What Buyers in the Self-Help Market Really Want
The self-help business is in explosion mode.
According to The Denver Business Journal , “The self-help industry is expected to grow by 12.9 percent this year. The industry has become a $6 billion-a-year business, according to research compiled by Market Enterprise Inc.”
From quitting smoking, drinking, and overeating, to overcoming depression and PTSD, to becoming successful in business and romance, it seems nearly everyone needs “help” with something.
We might wonder what this means. Do people have more problems than they used to? Are we more willing to seek help for our problems? Are the problems taking too long to “fix”? Do people just enjoy seeking help?
Probably “yes” to all of the above. Whatever specific “help” is being sought, people are all really looking for pretty much the same thing.
Mammals, especially humans, have an instinctive need for social and emotional bonding. There’s a biological reason for this: the part of our brain known as the limbic system, which humans, mammals, and birds all have, while reptiles, amphibians, and simpler creatures do not. This is why humans, mammals, and birds all instinctively nurture their young, while many other creatures basically give birth and then slither away without a backward glance.
A child is born with needs, both physical and emotional. The parents’ response to these needs, beginning at birth, will determine the child’s health for a lifetime. Babies deprived of love and physical contact often suffer irreversible (and sometimes fatal) physical, mental, and emotional damage. What people who aren’t fortunate enough to be the beneficiaries of a nurturing early environment want may be a feeling rather than a thing or a condition.
We want wholeness…worthiness…acceptance. And most of all…love.
Whatever the cause of the self-help-seeker’s problem, sometimes it need only be acknowledged before it loses its power to make the person dysfunctional. When people feel whole, worthy, accepted, and loved, their problems often simply take care of themselves.
George Eliot said, “It is never too late to be what we might have been.” This, ultimately, is the goal of the self-help business: to help people become what they might have been.
The self-help industry has a world of work to do–important and rewarding work. If you’re a provider of self-help services, find a marketing expert with a heart for the self-help niche.
Lisa J. Lehr is a freelance copywriter specializing in direct response and marketing collateral, with a special interest in the health, pets, specialty foods, and inspirational/motivational/self-help niches. She has a degree in biology, has worked in a variety of fields including pharmaceuticals and teaching, and has volunteered for many causes including special-needs kids and literacy. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, art, music, outdoor exercise, and all things Celtic and Renaissance.
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