🧑‍🔬 How To Inspire And Win Customers

🧪 Self-Image Congruity

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 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…”