Working out has been a regular and consistent part of my life for decades. Getting a near-daily workout is so important to me that I am willing to set my alarm for the wee hours to make sure I get it done. If I don’t get it done before the world wakes up, I sacrifice a different part of my day to do it. Skipping isn’t an option.
Naturally, many exercise products are engrained into my near daily routine. I have my favorite water bottle, my favorite hair tie, my favorite workout clothes, my favorite shoes, and my favorite workout equipment. Every night I am reminded of Saucony and lululemon or Vuori or Athleta when I set out my clothes and shoes for the next morning. Sometimes my husband and I even compare the durability of our different brands workout clothes… it’s just daily chit chat, triggered by working out.
So why am I telling you all this?
Triggers are one of the easiest ways to create pull marketing for your brand because they are often tied to regular rituals… like daily workouts, which means we think about those brands on a regular basis. I think about the brands I mentioned above more than I think about most of the other brands around my house.
It’s interesting to note that Cheerios gets a lot more social mentions online than even Disney. Why? We eat breakfast every day. So… what does that mean for your brand if it’s not a product or service of everyday use?
It means you need to create a trigger in your customers mind so they think of your brand and its association with a regular activity, often.
Let’s say you’re a financial planner. You might have a “Monday Morning Money Talk” at 7 a.m. where clients are invited to hear market insights from the week prior, and what that means for future investments. You might even name people who show up to your Livestream something like “Monday Morning Money Makers.” You might even go as far as to start the Livestream by inviting people to tell each other what they are eating for breakfast that day. Now—clients of this financial planner have several triggers—if you want to make money… show up early on Monday mornings over breakfast… and if that financial planner is smart, she/he would tell you to invite your friends.
Obviously not every product or service has a trigger (breakfast) as simple as Cheerios, or can be associated with a ritual as repetitive as working out. But usually with a careful look at your products or services, you can find at least one regular ritual to create triggers in your customers’ minds that keep your products and services familiar and engrained. Luckily, we have a lot of digital tools these days (like live chats) to create rituals (triggers) that may not have been possible to create before.
