen that uses a lot of cooking oil. So green and pictures of freshness makes you forget this.

Happy times for kids – if you lock in kids early before they have the will power to control addictions, you are likely to have a customer for life. People always want to be happy and going to McDonald’s will be etched into children’s minds as a great place to get a quick happiness hit. People love nostalgia and going to a safe place where wonderful memories are held forever.

Kids taught it is a treat to eat at McDonald’s. That’s why kids have great memories of birthday parties there –  it is a good place to go. If parents and grown-ups say it is good, who’s to argue.

Eco – toilet, washbasin, recycled packages, and paper bags – you’ll feel a reward for eating there. Eating there makes you feel like you’re contributing to the world by saving the environment.

Heavy large doors at the entrance – similar to banks to get your trust straight away.  As soon as you walk in you feel like you’ve entered a reputable and trustworthy institution.

The counter is at the back and most well lit area – like walking up to an alter.

You see all the people eating before you go to the back so feel it’s OK to eat a burger, fries and milkshake because everyone else is doing it. There’s nothing like joining a group to feel like you belong. Remember, at the end of the day, you are eating a fried burger, fried fries and possibly a sugary milkshake. The guilt is vastly reduced in the company of others.

The toilet is always at the furthest point - so you might go in not intending to buy; but you will feel guilty or primed to buy once you have seen everyone eating.

Once you touch that heavy door, see fellow eaters approving it’s okay to eat a burger, tell yourself it’s a treat and you deserve to feel happy... once you reach the alter (counter) you are primed to buy.

Even if you just intend to sneak to the toilet, not everyone can resist the emotions pulling you to the burger counter when you come out.

McDonald's Hidden Hypnotic Brand Marketing Tactics & Suggestive Selling

I hope this article does give you something to do when you’re next sat in MacDonald’s. Possibly more people will go to McDonald’s after reading this.

As for me, I’m a big McDonald’s fan. For all the opposing publicity and news, I believe McDonald’s is on balance better for us than not in our world.

I visit every few weeks and when I take my place at the altar it’s with absolute joy. Maybe it’s the McDonald’s marketing sending my juices into overdrive, but “I’m Lovin’ It” anyhow.

Found this interesting. Did you just know there was something different about McDonald's marketing that you could not put your finger on... that they secretly did something which gave them an advantage? Well now you know.

Spread the word and show this article to someone to see what they think. Can businesses use hypnotic suggestive marketing tactics?


Further Reading:


'Anchoring Sales Technique’: Sales Pricing Strategy for more Upselling (secretly used by Gucci and Apple)'
AIDA Marketing Model: Sex Sells The Test


McDonald's Marketing Strategy & Marketing Campaigns (Opens Marketing Week website)
5 Lessons to learn from McDonald's marketing (Opens Marketing Nerd website)
McDonald's Children's Marketing Global Guidelines (Opens aboutMcDonald's website)
Why McDonald's Bare-Bones Marketing Approach Works (Opens Marketing Week website)
Read more ...

Friday 5 October 2012

'Anchoring Sales Technique’: Sales Pricing Strategy for more Upselling (secretly used by Gucci and Apple)

‘Anchoring Sales Technique’: Sales Pricing Strategy for more Upselling (secretly used by Gucci and Apple): by Jason Li 2012 ©
 

The anchoring sales technique is used everywhere...

It’s a trap to get you to open your wallet...

And amazingly: as consumers we love it...

In fact, there are even times when you’ve got caught up in it and paid more than you budgeted due to a sophisticated anchoring marketing technique – it’s like legitimate robbery.

What is the ‘anchoring sales technique’?

Almost anyone who has looked at a product or service by a reputable brand would have been introduced to the ‘flagship product’- like the ones you see in shop windows....

This is the product that is the most expensive in the range...

Yet rather than put the prospect off, it will help the business make more profit... and here is how.

What happens here, is that the business will show the prospect the most expensive product with all the bells and whistles, which has the biggest profit mark-up, possibly with features and benefits that the user would likely never use; and then your customer is framed to believe that if they had the budget, they would willingly get this version with all the bells and whistles.

