The 6 Human Needs - Knowing These Can Turn Your Prospect Into Rabid
Copyright 2006 Alvin Toh
No matter who you are or what you do, there’s a common
force that’s driving that shapes your emotions and
behavior. It determines how you live, the quality of life
and ultimately your destiny.
This universal force is the human need. Irrespective of
where you are in the world, what culture you are from, what
color, status, background, we are universally driven by our
human needs. We can break it down to 6 areas of human
needs. They are unconscious needs that automatically drive
us.
Of these 6 needs, you can view them into two broad
categories. One group is the primal need and the other
spiritual need.
There are 4 human needs in the Primal needs group. These
are the needs you would seek to fulfill as a base and
drives every one of us.
First need is the need of Certainty. Everyone wants
stability about their basic necessities like food, shelter
and other material resources. When people cannot control
their physical circumstances, they seek certainty through a
state of mind such as religious faith or positive
affirmations.
Second need is the need for Variety. People have a need to
change their state to exercise their body and emotions.
They seek variety through different ways like change of
environment, physical activity, mood change, change of
people they interact with, entertainment and others. The
need for variety sometimes runs into conflict with the need
for certainty.
The 3rd need is the need for Significance. Everyone needs
to feel special and important in some way. People seek
significance through recognition from others or from
themselves. Some people meet this need in a paradoxical
way. Some people when they feel insignificant or helpless
will go out to get others to recognize how significant
their problems are and how helpless they are. This
ironically raises their significance, just by getting
people to acknowledge the enormity of their problem and
their helplessness.
The 4th need is the need for Love and Connection. We all
need to feel connected with someone or something be it a
person, an ideal, a sense of identity. Connection may take
the form of love or just engagement. One can still be
connected by means of an aggressive interaction.
That was the 4 Primal needs. The next 2 are classified more
in Spiritual needs.
The 5th need is the need for growth. Everything in the
universe is either growing or dying. Many are not satisfied
spiritually unless our capacities are expanding.
The 6th need is the need for Contribution. Just as we
survive through the contribution of others (our parents for
example), we seek to be spiritually fulfilled through
contribution.
The fulfillment of the spiritual needs gives rise to more
sustainable joy versus momentary pleasure associated with
just fulfilling the primal needs.
There are many ways that people find to meet these needs
whether they are positive, negative or neutral ways. We
unconsciously act to fulfill our needs and some actions may
fulfill a subset of these needs or all of them. When we
have a behavior that fulfills at least 3 of these needs,
these actions are considered strongly addictive or
sometimes known as habits as they fulfill more than half of
your needs. Again, these actions can sometimes be positive,
negative or neutral to ourselves.
So how do we use this knowledge in marketing?
In evaluating what you are providing, look at if you are
fulfilling any of these human needs and especially if you
are able to meet at least 2 to 3 of the 6 at a high level.
That’s when you have a compelling story or offer that
fulfills a person’s strongest desire.
Look at how they market a high end car like a BMW. You are
sold on just how great the engineering of the car and how
its handling gives you unsurpassed confidence (CERTAINTY)
in any condition on the road. Its safety features protect
you (CERTAINTY) like none other. Its various controls,
gadgets and funky designs allows you to change your
experience (VARIETY) whilst you are driving. The name of a
BMW says something about you being an owner and driver who
is discerning (SIGNIFICANCE) and accords you with some
stature. You will be part of a BMW Club (CONNECTION) where
you get to meet other owners and go on driving trips or
specially, exclusive invited events (SIGNIFICANCE).
Another message that is put forward “By buying a BMW, you
are actually doing yourself and your family a great favor
by providing them the best technology and safety for their
transport” (Contribution and Certainty). If you want to
upgrade your skills as a driver, you can be provided a
special free pass to BMW Driving School (Growth). They have
showroom with high class touches like a private cafe and
lounge (Significance) where staff greet you by name and
cater to you one on one.
I am just taking this an example of how I see the marketing
of a marquee car hits on the different human needs and I
took some liberties in some of the offers to illustrate the
point. I live in Singapore where these cars are selling
like hotcakes and yet we are one of the most expensive
markets for cars in the world due to the taxes. So knowing
the keys to market to the human needs can set you apart in
providing value to a customer even in the most competitive
market niche and create a rabid, loyal following, just like
drivers of BMW.
Note: I do not represent the view of the manufacturer or
have anything to do with BMW.
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Learn about how successful internet marketers are
exploiting the science of human psychology in marketing by
visiting
http://www.scientificwealthonline.com/art-6needs
