There is one thing that would be a sure-fire way to grow your business. That is endorsements. Endorsements are dependent on a few psychological principles that have been tried and tested through time – Social proof theory, and F.O.M.O (Fear-Of-Missing-Out)/Scarcity theory. Soliciting endorsement is an essential tactic for building every brand. Endorsements, either paid or unpaid, need to be part of every brand’s marketing mix.
Social Proof Theory
Popularised by Psychologist – Robert Ciadilini, the Social Proof theory focuses on how the importance of social influence factors in our own decisions – it is also referred to as Informational Social Influence Theory.
It’s a form of a herd mentality where people make decisions based on a feeling of security or safety. Look at a simple restaurant – they implement social proof by showcasing an entrance with people queuing in front. The same is most often implemented for online businesses as well, it’s just optimized for online presence.
“We view a behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it.” – Robert Cialdini
In Marketing, social proof will continue to be one of the most effective mannerisms of persuading consumers to invest in a product or service – statements such as “ 9 out of 10 engineers or doctors recommend” have proven to offer success.
Early Research on Social Proof
Even though Social Proof was implemented in marketing in recent times, it has been around since the early 1900s. Psychologist Muzafer Sherif in an experiment to estimate the speed and direction of a stationary dot, compared the estimates when participating alone against a group – the group yielded a significant change in the movement as opposed to individual analysis.
Most recent research on Social Proof by Mathew Salganik (Professor of Sociology at the University of Princeton) explored the effect of Social Proof on personal preferences. Mathew built a music-sharing platform that allowed for a popularity scoring model – some of the songs were provided inflated rankings. The songs with artificially enhanced rankings were concluded to be winners.
F.O.M.O (Fear-Of-Missing-Out) also known as Scarcity Theory
This is twofold and it is simply the fear of missing out on something good that is being endorsed by someone, also the compulsive behavior to be a part of something, to feel included and accepted.
“The potential for simply a different connection. It may be better; it may be worse — we just don’t know until we check.” – John M. Grohol
Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are a huge aspect of driving conversions. We are all social creatures who want to feel like we belong. Choosing a KOL and getting them to drive the conversation on a product or a service will create a sense of urgency amongst the intended audience – a mythical timer that is slowly ticking away. Ticking away until the audience is converted. More often than not, people do not want to miss out on a trend, a conversation, or an action that is popularised by an idol.
These two theories are put together through endorsements – conforming to the actions of others to be a part of something bigger than themselves for the purpose of feeling included and for the fear of missing out on something.
There is a psychological impact of endorsements on the human psyche – an endorsed product or a service promotes a sense of belongingness. These provide an increase in brand value, a presence of legitimacy, etc.
The only credibility that is needed is knowing that other customers are satisfied. – Michael Wolfe, Startup Advisor, and Investor
How does it come into play when it comes to businesses and acquiring new clients?
Endorsements provide:
- An opportunity to build brand equity
- It provides an evergreen or an ever-present advertisement of what YOU can offer to your clientele
You essentially piggyback or leverage the presence of a recognized individual in your chosen field – and allow them to speak for your work, and about your abilities.
How do you get someone to do that for you? I have a 3 step tried and tested method for acquiring those endorsements you need:
- Identify your messiahs
There is one thing you need to focus on when selecting your messiahs – credibility. Does the person you choose bring credibility? I don’t mean only in your mind but in your Target Group (TG)’s mind as well.
- Survey your TG, if possible to see who would influence them to make a purchase decision.
- Figure out their psyche with various social media tools at your disposal.
- Establish who will trigger a purchase or convince you to make an investment.
- USE THEM TO SPREAD YOUR MESSAGE.
There are 3 types of endorsements you should aim to achieve: Dream, Target, Safety
- Build a relationship
An endorsement requires work, work, and work. For someone to put their reputation on the line for you, there needs to be a relationship in place. So,
- Network Generously
- Invest in building those relationships
- Add value with everything you do
- Ask for an endorsement
Once you build a relationship – this will be easy, because your relationship and your work will drive the conversation. Reach out to your chosen list, and curate them as so, to build your list of 12.
4 Dream Endorsers: These are the ones you wish you could have. A KOL(Key-Opinion-Leaders) in the chosen field. Individuals with global and local reach in the chosen field.
4 target endorsers: These are the ones you can get if you try hard enough – someone with a decent amount of visibility in the chosen field. More localized.
4 safety endorsers: These are your sure-fire set of endorsers who will give you a certain amount of visibility, and you can reach them with ease.
Work in advance. People are busy so work back to you has sufficient lead time, to reach out to more, if one or two fall apart.
Acquiring the right endorsement at the right time alone is not enough. It needs to be seamlessly integrated across all digital touchpoints for higher visibility and its resultant conversion
Websites
A social proof needs to be integrated across a product/ service website primarily at points where it will make or break a purchase decision.
- Landing page
- Near Call To Action’s (CTA’s)
- Pricing page
- Next to a new product or service
- Product pages
This will not only build credibility, it will create a sense of community and also an urgency – all key driving forces in making purchase decisions.
Visibility alone is not enough – the manner of execution is also of vital importance.
Case study/ White paper
If the product requires a significant investment, it is always good to support the same with a factual, statistical analysis of the key success stories of said product.
User Generated Content (UGC)
Social media platforms along with websites provide the prime opportunity to curate UGC in the form of timed content such as stories, and evergreen content such as posts that speak to the benefits. It could be polls, question and answer content that allows for the sharing of highly specific nuggets of information. It will not only increase trust but also build conversation and act as a key point of reference for future marketing, and business efforts.
Create In-Groups
Group/ communities are a great way to build credibility via mutual endorsements. By associating a product with a particular type of person, brands leverage our desire to belong to that group. Building buckets by grouping a list of individuals together and offering them a product as an entry point for a group is a great way to subtly endorse a product or a service and build opportunities for re-endorsement as well.
While getting endorsements requires a certain level of effort, it provides the perfect Return On Investment (ROI). But you need to use the given content to maximize the reach it can give by showcasing it front and center.
An endorsement provides 3 key benefits in process of making a sale
- A shorter selling cycle
With relevant endorsements in place, you don’t even have to pitch, because your endorsements will create an environment where your buyers will actively seek you out and reach out to you. They are already convinced of the product/ service you have on offer and they no longer need to be convinced.
- Reduced costs
A generic sale/ conversion funnel would require multiple touchpoints, and multiple investments – a testimonial/ endorsement in this digitally savvy economy will only require the endorsement, a simple web traffic ad, and a retargeting campaign which will fall anywhere between $0.5 – $100 depending on the product/ service on offer.
- Higher response rates
An average consumer reads 10 testimonials before making a purchase decision.70% of consumers will trust a recommendation from someone they don’t know. 92% of people will trust a recommendation from a peer. 97% of consumers reported that online reviews and testimonials influence their purchasing decisions. 40% of people have purchased a product because they saw an influencer using it on social media. 49% of people rely on recommendations from influencers on Twitter. 14% of people say that celebrity endorsements impact their buying decisions. 68% of buyers are more likely to buy from a local business if it has positive reviews. Video testimonials are reported to increase the sales page conversion rate by 32%. 57% of consumers will only buy from a business if it has at least a 4-star rating.
Do you still need to be convinced of the power of endorsements?
Mark McRae works with business owners to improve their business and operations. If you would like to have a chat with him. Click here.
