A Pergola Taught Me How Human I Am
Working as a social media content writer means convincing people that a product is the answer to all their problems. To do that, I have to do a deep dive into the product — what’s good about it, what problems it solves, etc — and frame it as an essential item to the audience.
I write about these products so much I convinced myself.
When I write about my client’s burgers, I have this urge to open Uber Eats and buy one. The same thing happens with rugs. My client’s rugs look magical and I wanted to buy one (especially the black and white doodle one). I’m not even a rug person! I procrastinate every time I need to vacuum, so having a rug would be a disaster. Still, that didn’t stop me from daydreaming.
Fortunately, most of my clients are restaurants in my city, so I can just hop on the bus and try one of their dishes. Last month, however, I started daydreaming about a product much more expensive than a burger. I was convinced that I needed a pergola in my front yard. I’ve been writing for this pergola company for roughly six months, and two months ago they launched their aluminium pergola collection. Then, a DIY influencer featured this product on her channel and I couldn’t stop watching.
Aluminium pergolas are cool. The roof can open and close with a remote — I imagine how much fun I’d have watching it move. It’s DIY, too, so I could ask my friends to come build a pergola and make an event out of it. The fantasy is so much fun that I started comparing pergola prices across the web.
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The dream shattered when I remembered that I was a renter. As we all know, in Melbourne, Australia, you can’t have a pergola without the landlord’s permission. My landlord is great, but a pergola’s a bit much for the house, so she said no. Even I can see how cramped the front yard will be if I force a pergola in there. So, there’s that.
But, I still daydream about having a pergola from time to time. I even promised myself that I’d be rich enough one day to buy a house and then put a pergola in it. The desire to have this pergola surprised me quite a bit, to be honest. I was never big on shopping. There’s never any urge to buy the new iPhone that just came out or follow the Stanley bottle trend. So why pergola?
I realised that I was essentially doing what I wanted my audience to do. I interact with this product and learn about the benefits. I imagine having a pergola every day because I wanted the audience to believe that this product can solve their problem.
Before this happened, I know how marketing works. After this, I know how effective it is. Expose your audience to a product enough that you can slowly convince them that they need it. Get an opinion leader to endorse your product and voila! People will start buying.
That’s just human nature.
As someone who considers herself a thoughtful consumer, I can finally understand why people buy things impulsively. I learned that people always fantasise about stuff they see, fit it into their daily lives, and convince themselves, that ‘Yes, I need this thing,’ Just like I do.
Well, we’re all human after all.
