There are bad ways to think critically, and there are good ways to think critically; and if you want to be the most successful in your outbound marketing strategy—if you want visitors to become regular clients—you’re going to have to figure out how to critically cogitate on this subject.

But first let’s define a term. When it comes to thinking “critically”, that doesn’t mean a “negative” examination or interpretation of information. The negative connotation with the word “critical” has made it so many people think of criticism as purely bad. But this isn’t what “thinking critically” means. It means taking a close look, examining the data, and making the most informed decision based on careful thought.

Well, you should carefully consider the way people think. It turns out that those in a position to do so have been observing thinking patterns of people en masse for hundreds of years, and definite patterns have emerged. As technology continues to expand at a nigh-exponential rate, exploiting this pattern of cogitation has become key to marketing.

The following by no means fully encapsulates the reality, but as an introduction to the reality, consider what’s known as “archetypes.” An archetype would be, say, a circle as opposed to a sphere, or a square as opposed to a cube. It’s a sub-representation of a more full expression. With marketing, your logo is archetypal to your brand.

Archetypal Considerations

Now certainly some of this may sound a little bit esoteric—and it is. Have you ever heard the term “occluded”? That means “hidden”, and it derives from the term “occult”. Now there’s some downright kooky things—many even frightening—which go on in circles which claim such beliefs. However, there are truths which have been carefully hidden, and only in the modern age are coming to light. Archetypes are one of them.

The human mind can be programmed, and it is no coincidence that TV, internet, and other media outlets refer to their content as “programming”. Let’s look at Betty Crocker for a case study. Now if you’re not familiar, it turns out that in 1950’s America, Freud’s ideas pertaining to psychology were sweeping America.

Freud was himself no stranger to archetypal reasoning; his contemporary Jung was very much infatuated with this thinking. As relates to the paranormal and the occult, Freud first started down this path in the early 1900s. Perhaps this isn’t the direction you expected this writing to take, but it is factually accurate, and that’s key to understanding the internet today.

See, what the psychologists at General Mills understood from Freud and Jung was that people think in patterns which can be influenced greatly. There’s a reason the CIA expended so much time and money in MK-Ultra—a literal mind control program. They were looking to do the same thing on a non-consensual basis.

What Happened?

Thank goodness they failed—or did they? At any rate, the analysts at General Mills were put to the task of ensuring a new kind of cake mix sold as it should. At that time in America’s history, women had yet to transition beyond the home primarily. Most would spend hours “slaving over a hot stove” to make food for their loved ones.

Betty Crocker came out with an instant cake mix that only required the addition of water. And that cake mix sat on the shelves. It did not sell. Everyone was perplexed—why would women eschew this time-and-labor-saving product? What was there not to like? Psychoanalysts turned to Freud and Jung, critically examining these Europeans’ ideas regarding “hidden” knowledge. What they came up with were three words that made the cake mix sell like crazy: “add one egg”.

Now there are two schools of thought as to why this made the cake mix sell. One school of thought says that the egg is an archetypal representation of the womb and subsequent fertility, allowing a subconscious expression of femininity to be realized in the addition of an egg to the cake mix.

The other (and in this writer’s opinion more likely) reason is that by adding an egg, the women would feel that they “did” something. That they “worked” in preparing meals for their loved ones, and didn’t just callously take the easy way out so they could then go ahead and spend their time doing what they liked.

See, what “add one egg” did was play on the core emotional pathos behind a woman’s purchasing choices in that era pertaining to the acquisition of instant cake mix. Whether or not you vie by the occult definition of the reasoning behind the sudden massively successful sale of Betty Crocker instant cake mix or not, the results are undeniable, and demonstrate that there is a “programmability” to human behavior.

Today, with the internet, it’s more possible than it ever has been to record that behavior and design marketing campaigns which are determined by the way people act.

Crunching The Numbers

Accordingly, today there are many common scenarios where SEO website analytics become important, and you should visit Bill Lentis to learn more about Search Engine Optimization. You want to know how many people are visiting your site a day. You want to know if content articles posted on guest blogs are drawing people to your site, or if those sites are just sitting listlessly in cyberspace doing nothing substantive.

You want to know who accesses your site, where they come from, how old they are, whether they’re male or female, how long they spend perusing your content and how long they subsequently spend perusing your site—the list goes on, and today it’s possible to get those numbers.

As you get proper data, it becomes easier to design a strategy which will effectively expand your influence. Part of that strategy is going to involve using the tools available to you. Social media is something that it is foolish to ignore in the modern age, as it drives the lion’s share of traffic across the web.

Facebook, Twitter, Gab, Minds, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+–and there are many more. Different audiences are going to be more inclined to use one social media platform or another, too. For example, today the young people are primarily on Instagram and Snapchat, as older acquaintances and family are less likely to be there—at least, that’s the word on the street.

Strategic Application

As time goes by different analyses of the data will result in differing opinions. There is an opportunity here worth capitalizing from. According to numerous experts, you can attain more Instagram followers through concerted strategy. Photos and images speak volumes—if you let them. Instagram gives you the opportunity to let your images speak for themselves. If you can harness this technique and remain consistent in doing so, you will gain relevant fans on Instagram.

