Marketing Tip

I may appear a bit archaic in discussing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. After all, it’s more than 65 years since he wrote the original article, and it’s been commented on many times by marketers and the psychology community. However, the Hierarchy of Needs can be a valuable tool in a sophisticated marketer’s toolbox. Quickly, the basic needs are:

• physiological
• safety
• love
• esteem
• self-actualization

Human Motivation and Marketing

Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs

An understanding of Maslow is more complex than what one gathers from a quick glance at any chart of the basic needs. Unfortunately, that is about all of us receive in most marketing books — if they mention him at all; which in my opinion is a shame. Why? Because in studying the Hierarchy of Needs you will find new perspectives when creating your ad campaigns. You will gain insight and understanding on motivation, leading to better conversions on direct mail, pay per click and other marketing campaigns. In the end the investment in studying Maslow’s hierarchy will help increase your campaign’s return on investment (ROI). However, what you will not find is a theory that answers all questions about human motivation. It is not an “end-all, be-all” answer to what motivates us.

Marketing Tool

There is no magic wand in marketing, there are only tools. I found Maslow is most useful as “one marketing tool among many.” For example, on those rare occasions I fix something at home, I often use a wrench, a screwdriver and a pair of pliers; sometimes a couple of different wrenches. I could try to repair everything with a pair of pliers, but that’s not very efficient and usually I end up marring a surface or stripping the head of a bolt. In the same fashion, if I am constructing a promotion for a client I may combine my understanding of the Hierarchy of Needs with Campbell’s explanation of the Hero’s Journey, and the Ries and Trout Positioning concepts. I might well consider a half-dozen others, depending on the scope of the promotion and the time I devote to it.

Maslow, then, provides a useful foundation to work from, especially when we try to gauge what set of needs our target audience is apt to be searching for. “Man is a perpetually wanting animal” Maslow notes, and yet we need to determine which of the needs we think are already satisfied (mostly) in our target audience. Then we can determine which of the “unsatisfied” needs to focus on as we develop our campaign.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Applied To Marketing

There is an important principle I missed when I first encountered Maslow in a simple “chart form”. He indicates that only percentages of the needs are filled at any one time. Most people simply don’t neatly fill each stage entirely, and then move up to the next stage.

This fact, that only a percentage of the needs are fulfilled at any time, allows us to craft unique, focused marketing campaigns targeting multiple needs. This key point is only one of the critical lessons learned by studying Maslow.

Other Marketing Tools

The next post will focus on specific applications in creating a marketing campaign. For our campaign, we will use the concept of Duty (as part of the Esteem needs) and combine it with the Safety and Love needs to illustrate a campaign for a financial institution…a bank.

Have you used Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” in your marketing campaigns? Or do you have a favourite Marketing tool you would like to share? We would like to hear from you.