Are you an Accidental Purchaser?
Do you acquire stuff even though you promised yourself you wouldn’t? Do parcels turn up and you wonder what you’ve bought? Do you struggle to see how it happened, again?
It’s not just you. We’ve all done it (yes, even me). I was pondering this thought while standing in my kitchen making a cuppa and half listening to a radio ad about investment banking. For the purposes of clarity, investment banking is not a service I have ever needed to employ and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. But - do I know this ad and the name of the company off by
heart? You bet.
This is not because I pay particular attention to ads, it’s because I am loyal listener of a particular radio station and the repetition of their advertisers means their information sticks, regardless of my engagement with it - and this is the trick.
This is how marketing works. Repeated exposure, even when you’re not paying attention.
If, by some miracle I come into a windfall and need an investment specialist, will I use this firm? Probably. Is that because I actually know they’re good at what they do? No! It will be because I haven’t had a bad experience with them, they’ll feel familiar and therefore they must be trustworthy.
Exposing us repeatedly to their brands and products is a tried and tested method companies use to get us to part with our cash. It varies, of course, but research shows that it takes on average just 7 of these exposures for us to invest our money in them. Brands insert themselves into our lives so insidiously, we don’t even notice them doing it.
In front of me right now I can see Vaseline, Carex, Bic, Whittards, Yorkshire Tea (about this I have ZERO regrets), Yale and Nissan, while listening to ads for other brands on the radio. Companies put their products in front of us all the time; in our homes, on supermarket shelves, around the neighbourhood, across our socials (more on this another time) and in our ears so frequently that without realising it, we begin to trust them and when we do that, we put our faith and our money in whatever they’re selling.
It’s clever, but once you become aware of it you will start to notice it everywhere and when you do that, you can make far more considered, properly informed, smart choices about what you buy and who you buy it from.
Remember this:
Making smart choices about your purchasing is one of the most effective, long-term ways to not only manage which items you buy, but to actually enjoy them.
