Psychology allows us to understand the behavior of a person in their daily life. One of the methods to do this is the study of the basic needs defined in the Maslow pyramid. We tell you the relevance of the concept, in the field of psychology, marketing and advertising.
Psychological theory is capable of explaining complex issues such as why we act in a certain way, the type of clothing we wear or our choices when buying goods or contracting services.
Brands and large companies make business decisions based on this information. They put effort and resources into finding small ways to influence customer behavior and thus achieve better business results.
But… what are needs? And, thinking about the scope of a business, how, then, can the needs of the human being intervene in marketing or advertising strategies?
What are basic needs
The main human needs are those that have to do with the maintenance of life. We refer, for example, to eating, breathing, sleeping, everything that allows us to keep our body working.
In addition to these, there are other basic needs, which have to do with the things we like, what we need to work, grow, have health or live in society, among others.
One of the psychologists who worked the most on this subject was Abraham Maslow. In his theory, he prioritized human needs and created a “pyramid of needs” that groups and orders them in a specific way.
Maslow’s Pyramid
Maslow’s pyramid, also known as the hierarchical scheme of basic human needs, gained prominence beginning in the mid-20th century with the publication of his book A Theory of Human Motivation.
Maslow’s theory proposes a list of basic needs that all human beings need to satisfy. In addition, he presents them in the form of a pyramid because it ranges from the most elementary, to those that we do not necessarily have to cover to survive.
So Maslow’s pyramid proposes a hierarchy of human needs. As the most basic ones (located at the bottom) are satisfied, we develop more complex aspirations (located at the top of the scheme).
The basic needs according to Abraham Maslow are:
- Physiological needs
- security needs
- Membership Needs
- recognition needs
- self-actualization needs
When asked what needs are, we can appreciate that there is much more than “staying alive”.
The first four levels of the scheme can be grouped under the title of “deficit needs” while we can refer to the last one speaking of the “needs of being”.
Let’s take a closer look at what each of these basic needs is about and how we can link them to your marketing needs.
Physiological needs
In this first level of the pyramid are the basic needs to be able to survive, those that we have innately since we are born.
It is the lowest step and the base of Maslow’s pyramid because it includes issues related to survival, for example:
- breathe
- feed and hydrate
- rest
- avoid pain
- maintain body temperature
security needs
Once those basic needs are covered, you can move to a higher rung of the pyramid: the desire to be protected.
To give some examples of these human needs, feeling safe includes a physical aspect of one’s body and health, as well as the resources to protect oneself, such as housing and other elements of private property.
Membership Needs
Following the same logic, once the human being has the physiological and security aspect covered, he moves on to the next type of need in Maslow’s pyramid, which is to socialize and obtain affection.
This type of need refers to belonging to a social group, fulfilling that search for contact with other people through relationships with family, friends, partner and colleagues.
recognition needs
This level of the pyramid appeals to the needs of esteem and recognition for oneself (self-esteem) and for others.
It seeks to satisfy the requirement of feeling valued as an individual, both personally and professionally. Maslow divides it into two parts:
- The “high” esteem need includes self-respect with feelings such as confidence, achievement, and competence.
- The need for “low” esteem understands what is the respect of others such as appreciation, recognition, attention and reputation.
self-actualization needs
Self-realization is the last level that Maslow raises and it is only reached once the other levels are complete (especially the most basic ones). As we said, this step refers to the need to be and the motivation for growth.
He defines it as a personal development, a justification and search for meaning in life, from the development of an activity.
So far our journey through the basic needs of human beings to live. In you can access more general characteristics of the theory.
How do these needs affect human behavior?
This theory is based on the assumption that the need to complete each of these levels motivates the human being to fulfill them. Consequently, that search is what will condition his actions.
This dissatisfaction pushes people to seek to complete the next step and defines their way of acting. The most basic needs will be more instinctive while the higher ones will require more motivation and will depend on each individual.
It also assumes that humans have an innate desire to achieve self-realization and therefore, as far as they can, they will try to climb this pyramid in search of fulfilling their goals.
For example, a person is not going to take care of having a good reputation in front of others if he does not first meet his physiological and safety needs.
How to Use Basic Necessities in Marketing
Having in mind what the basic needs of the human being are, we can continue delving into the subject to link it to the business world.
Understanding what is behind people’s behavior can help you better understand a consumer. It is possible to use Maslow’s theory and apply it directly to a product and marketing strategy.
How? A brand can make its product directly appeal to one (or more) of these needs in a relevant way and thus create a stronger connection with its consumers.
Tips for applying Maslow’s pyramid to marketing
- Design the branding of the business looking for a specific step of the Maslow pyramid.
Take the case of a car that stands out for having an audio system of the latest technology or speed. There the focus is on the needs for recognition and affiliation, to belong to a specific status.
- Knowing in depth the product or service you are offering allows you to analyze and understand what needs it may be covering.
The marketing strategy of a food brand, for example, is not only oriented towards satisfying the physiological need for nutrition. It can also fulfill the need for security, if it is something healthy.
- Analyze your business communications to understand if your company, for example, is clearly conveying what needs it seeks to cover.
- Put the client as the protagonist to understand what they need. By understanding what basic wants and needs our target segment wants to cover, we can design better targeted campaigns.
To help you in this task, try creating your , that is, a representation of the client to whom your product or service is destined.
It is very important to analyze from marketing how a product can meet one of the needs and how it is going to be presented to connect a person with that motivation that is going to close a sale.
conclusion
Before we go, let’s recap a few key points. The basic needs of the Maslow pyramid are:
- Physiological: breathing, feeding, rest, homeostasis.
- Of security: physical, employment, resources, moral, family, health, private property.
- membership: friendship, affection, intimacy.
- Of recognition: self-recognition, trust, respect, success.
- of self-realization: morality, creativity, spontaneity, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts, problem solving.
Analyzing these concepts can be useful to think of multiple business approaches, creative ideas in advertising or new marketing strategies.
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