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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

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CPG MBA
October 31, 2023

In 1943, American psychologist Abraham Maslow published his paper “A Theory of Human Motivation.” In it, he outlined a model for motivational theory that came to be known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

The model describes five tiers of human needs: physiological, safety, love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. The general concept is that lower-level needs like food, water, and shelter must be met before higher needs can be addressed.

Here’s a quick rundown on the different categories:

Physiological Needs: These make up our most basic physiological motivations (a.k.a. the stuff you need to survive). These include—but are not limited to—food, water, and shelter.

Safety & Security Needs: These needs come from our natural desire to feel safe. They include things like physical safety (police, fire departments, hospitals), emotional security, financial security (employment, social welfare services), social stability, and more.

​​Love & Belonging Needs: As humans, we all desire to belong. We have a need for interpersonal relationships and connectedness.

Self-Esteem Needs: Maslow classified these needs into two categories. First, esteem for oneself (dignity, independence, etc.), and secondly, the need for respect from others (social status).”

Self-Actualization Needs: The highest level in the hierarchy, self-actualization needs refers to a person recognizing what their full potential is. This search for self-fulfillment is defined through things like chasing personal growth and seeking out big, life-changing experiences to reach one’s true potential (a.k.a. “peak experiences”).

You might be wondering, “How in the world does this apply to my CPG brand?”

It all comes down to two words: effective marketing.

With the rise of new tech and analytics tools, marketing has become highly personalized and targeted. In this modern marketing landscape, it’s crucial that you are able to understand the psychological drivers behind consumers’ purchasing decisions.

Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs when making marketing decisions can prove to be extremely beneficial, helping you target what matters most to individual customers.

Here’s how you can start incorporating the principle in your marketing strategy:

Build Buyer Personas

Before you start digging into people’s needs, you need to understand who your ideal customer is. This means building out what’s known as a “buyer persona.”

A buyer persona is a fictional profile and outline of your ideal customer. It includes things like their background, demographics, internal motivations, and pain points.

E.g. Your company makes healthy, high-end, protein-packed cereal called “Natural Grains.” Your ideal buyer is a fictional character named Kathy. Here’s what Kathy’s buyer persona would look like:

  • Background / Demographics:

    • 45-50 years old

    • Lives in a high-income household

    • Stay-at-home mom of 3 teenagers

    • Maintains a busy schedule with kids’ extracurricular activities

    • Stays active, goes on runs in the morning, does yoga

  • Goals / Desires:

    • Wants to stay fit and healthy

    • Doesn’t have much time to eat

    • Doesn’t want to make big meals for just herself after her workout

    • Loves supporting friends and being supported in her local fitness community

  • Fears / Pain Points:

    • Stays away from overly-processed foods and foods containing high fructose corn syrup

    • Afraid of gaining excess weight and falling into the trap of living a sedentary lifestyle

Segment Needs

Now that you have your buyer persona built out, start assigning that customer’s needs to the different tiers in Maslow’s hierarchy.

E.g. Some of Kathy’s needs:

  • Stay healthy and trim - Self Esteem Needs

  • Be part of a fitness community - Love & Belonging Needs

  • Better her body and mind through running and yoga - Self-Actualization Needs

Target Specific Needs With Specific Marketing Activations

Now, you can target each of these needs through specific, tailored marketing activations. For example, instead of creating a general advertisement that shows how tasty your cereal is, you can hone in on the individual things that really matter to your customer.

E.g. Activations for Kathy’s needs:

  • You’re designing a new video advertisement for your cereal. You appeal to Kathy’s self-esteem needs by opening with a video of a fit woman in her 40s going for a jog. The woman ends her run and eats Natural Grains as a healthy post-exercise snack.

  • You design a social media campaign to run on Facebook and Instagram where people can share pictures of their workouts with the hashtag #RunNatural. By using the hashtag, Kathy joins a community of fellow health-focused individuals, filling a love and belonging need.

  • You’re sampling at Kathy’s local natural grocery store. At your stand, you’ve created an activity where customers can write one thing they’ve decided to do to better themselves this year. Customers can then share it on social media for a free sampler box of Natural Grains cereal.

    Kathy shares that she’s decided to better herself by trying new experiences, even if they scare her. She comes away from the sampling experience with not just a box of Natural Grains but a feeling of self-actualization as she works towards her bigger goals.

Tl;dr

By using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you’re able to hone in on customer needs and desires, building a more accurate buyer persona and more effective targeted marketing activations.

Until next time,
— The CPG MBA Team

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