Marketing with God

(Reader:  stick with me on this one as the ride will cover religion, giving, research, design, ROI, social media, and music that can’t miss a beat.)  Let’s get started…

Some anthropologists out there believe that God was created as a fictional character to promote good.  The idea being that nobody could keep an eye on everyone all the time, so why not create a super natural entity that would.  With this uber-presence, generosity and caring would thrive and everyone wins.

Regardless of our religious beliefs and how one comes to believe in a higher power, it is interesting to know if the notion of an omnipresent ‘God’ does really encourage such altruism…right!?!  Well…through several studies, psychologist Ara Norenzayan, from The University of British Columbia, set out to find the answer.

In a nutshell, people were asked to play the ‘dictator game,’ which is a way of measuring generosity towards strangers.  Theists and Atheists both netted out on the side of greed, keeping a lot more than they shared.   Higher power – shmire power you might say.  Well not so fast.  In the next round of testing, they introduced the participants to content that had a smattering of words like God, divine and sacred; or civic, contract and police.  Bingo!  With a subtle hint to goodness before playing the dictator game, participants generosity shot up over 300%.

So what does all this have to do with marketing?  Well, if you can work the right set of keywords into content leading up to the purchase of your product, you too could suggest the right mindset and increase sales by 300%!!  Sticking with our above theme, let’s say the Red Cross is running a digital campaign in search of donations and though they run some solid creative complete with A/B testing, the ROI (Return on Investment) for the banner campaign remains relatively static.  What’s interesting here is that, contrary to popular belief, the marketing message doesn’t need to change, but rather the mindset of your potential customer does! 

Here is what you do…start with writing some really good content that your potential donors want to read.  In that content make sure you use the right set of keywords.  Whether you are talking to the religious or the agnostic, make sure to sprinkle your words accordingly.  Make sure that you also include links to the websites that carry your banner campaigns.  Next, release your content/article for world-wide distribution.  (Reader - here are a few press release sites - www.prleap.com | www.pr.com - The best $49 you will ever spend.)  If all goes well, people will read the compelling article, click on the links, see the Red Cross banners and be more than 300% likely to click and donate money!  Bon bons and Pixie Sticks for everyone as your ROI shoots through the roof!

Some things to keep in mind:

This does not need to be limited to text.  Images are a strong influencer as well.  Put a picture of your CEO next to the stamp box, and the ‘honor system’ of paying for stamps becomes much more effective.

Hire journalist to write your content…people don’t want to read your marketing speak.

Learn what words have the biggest impact, don’t just guess.  Study your users linguistics.

(Reader, I don’t like where this could go.  Our content is becoming too programmed…less authenticity…harder to be real.  Do we need to question everything we read?)

Look at the music industry.  They manufacture music now based on the formulas of past hits and current selling trends.  How can things innovate if creation is always based on what we have already done.

The mind is a powerful thing…and I’m not just blowing a cliché up your nose.  I read the other day that hotel maids lost weight and lowered their blood pressure with no physical changing in their lives…just mental changes.  It deserves it’s own blog post…coming soon.