How much can your business learn from just 10 simple words? An astonishing amount! Why? Because these 10 words are crafted from some of the brightest minds in media.
We're going to dig into one of Google's many ads and mine valuable insights for our own uses. Oh, and before we get started -- there's no borring tech jargon in this post. I promise. Now, let's look at Google's ad and their 10 magic words.
Simple enough, right? Sure seems that way, but if you read between the lines, you'll see a lot of powerful psychology and economics at work here.
Spend $100
This is a great headline and call to action combo. As a headline, it gets your attention. "Spend $100? Why should I spend $100?" As a call to action, it's brilliant: Google is telling ad viewers exactly what they want them to do with just 2 words.
Of course, Google will make far more than $100 from most customers -- lifetime customer value of advertisers is what has built Google into the money making machine that it is. Last quarter, Google's average daily revenue exceeded 100 million dollars.
Get $100
This is immediate justification for the headline, and provides ad viewers with instant gratification. Nearly everyone, with the exception of the top few percent of the population, would love the chance to get $100 for doing something easy.
FREE.
Free is one of the most powerful words in the English language. Behavioral economics case studies prove that there's a tremendous difference between asking people to pay even a penny, and offering something for free. Everyone wants something for free. The key here is that nothing is really free; you only get $100 if you spend $100, and in truth, you don't even get $100. You spend $100 of bank credit, and you get $100 of Google credit. Google's credit costs them practically nothing.
From Google's point of view, their ads are almost free. Sure, there's a lot of R&D cost that goes into organizing the world's information, but it scales up beautifully. Displaying an Internet ad costs a tiny fraction of a cent of energy and computing power, yet a single ad click (in a competitive niche) can bring Google upwards of $50. And that's just one click. Google is something like a central bank issuing it's own currency in the form of ad inventory. They could afford to give out $500 for new advertisers spending $100 if they want to, because their credit costs next to nothing.
First one million businesses only
There's more than meets the eye with this closing statement. These 5 simple words play on four powerful psychological principles at the same time:
- Artificial scarcity
- Social proof
- Exclusivity
- Immediacy
Social proof is a fancy psychology term for herd mentality. You know, the bandwagon effect. If people see a bunch of other people doing something, they're naturally inclined to follow along. By limiting this offer to the first one million businesses, Google is suggesting to us that one million businesses may take them up on their offer. In fact, we may think to ourselves in a nearly subconscious way, wow, "they had to limit this offer to the first one million businesses." If a million businesses want to sign up for this, it must be really great stuff, right? That's massive social proof, all from three words. It's a heck of a lot of new customers for Google, too!
Exclusivity is an effective tactic because everyone wants to be part of a special group. We all crave attention and status, and getting special treatment, reserved for a limited portion of the population, strokes our ego. This offer is for the first one million businesses only. You do want to be part of that special group that can spend $100 and get $100, don't you? Which brings us to the last point...
Immediacy in advertising is a tactic that compels people to take action right now. As an advertiser, you put a lot of creative effort, time, energy, and money into getting in front of your target audience. If you don't compel them to take action when they see your ad, the odds are that they won't. Capitalize on your advertising investments with limited time offers and effective calls to action.
Summing it all up
So what's the easiest way for you to apply all of these powerful psychological principles to make your own business more profitable? Well, we have more than a few ideas. But whatever you do, and wherever your ad campaigns take you, just remember this:
Don't call Valitics today. We're on vacation.
We hope you have a great new years, and much deserved success in 2011.
of the buyer. Its a powerful to increase sales.