Content Marketing for an Impulse Purchase
Impulse purchases have a lot in common with distressed purchases. Content marketing for both of them involves showing instead of telling, since they are short decision cycles. Impulse purchases are things that we may not think about long-term, but suddenly find ourselves in a position to purchase them. As the name indicates, we make these decisions on impulse. When we come across such a product, we quickly decide if it’s something we want or need. While it may seem as if an impulse purchase isn’t greatly influenced by content on blogs or websites, this might not always be the case.
Sometimes an impulse purchase is just a matter of circumstances leading to a perfect storm. A potential customer may have been thinking about a product category for a long time, but suddenly they find themselves in a situation where they are in the store with money in hand. Apple is a good example of a company with products that might be purchased on impulse.
Because more people are carrying smartphones, when they have an impulse they are likely to do a quick search to compare prices and find out if the product they are about to buy is a good choice. For example, let’s say a family on vacation near the Grand Canyon and drives by a couple of places that offer helicopter rides. They might do some research on a phone or tablet to compare their options. If one company has an online presence with videos shot with a GoPro camera from the nose of the helicopter showing the happy screams of their customers and the other company doesn’t, all other things being equal, that will sway their decision.
Another example of an impulse purchase is getting a tattoo late at night or while on vacation. That would be very different from a tattoo purchase that someone has been planning for a long time. Even if it’s an impulse purchase, it’s not a matter of content marketing, but being at the right place at the right time. Think about the tattoo parlor that is conveniently located near a bar.
Content marketing for an impulse purchase needs to quickly demonstrate that you can fulfill your promise and give people the results that they want. This can be done in the form of pictures, videos, or stories.
If you need ideas about creating content for your business, sign up for our online tool. It’s free, and in 45 minutes you’ll have 64 topics to blog about or discuss. If you focus on what helps people make the decision to buy your product or service on that impulse, you’ll be ahead of the game and creating the right content for exactly the people who need it.