Accordingly, converting visitors to customers must be informed by meeting customers where they are with that which is naturally desirable to them. Or put it this way: you’re not going to have much success selling vegan products to a big game hunter—not unless your definition of “success” is getting laughed at mercilessly.

Think like the General Mills psychoanalysts employing a mish-mash of Jung and Freud into their marketing endeavors. Look at your current products or services. Look at the client base that composes your core demographic. Now what is fundamental to them, and how can you demonstrate your business is in alignment to such fundamental desires?

A Macintosh Market

This may best be understood through a specific example. Let’s look at Apple computers. What was their easily recognizable slogan? “Think Different”. This hit on a number of core things about the Apple buyer, primarily their unwillingness to accept the status quo in terms of computing.

You really did have to think different if you were operating a Macintosh through the nineties and early oughts. It wasn’t until the iPod came out that Macintosh started to reinvent itself, and by the time the iPhone hit the market, they had become the most profitable company on the planet.

Things are waning with Apple now since Jobs’ departure from life; it seems those running the company just don’t have the aesthetic sensibilities of its creator, nor his understanding of the buying demographic. Learn from Steve Jobs, not the Apple executives who have a track record of mismanagement when it comes to their products and services.

Bad Management Corrupts Good Profit

Apple computers are in many respects superior to those operating from a Windows system, but they’re losing momentum because those running operations have a greater interest in profit than they do in providing a product that users find useful. The updates are a key indicator of this. The lesson? Good marketing is just have the equation; sold products must deliver on the claims which sell them.

When it comes to updates for your Mac, half the time they make your computer buggy, and most the time you really don’t need them. A lot of those updates are ushered in so that Apple can garner user data and more directly target their marketing, and that brings us around full circle.

Apples And Peaches

Sure, sometimes you’ve got to break the rules for success—but if you don’t know them in the first place, you’re kind of just stumbling about hoping you bump into profit along the way. That’s not a wise manner in which to conduct your business. It’s a lot smarter to inform your efforts with vetted data. And getting that data shouldn’t hamper clients.

Your logo is an archetype of your total brand. Nike uses a stylized check mark, because its clients are going to “just do it”, and get the physical activity “checked off” their list. Your first key to success will be branding your products or services with a slogan and logo that act as mental “.ZIP” files for potential customers.

Just by looking at your brand, logo, slogan, or a combination of the three, your potential clients should get an idea of what you do. Next, you want to fulfill that mental picture. As a hypothetical, imagine you were a computer-selling company like Apple. Maybe you’re “Peach”. Your logo is a mouth-watering peach with the slogan: “Do more, pay less—it’s a Peach.”

Okay, this is a cheesy example, but you get the idea. You’re competing with Apple directly with such a slogan, and your idea is to pull their clients to your business. If you were competing with Windows, maybe you’d call your platform Doorways—these are tongue-in-cheek illustrations, but you get the idea.

Fending Off Competition

If you’re a burgeoning organization, you’ve likely got a competitor out there who is taking your clients. Turning visitors into clients is integral. You’ve got to show that you understand what they need, and why they would go to the other provider. Then, simply, you’ve got to show that you’re better than the competition because of feature A, or add-on B.

Finally, you have to be perpetually visible. It should be easy to find you on the internet, and you should be continuously adding content as you can. Ideally every month you should produce around 50 content articles that average 500 words for greatest cumulative effect over time. Look into video content to be spread on YouTube as well, and ensure all that you create is blasted across social media.

Include your brand and logo somewhere within the content. Make sure the content is readable, usable, sharable, repeatable, interesting, and otherwise valuable. You may not even focus on the core provision of your company. It’s also a good idea to provide entertainment in your content which simply and almost obliquely lets the potential client know that your company sponsored that which they found entertaining.

Then, in the viewer’s mind, when they come across your content online or in real life they’ll think something akin to: “Oh, it’s them! I liked that (article/show/vlog/infographic) they posted about (sport/hobby/film/band/technology/celebrities); maybe I’ll give them a shot for this (purchase/service acquisition).”

When you do attract your visitors all the way up to the cart, make sure they don’t exit the browser at the final step of your sales funnel. This usually happens when a visitor doesn’t see his or her preferred method of payment, when payments require registration or when the process is not easy and there are mundane tasks or steps in order to complete the purchase. The type of your business and turnover are crucial in determining what works best for you, so make sure you take some time and determine what’s the best option to secure easy online payment methods for your customers.

Closing Considerations

Your final consideration is not to be too pushy. Ultimately you want your marketing endeavors to subconsciously, gently, unobtrusively lead potential clients into choosing your products or services of their own volition. Remember the film Inception? It’s nearly impossible to plant an idea in someone’s head via dream, went the film logic.

However, if you can implant an archetype of the concept which leads the dreamer to come up with the idea on their own, then inception can be achieved. Well, this is what modern marketing is—minus the dreamscape gun battles. If you want to see visitors turn to regular customers, you’re going to have to be strategic about it in just this way.