The Tribune

MARKETING REVOLUTION

By D’ARCY RAHMING

EVERY Christmas the toy companies play a wonderful trick on us parents that “forces” us to double the money we spend. I saw this happen many times before and was the victim of this trick myself before I read the book, ‘Influence, the Psychology of Persuasion’, by Robert Cialdini. I realised then how I was being played, and even began to recognise it across other industries. Here’s how it works.

The company introduces a toy and puts a lot of marketing and PR hype behind it. They do a very limited release in a few markets, and carefully watch and listen to the buzz to see which toys are likely to be the hot ones. Before long, every child is begging his parents for it for Christmas. Then they produce far less than the anticipated demand.

This scarcity produces a couple of effects. The first is a frantic search to find this toy. Black Friday shopping leads to fights, stampedes and even deaths among seemingly normal people. And if you can’t find the toy, you naturally buy one of similar value, hoping this will please the child. It won’t.

The second effect is many happy or sad faces at present opening time. Those who win are ecstatic, those who lose are ungrateful for what they got. In fact, I’ve heard of tremendous temper tantrums being thrown when the correct toy has not been received. Personally, my children never pulled that one on me, as they knew I would make them give away everything else they received or throw it in the garbage.

The third effect is the after Christmas sale. You feel guilty because you could not get the toy. When it suddenly becomes available in January, and the child starts nagging that you promised you would get it, you buy it and the toy companies are very happy. So is the child. As for you, I’m not so sure.

But you can use this scarcity tactic in a very positive way. I am assuming that your products and services provide value to people’s lives. Scarcity increases the value of whatever you are selling. You have to find the right timing for when to reintroduce the product or service, so that your clients do not forget about it or find a substitute.

Under-producing products are not the only way to achieve scarcity. There are many ways to implement scarcity, such as limited time offers, creating an event with a specific time, or even creating a gift for the first 100 people to respond. Every marketing or advertising campaign should include a scarcity element.

NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds a Masters of Management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in the general insurance, retail, health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. To receive his marketing newsletter FREE go to http://DArcyRahming.com or contact him directly at darcyrahmingsr@gmail.com