Yesterday I was scrolling through Instagram and an ad popped up for a new company specializing in bar-soap style shampoos. The ad was a 15 second clip of a girl smiling, sudsing up the soap, scrunching her hair, and then slowly getting out of the shower wrapped in her towel and putting the bar of soap back on the gold wire caddy hanging from her shower head. The narration was short and sweet, "no more plastic bottles or toxic products. Just clean ingredients and an effortless shine."
This ad really didn't tell me much about the soap. It didn't tell me what it was made of. Or why this product is different than the hundreds of thousands of other shampoo products on the market produced by the 205 contract manufacturers here in the United states. But yet... after watching the ad and getting an overall feeling that this product left this girl feeling refreshed, clean, and confident just by using this solid bar of shampoo, I was inclined to buy it too.
I don't need shampoo. I like mine fine. It is a "clean" brand with all natural ingredients. But yet, why didn't I leave my shower smiling like this girl? Why doesn't using my perfectly fine shampoo make me FEEL like this other bar of soap could make me feel?
Because this ad evoked an emotion. It evoked a feeling of rejuvenation. It evoked a feeling of simplistic joy and confidence. It made me believe that this product will lead to a worry-free morning, beautiful hair, a clean bathroom, and a smile on my face. All of this, from just a simple $24 bar of soap.
These companies aren't selling you on the product they want you to buy. They are showing you highly-sought after emotions and mindsets. Their product, just happens to be there.
They are selling you on the idea that by buying this product, there's a chance you'll finally feel like you have that confidence in your self you've been wanting, or that everything will align so that you can clean the bathroom, have it smell like eucalyptus and mint, and you will be joyful for the rest of the day. Who wouldn't want that?
What are you "selling" in your business? What is your "soap"? Are you selling jewelry? Or are you selling romance and excitement? Are you selling a photography service with beautiful images? Or are you selling an experience that will leave them feeling a sense of confidence, beauty, joy, and contentment?
Remember, whatever you're selling, it's not just soap.
