🧑‍🔬 How To Inspire And Win Customers

Ambitious marketers should read this.

Author

Josh Viner
March 05, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Two weeks ago we analyzed ads from the book-summary app, Headway.

This week we’re looking at another book summary app, Blinkist, which has over 25 million downloads.

Their ads are a masterclass in how to inspire and win customers.

They do it with the theory of Self-Image Congruity.

Here’s what I mean:

🧪 Self-Image Congruity

Self-Image Congruity theory suggests that consumers buy products they believe are consistent with their self-image or ideal self-image.

According to management psychologist MJ Sirgy who coined the term, the strongest predictor of purchase behaviour is when both self-image and product-image are positive, followed by when the product is positive but self-image is negative, as people will use the product to “fix” their negative self-image.

🤳 How Blinkist Uses Self-Image Congruity

Blinkist gets their prospects to think:

“Yes, that’s who I want to be so I should do what they tell me.”

Or,

“Yes, that’s who I am so I should do what they suggest.”

Here are some examples:

And it seems to really work. Once they have one winning headline, they re-use it in a variety of different ways:

🧠 How You Can Use Self-Image Congruity

The key to Self-Image Congruity is to present an ideal self within your brand.

Who is the person your potential customers want to become?

This is why Apple’s famous “Think Different” campaign was so impactful - it spoke to ambitious creative people’s ideal image of themselves. Apple wasn’t for those working “boring” corporate jobs like Microsoft, it was for “the crazy ones.”

So here’s how you can use Self-Image Congruity in your ads:

  • Make your brand feel exclusive

  • Target a specific customer avatar

  • Call out your customer’s ideal self in your headline or hook

  • Use the noun in copy, rather than the verb - people identify better with nouns (e.g., say “For runners”, rather than “For those who want to get into running:")

Here are some hooks you can use:

  • “If you are a true [ideal self], you know about…”

    • Example: “If you are a true CEO you know about…”

  • “For [ideal self noun] who aren’t afraid of [negative emotion associated with ideal self]…”

    • Example: “For CEOs who aren’t afraid to fail…”

  • “[ideal self] are all talking about…”

    • Example: “Female CEOs are all talking about…”

So, how will you speak directly to your customer’s ideal self?

How will you make them think “That’s exactly who I want to be/am so I should click to learn more.”

Let me know how it goes!

Until next time,

Josh

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