Years ago, back when I was just a kid, I can recall my grandmother (who I called ‘Granny’) owning a sleek navy blue Buick Century. Buick being one of my favorite car brands at the time, I always enjoyed seeing that shiny navy blue Buick parked in Granny’s driveway whenever I would go to her house for a visit.
Although Granny’s car was one of my favorite makes, and navy blue is one of my favorite colors, the thing that I’ll always remember most about that car wasn’t those two things; it was actually the bumper sticker that Granny placed on the rear bumper of her car that I will remember most.
The words on the bumper sticker read, “Money isn’t everything. But it sure beats what’s second.” A very interesting assertion, wouldn’t you agree?
With the prevalence of hustle culture, many people would lead you to believe that money truly is everything. However, Charles Schwab’s 2023 Modern Wealth Survey revealed that most consumers consider wealth not as having a vast amount of money, but simply being able to enjoy experiences and having a work-life balance; something surprisingly—the survey’s respondents valued even more so than health.
Why this could be great thing for your business
Whenever presented with new data, marketing professionals can either do one of two things; categorize the data as either being pertinent or irrelevant. A simple baseline of determining whether or not data is pertinent or irrelevant is by asking yourself whether or not you could use it to your advantage in a way that’ll benefit your brand or business.
The reason why you should consider this data relevant is because there’s definitely ways that you could use it to give your brand and business an advantage.
Using the data to your startup’s advantage
Every facet of marketing revolves around creating concepts to connect with consumers. And by knowing what consumers value more than their hard-earned cash, it becomes much easier for you to create concepts that'll convey to them just how you’ll help them attain those things they value—in exchange for their hard-earned cash.
A great way to do that is by utilizing what author and Mastercard chief marketing & communications officer Raja Rajamannar, refers to as the, “Loyalty hierarchy.”
“Work the entire loyalty hierarchy. Leverage the four tiers of the hierarchy: Purpose, passion, relationships, and commerce by blending elements of each into the marketing strategy or mix.” States Rajamannar in his book, Quantum Marketing.
“This means understanding consumers' mindsets at as granular a level as possible in terms of what causes they care about (purpose), what they are fans of (passion), what their family or social networks are (relationships), and what their buying behavior is (commerce).”
By understanding the purpose, passions, relationships, and buying behaviors of today’s consumers, here’s a few ways your startup could provide experiences to connect with them on an emotional level:
Coordinate special events that allow current and potential customers or clients to come together and have a great time with one another.
Sponsor festivals or other major events that people love to attend with their family and friends.
Throw random giveaways and sweepstakes that would allow people to experience things they’d love—like great vacations.
The objective of these actions is simply to influence your audience to subconsciously associate your brand with great experiences in their lives.
As the data shows, people value great experiences even more so than they value money. Help provide those great experiences and people will happily give your business their money; in which all parties win.