James Chartland’s post explains why we notice things.
“Selective perception is what makes consumers process stimuli most relevant to their needs and evaluation. And we each do this continually in a process called perceptual vigilance.
In short, we watch out for what matters most to us.
We use perception vigilance continually. We see what we want to see – usually the stimuli that relates to our lives or that reinforces our beliefs. We filter out the rest; we already have enough to deal with.
Then we experience an event that triggers a change.
Wow, Where’d All These Come From?
We never noticed these similarities before. Now we do.
They were always there. We just didn’t see them, because our selective perception filtered them out. A trigger event woke us up, changing our perception and we suddenly notice what we never saw before.
The Awakening and Your Marketing
Trigger events are important to marketing because they are opportunity. Salespeople, copywriters and marketing pros can all tap into the power of triggers.
Focus marketing on a target group who has recently experienced a trigger event, and watch what happens.
Right now, just after a trigger event, the group’s selective perception is noticing similarities. People are realizing, “Hey! That’s just like me!”
They’re paying attention. Don’t miss your chance.
Use words, images or concepts that directly relate to the trigger event of this group. It makes everything pop. If the stimuli relates to their lives just after a trigger event, these people are more likely to become customers, too.
So capture their attention while you have it. Shout out the similarities. Address their newfound perception and tap into the window of opportunity you have.
Eventually, of course, people move on.”
Triggers will get people to notice your restaurant. You have a small window of time to get noticed, get remembered and create customer advocacy because as James reminds us “people move on”.
