In today’s digital age, “FOMO” or the “fear of missing out”, is a common fear shared amongst consumers, marketers and entrepreneurs alike about missing out on great opportunities that are very trendy and hot.
In this article we will take a look at what FOMO is, the different types of FOMO that exist in marketing along with some effective use case examples you can use inside your marketing.
What is the FOMO Marketing Strategy?
The FOMO marketing strategy is a form of marketing in which you leverage the customer’s time sensitive desire and market to them in order to make a sale. The marketing message and advertising is structured in a very specific way. Such that, it triggers the impulsive customers to make a purchase. The FOMO marketing strategy centers it’s marketing message around the following criteria below.
- Urgency
- Specific Time Limit
- Social Proof
- Highlights The Feeling of Missed Opportunity
It is meant to trigger people to take action quickly or otherwise they might miss the chance to capitalize on a massive opportunity or deal that is happening right in front of them.
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The truth is that most people want to fit it and feel trendy. They feel like they are missing an opportunity they know that they may have regret in the future.
A perfect example of FOMO in today’s digital age is the current cryptocurrency boom. The price of Bitcoin is continuing to rise at unprecedented rates almost daily and this has been known to cause quite a bit of FOMO in people.
Now that you have a better understanding of what FOMO marketing is, let’s take a look at specific FOMO marketing strategies and how they are used in today’s marketing landscape.
The Different Types of FOMO
In order to help you get a better understanding of FOMO that is used in marketing, we will take a look at the different types of FOMO that exist today.
The FOMO Urgency
The FOMO marketing strategy is meant to create a sense of urgency for buyers and people to take action immediately for a product, deal or opportunity. The marketing messages are meant to be structured in a way to make buyers think that they need to act quickly or otherwise they will miss a good deal.
Some common call to action that is typically used to induce a sense of urgency in FOMO marketing includes:
- Act Now
- Only (x amount ) remaining
- Time is of the essence
- Hurry before it’s too late
- Limited spots available
These types of call to action messages in FOMO marketing are meant to invoke urgency and scarcity in order to push people to make a purchase.
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The FOMO Social Proof Marketing
Social proof in FOMO marketing is a way of using the experience of other people to showcase a product or service. This serves as further validation or “proof” of a product or service. Humans are social animals and we tend to make purchasing decisions based on the reviews and experience of other people.
If a certain product has a long list of reviews, customer feedback or even video testimonials, people are more likely buy.
In general people want to fit it and not miss trends or useful products and services. FOMO in social proof marketing is extremely powerful when it comes to helping people make purchasing decisions, especially if the price of a product or service is much higher.
The FOMO Time Limit
Nothing creates a greater FOMO than a hard time limit. If people feel like they only have a certain amount of time to take action for a specific deal, sale or opportunity they are most likely to take action.
This is commonly seen in specific internet marketing tactics that have a countdown in place for you to make a purchase for a product or otherwise the deal or sale will expire. It’s very effective if you are selling digital products or services.
The FOMO Feeling Of Missed Opportunity
The FOMO feeling of missed opportunity is a common marketing tactic that is used to pull on your emotional strings in order to get you to think about how you would feel if you missed a good deal or opportunity. Common phrases you might see being used in this type of FOMO marketing strategy includes:
- Don’t miss this amazing deal
- Act now to lock in your price
- Don’t be like the rest the crowd
- Not taking action will cost you
No one wants to feel like they missed out on a great opportunity or deal and you will most commonly see these types of advertisements and marketing pieces around certain holidays when businesses are heavily advertising sales discounts.
Using FOMO as a Marketing Tool
If used correctly, FOMO can be an extremely valuable tool to help you increase sales, get more customers and spread further brand awareness. Some of the best FOMO strategies trigger the feeling of missing without directly pitching a product or service.
A tool that showcases social proof without directly pushing a product or service is our own Software. It’s a piece of software that is installed on your website that verifies anytime a person takes a certain action on your website such as buying, signing up or downloading something.
It is a great way to indirectly showcase social proof without pitching the product. It gets the users attention and makes them feel like they too should take action.
FOMO Marketing Examples
Another effective way to use FOMO inside your marketing is by providing website visitors access to current behavior that occ. This can include things such as:
- Live visitor count
- Conversions that have taken place on your website
- Customer testimonials
- People that bought this item also purchased this one
The correct way to use FOMO inside your marketing is subtly enough to peak the interest of people. From there it’s best to let them make the decisions on their own. Below is a small list of 10 different FOMO marketing examples that you can use.
- Place a time limit on a deal or offer
- Send time sensitive emails
- Show customer reviews and testimonials
- Prove that other people are making purchases
- Use popular influencers in your marketing campaign
- Show low stock numbers of your products
- Use countdowns on your product page
- Offer limited free shipping
- Send exclusive deals to individual customers
- Create a structured email sequence
These are a few of the many different FOMO marketing strategies that exist. They can help you increase your sales, spread brand awareness and improve your overall marketing arsenal.