What Supermarkets Teach Us About Blog Marketing

I want to make a little question to you. Please do not cheat on that or i may haunt you forever. Every single one of you have been to google.com, probably thousands of times. Since you have seen the Google logo countless times, please tell me, what is the color of the third “o” letter in this logo ? I’m quite sure that you would most probably not remember that. Of course, this is not weird, if you actually do remember it, you are some kind of freak or maybe you are working on google (in that case, Hello Mr. Cutts).

People Watch But Do Not Observe

Our senses are triggered constantly. Lots of visual, hearing or mental stimulations happen for each one of us minute after minute. It is only sensible that we actually do not remember the brand of our television, even if we have been watching every one of the “Lost” episodes at it. The truth is that such details do not really matter. Who would need to pay attention to all the little details that come up daily ? It would be devastating. However, if you begin to train yourself a bit into observing more the things that happen around you, you will understand things that may have never occurred to you.

8 Supermarket Marketing Techniques That Trigger Your Buying Instincts

It is quite certain that the vast majority of people reading this post will not have observed the graciously crafted supermarket marketing techniques cast upon people every time the go shopping. These large stores are actually the quintessential of marketing and as a blog marketer, it would be a very good idea to study them and learn from them. Let’s take a look at why supermarkets are well defined as Super Markets :

1. Fruits and Vegetables Are Always There to Welcome You

Every time you enter a supermarket, there has to be something that instantly grabs your attention. In most cases, fruit and vegetable stalls are placed near the entrance. Of course, this is not just a coincidence. The vivid colors and powerful smells are there to relax you, to make you enter a better buying mood. Moreover, people are very busy nowadays. Getting them to calm down and shop in their own pace, not hasting about it, requires that they feel comfortable and cozy.

2. Easy Going Music For Easy Going Shoppers

There is always some slow music going on the background. There were actually some researches about the type of music played in supermarkets. There have been claims that some used tunes that would trigger a visitor’s brain so that he feels well and is more prone to buy.

3. Ambient Lighting Makes For Better Visitor Experience

Eye stimulation is the most important element to exploit. Have you noticed that almost every stall is lighted in a way that the items there seem to glow ? Once more, this is not done by pure chance. The way your brain perceives quality has a lot to do with the way your brain interprets what you see. The fancier the product is, the more you tend to buy it.

4. The Well Known Brands Are Always In The Shelves That Meet The Eye

How is that you can easily find well known products, just by taking a quick look at the corresponding isle ? Branding is important and supermarkets definitely know about it. They also know your buying habits. You are not the only one who buys Starbucks coffee, hundreds of people do. Therefore, this product has to be clearly visible. When products are arranged in shelves, the top sellers are always in your line of sight, most probably right where you would look naturally (that is in the middle and a little bit downwards).

5. A Bonus Card is a Really Versatile Marketing Tool

The bonus card is a great marketing technique for many reasons. An important one is that you are rewarding your buyers with better prices. If they keep buying from you, they are in for more discounts. It is a win-win situation for the supermarket and the clients. Probably equally important is that the they are able to log your buying habits. Do not be surprised if you get a new marketing mail in your inbox next week, about a new set of tennis rackets. After all, you were the one who bought tennis balls 5 days ago and used your bonus card to get a discount for.

6. Why Do The Staff Always Look Busy ?

If you are searching for a product, good luck finding it. The staff always looks very busy. So busy that you do not want to interrupt them to ask where the pepper is located. Well, they have to. You entered the supermarket, you are expected to buy more than just pepper. If you find what you want immediately, chances are that you are on your way to leaving. However, if you browse the isles a little bit, you are most probably off to buying all sorts of random things that come up to your sight.

7. Who Would Actually Buy Caramels While Not Waiting to Pay ?

Now, tell me the truth. Would you go to a supermarket to buy caramels ? (that is if your throat isn’t soar). Not really. Probably your kids would, but with a little trickery you can keep them of the caramels/candies isle. The problem is that you have to pay before leaving the supermarket. And what would you get while peacefully waiting for your turn to pay at the cashier ? A great fancy collection of all sorts of gums, caramels and candies, right next to your kids. Cunning, isn’t it ?

8. Nothing Costs 4.00 Dollars, it Costs 3.79 or 3.88

This is a pretty standard marketing technique, heavily encountered in supermarkets. It is a subtle way to form a better price for the minds of people. Everybody knows that 3.88 dollars is actually 4 dollars. However, the first form seems better. The human brain is weird and exploitable.

Transform Your Blog to a Supermarket

Now that you know of some nice tricks, why not put them into practice for your own blog ?

1. Your blog’s fruits and vegetables are images. Use them to grab a person’s attention.

2. Your easy going background music and ambient lighting is your blog design. Make it relaxing and smooth.

3. Your popular products should be easily available. Use a popular posts plugin and bring them up by internally linking to them heavily.

4. You have to reward your readers. Provide a bonus card for them, in the sense of free reports, ebooks, software or even news of the trade via a mailing list.

5. Providing the information that people ask for is great. What is even greater though, is that you give them ways to browse more of your posts. If they came to read a post about Adsense tips, that’s awesome. But, you want to get them going with more posts. Internal linking to other posts is a good idea. Moreover, right in the end of your post, include a link to related posts, or even directly suggest that they read another post, after finishing the one they currently read.

6. When monetizing, whether that is a product of your own or affiliate ads, remember that people are never actually looking for ads. They are looking for solutions. And the solution is what you are writing in your posts. However, as a side candy, an ad that lies inside the content of a possible solution, is probably the actual solution itself. Market effectively by making your ads seem like great solutions.

7. There is something about 27$ or 47$ products. You will notice these price tags many times around. Little less than 30 dollars or little less than 50 dollars sounds pretty good, doesn’t it ? Use smart pricing techniques for your products.

What’s Your Current Food Supply ?

Maybe it would be a good idea to pay a short visit to your nearest supermarket, especially if you are running out of food. When you come back, please be honest. Did you only buy what you went there for ?

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Image Credit: Steve Crane