I like to shop and own nice things, but being a minimalist, I don’t own much and tend to avoid spur-of-the-moment purchases with ease.

One friend, taking in a fancy to a relatively expensive new pair of shoes I had purchased, recently asked me: ‘How the hell can you afford to buy things like that?’

My secret is no secret at all: I can afford to buy nice things because I don’t make low-value purchases. A low-value purchase is anything that is of low intrinsic value or even just totally unnecessary for me, personally.

So how does one avoid making low-value purchases? Every time you are in the position to make a purchase, you are up against billions of advertising dollars wielded by people much smarter than any of us who are determined to convince you to buy that t-shirt. Or those earrings. Or that snow cone. Or those Beanie Babies.

Not only that, but every single moment of every day is a potential consumer experience. You can just as easily buy a new digital camcorder from your recliner as from the local Best Buy, and if you really need to get your fix for the day, why not use your iPhone to One-Click purchase a new pair of running shoes from the bathroom? How easy is that?

So that’s the consumer environment we’re living in, and I deal with the same temptations as everyone else. How do I dodge the marketing missiles, unravel the urge to acquire and pulverize the passive payment predisposition?

I learn as much as I can about marketing.

Consider this: I do marketing consultation for my clients, and though a lot of what I’ve learned has been ‘in the field,’ the first several marketing classes I took taught me all I needed to know in order to identify the marketing tactics being used against me by everyone from Apple to organized religions to the Big Brothers Big Sisters children’s charity. Becoming aware of these tactics was a huge eye-opener, and to this day I can look at just about any kind of marketing push, see it for what it is, and more easily come to rational conclusions regarding the products, services or ideas they’re pushing.

Being able to see past the brand to the innate value proposition has greatly reduced the amount of ’stuff’ I accumulate.

Here are a few quick tips and things to look out for to get you started:

1. Market segmentation: When a new company is being started, one of the first things the owners have to do is identify their audience. In some cases it can be as simple as ‘people who drink coffee in the surrounding area,’ but in most cases it’s more along the lines of ‘late-teen to early 30-something hipsters and hipster wannabes who consider the location, aesthetics and terminology used in relationships to their coffee- and coffee-related-beverage drinking experience just as important as the beverage itself; household income $35k-125k/year; mainly caucasian and mixed-race; mainly young professionals and entrepreneurs; laptop owners; well-dressed and style-conscious….’ and on and on and on.Let it be known: every time you walk into a store you are either confirming or denying their market segmentation research, and certain stores cater toward one group or another. Gap owns Old Navy and Banana Republic in addition to its main Gap stores, but Old Navy is meant to be cheaper and for a lower economic-class audience (with its cheaper quality clothing, sizes that run larger and ‘late to the party’ styles), while Banana Republic is aimed at a wealthier audience with different priorities (which is why they offer in-store tailoring, more business suits than swim suits, and preppier sweaters and khakis)I hate knowing that I’ve been labeled and filed under a category by these marketing folk. On the other hand, I’ve always preferred Banana Republic and couldn’t figure out why I could never find anything that I liked or that fit me at Gap or Old Navy. As much as it riles me up, knowing about market segmentation has helped me not waste money and time at places that aren’t catering to my specific needs.
2. Branding: The dirty little secret of branding is that most brands, especially the really well-known ones, are of basically the same quality as their lower-priced competitors. Why the cost difference? You’re paying for the brand…the idea…the story that comes with that pair of shoes or piece of furniture. The largest and most profitable companies don’t make products, they build brands.Take Nike, for instance. Nike stopped making shoes a long time ago. These days their dollars go toward building up their storyline by hiring the right athletes to wear their logo, creating advertising spots that have the right atmosphere, and engaging youth by sponsoring the right tournaments and basketball courts.The shoes? They come from the same factories that make Adidas, Pumas, New Balance, and Wal-Mart’s in-house brand. These are shoes that cost $2 to make that are being bought up and sold for well over $100 because of the logo (while shoes with the same level of quality are being sold at Wal-Mart for $30). Being aware of the price you pay for the company’s branding can help you save a LOT of money. In some cases buying a particular branded item over another unbranded one can make sense, but it’s rare.
3. Product integration: Every time you turn on the TV or take a glance at any other media outlet, you see product integration (whether you consciously register it or not). Product integration involves taking a product (Pepsi, for example) and putting it somewhere that will attract a lot of eyeballs (in the hand of the protagonist in a movie, for example). Marketers are getting clever and not blatantly parading the product around anymore, but the subtle integration actually works better, as most movie audiences will still notice that, yes, Brad Pitt is holding a Pepsi (as opposed to having him mention it in his character’s dialogue, for example). They didn’t go overboard announcing it, so that’s probably what he asked for. Must be his drink of choice. Hmmmm….These thoughts are usually subconscious on the part of the audience, and that’s just what the marketers want. A subconscious association between Pepsi and Brad Pitt has been made, and now when you think of Pepsi, you think sexy, virile, Angelina Jolie, Fight Club, cool. All positive associations. In a way, these marketers are borrowing Brad Pitt’s image and applying it to their brand, hoping that when it’s removed (i.e., the scene is over), that some of that image will have rubbed off on their soft drink.Being aware of this has allowed me to filter out a lot of the subliminal advertising that goes on around me, and my barricades are even stronger when that knowledge is combined with number 4…
4. Advertising tactics: In addition to product integration, there are many, MANY other tactics that marketers use to get you to buy their product. There’s no way I could possibly list them all here, but a sampling includes pairing products together in order to create the illusion of increased value for both, special sales (in order to get consumers hooked so that they’ll keep coming back when the sale is over), on-location informational kiosks, billboards, etc (also called ‘point-of-purchase’ advertising) which allow marketers to get information to customers as they’re going through the Consumer Decision-Making Process (this is a big focus for many marketers), and taking advantage of the appeal that comes with exclusivity (which makes the customer feel as if they are part of a select group).There are valid arguments as to why these tactics can actually be handy for consumers, as well, especially in regards to making information available when the consumer is figuring out whether or not they want to make the purchase. It should be noted, however, that this information is innately skewed in favor of the product, so you will not see any negatives, only positives. Online retailers are a bit better because many allows customer comments on products, but trust me as someone who builds e-commerce websites: they can and DO screen, alter and remove reviews that don’t suit their bottom line.

Keeping these things in mind will help you be more aware of the marketing buzz in the air around you, but I highly encourage everyone to read a few books on the issue, take an online course, or anything that will give you a basic knowledge of the marketing process and how it impacts consumer purchasing decisions.

Being aware allows me to have fewer, nicer things while still saving enough money to be location independent, and it can do the same for you. So buy now! I mean, uh, have a nice day!

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