Straight away, your prospect is reasoning that your sales pricing strategy for the products in the range make sense. They’ll even agree with you that the best one in the range really is desirable and well worth selling your grandmother for.

But right now, your prospective customer is just looking for a product within their current budget range. So they start from the most expensive product pricing backwards to the one they can afford based on stripping off the other features and benefits.

But here’s the killer part in this business pricing strategy...

Most people who have a budget range may take a few minutes to work out what they can spend, or are a bit worried about spending money. So when they see the most expensive product priced at let’s say five times the cost of the product they want, they feel like the product they are buying is reasonably priced.

Masterfully, you have in one go taken away any objections based on valuation and pricing.

This is because some people just look at price (see Quality,Price, Delivery article). By framing the customers mind to think of the most expensive price first, it reduces the objection raised at the current price for price buyers.

And here’s the real kicker – the prospect thinks their budget purchase is associated with the premium version, they will perceive the budget version as premium quality – but just a cut-down version.

Anchoring marketing technique

Let’s take Gucci as an example. Gucci will display in their shop windows and on stands in their shops the very finest and most expensive products. The most luxurious products are displayed to raise the prospects expectations.

When a prospect comes into the shop and thinks of getting a little purse for £50, they see the amazingly beautiful purse or clutch bag on the stands. And the stand allows you to touch it and hold it, open it up, hold it some more in different ways, and smell the brand new smell.

At this point, you start to look for your purse. Now if you are a price buyer, you will stick to your £50 purchase rules.

If you are a bit flexible on your budget, then the anchoring marketing technique has got you involved in enjoying products at a higher quality. You have actively told yourself higher quality holds more value to you. And so you are likely to upgrade your search to a product to be closer to the most expensive and luxurious product in the shop, which could be ten times the price at £500 for a purse!

Anchoring telesales technique

In telesales, you can also have an anchoring telesales technique by making sure you have more than one product to your prospect. Of course, this depends on if your business does have a variety of products to offer prospects.

You can offer three alternatives and packages available to help prospects upgrade to a mid-range package if you have a basic, middle, and an ‘all the bells and whistles package’.

Anchoring sales tips

Make sure that the most expensive product is credible so that price buyers understand there is a lot of added value in the most expensive product or package.

But what strategy would you use to price the middle product? Is it cost of production or cost of doing the job? Well try to do the following and test your results.

Help the customer by pricing the mid-range product at a price closer to the cheapest price so that even price buyers can be drawn to pay a bit extra for the better quality offer. You’ll be anchoring more sales of people buying the cheapest to the next level up.

Anchoring marketing tips

Make sure that your most luxurious product is the best value product you can possibly offer. Let’s say you are selling carpets, then it has to be the finest rugs so that prospective customers know you can cater great quality if they are willing to pay for it.

Make sure the product is prominent for all prospective customers to see, can feel, touch and dream of having.

The price rise then drop method: helping prospective customers think you have ‘bargains’

Some retailers use this method to increase revenue with this anchoring price technique. They raise the price of a brand new product that is superior to the current product line. For a good few weeks, they get all the people who are not price sensitive to buy the brand new latest model. Then when sales drop off: they drop the price to a new lower price. But remember, this lower price is already profitable and is close to the price they would be happy to take orders at anyway.

Now check out the price of the older product when the next brand new model is on offer. You can work out the margin difference with the new model, and what the business can accept as the price for the older model. Don’t think businesses are losing money at the lower price or doing you a favour. They’ve been stuffing the tills from people who have to have the latest products for weeks on end.

So the original high price is in fact extra cream for their profits

And it makes prospective customers think they are now getting a bargain; how nice of the retailer or manufacturer! Hey, you want to believe in the hero brand right?

It happens a lot with technology. For example, when Apple bring out a new iPad or iPhone, the current line drops in price. But remember, Apple are not losing money because the price has dropped; no, they are still making a good profit. If they were losing money, then they would immediately discontinue the line instead.

What product could you have that is the absolute premium in quality and profit for customers?

What mid-range products can you add that take customers away from the low cost low profit margin products?

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