Maslow's Marketing Filter
By Darrin F. Coe, MA, Thu Dec 8th

Maslow’s Marketing Filter

One of the basics of all marketing and advertising training is ateaching of “Maslow’s needs pyramid”. This pyramid shows thedifferent motivators and needs in a person’s life and how theyare built one upon the other. Supposedly this is presented tohelp the marketing student understand consumer motivation andthinking. The problem is I’ve never seen it applied, in the textbooks. It’s presented as the foundation of human motivation andthen it’s dropped.

I’d like to present to you a way to use Maslow’s needs pyramidso that you can get inside the consumer’s mind and develop anunderstanding of what’s truly motivating them as they considerpurchasing your product or service.

Maslow’s needs pyramid present human needs such that each needis pursued and met before the next level of needs can beconsidered; they build upon one another. The needs from mostbasic to most complex are:

– physiological needs: food, shelter, sex – safety needs:clothing, weapons, defense of self – social needs: socialacceptance – esteem needs: acceptance of self by self –fulfillment needs: a feeling of having and fulfilling a purpose

So the question is, “How do we use this paradigm to get insidethe consumer’s head?”

Let’s consider a personal fitness training service. Here’s howit works at the most basic level. Place yourself in the positionof the consumer and think as if you are considering hiring apersonal fitness trainer.

1. How will personal fitness training impact my acquisition anduse of food? Of shelter? Of sexual behavior? (Now you see whysex is used in marketing so many products – we react to itinstinctually)

2. How will personal fitness training impact my personal safety?– you’ll be in better shape and can run faster from a mugger,perhaps.

3. How will personal fitness training positively impact mystanding in society? In my social circle? Access to differentsocial circles?

4. How will personal fitness training positively impact how Ithink about myself?

5. Will personal fitness training have an impact

on my personalsense of fulfillment?

I understand that most consumers, will ask themselves thesetypes of questions without really thinking about them. Theanswers you develop as you purposely ask yourselves these typesof questions will give you insight in the processes a consumermay consider or be susceptible to as they are consideringpurchasing personal fitness training services.

This process will also help you define ways to market that willget consumers to consider your personal fitness training serviceif they are not. Using Maslow’s needs pyramid helps you targetyour marketing. It is the foundation of :

Getting Attention Developing Interest Creating DesireFacilitating Commitment Motivating to Action

If you can use Maslow’s needs pyramid to get inside the head ofthe consumer by running it through a filter of questions likethe one’s I’ve presented above you’ll have a tangible marketingadvantage because you now can respond to your consumer’sinternal dialogue.

Using this type of filtering process can also help you createneed in those that have not yet developed an interest in yourproduct or service. Simply put yourself in the consumer’s placeand present you’re marketing to them in such a way as to answeror resolve each need in the hierarchy.

Maslow’s needs pyramid is a powerful tool that is taught toevery marketing and advertising student in the world but it mustbe understood and applied if it’s to actually be useful. Tryusing Maslow’s marketing filter the next time you areconsidering a marketing campaign. It’ll help you get a bettergrip on what the consumer is thinking and feeling.

Darrin F. Coe, MA is a mental health clinician, weeklycolumnist, wealth building advocate, and author of “Micro Loans:Finance Your Dreams” available athttp://dcoe1.tripod.com/microfinance For more great business andmarketing information you can sign up for the “Darrin Coe Ezine”at http://dcoe1.tripod.com

About the author:Darrin F. Coe, MA is a mental health professinal, weeklycolumnist, wealth building advocate, and author of "micro loans:finance your dreams" available athttp://dcoe1.tripod.com/microfinance subscribe to his ezine athttp://dcoe1.tripod.com