Hot Button #1 – The Desire for Control
Many people think their lives are out of control. They don't know where they're going or how they're going to get there. Loss of control is synonymous with a fear of the unknown. People equate loss of control with loss of power over one's own destiny – or of the destiny of one's loved ones.

Hot Button #2 – I'm Better than You 
The desire for status is universal. The status appeal is not only related to people. What do chickens do and baboons do?  Carve out a pecking order of sorts. Status is an overwhelming drive. When you sell your product on its status appeal, you are implying that the competition is weak in some way – or actually inferior – and only the riff-raff will buy their products.

Hot button #3 – The Excitement of Discovery 
They say a true intellectual is one who can listen to the “William Tell Overture” without thinking of the Lone Ranger. My idea of a gourmet is one who can dig into a Cracker Jack box without first checking out the prize inside. The joy of discovery is uncovering the unexpected – finding a source of physical and emotional power.

Hot Button #4 – Revaluing
This is a relatively new hot button. In the early fifties, they toddled. In the 60s they marched. During the 70s and 80s they built careers and families. Who are we talking about? Baby Boomers. These Baby Boomers are entering yet another phase in their lives  – Revaluing.

Hot Button #5 – Family Values
   This hot button is also a driving consumer force that should be taken advantage of by savvy marketers. The continuity of family relationships is one of the strongest consumer motivations.  But today's vision of family togetherness is more a function of the media's treatment of family life than reality. Even though, according to Why They Buy, by Robert Settle and Pamela Albeck, only one in twenty families fits the bill of a single marriage, double parent, two children household, we still want a quick fix to our family problems like those in sitcoms.

Hot Button #6 – The Desire to Belong
When James Taylor wrote, "You've got a Friend,” an anthem of a sort in the sixties, he didn't know he was writing a marketing essay. Many people play team sports and travel for the camaraderie of the sport and the desire to belong. A research study asked people if they would rather be on a winning team of gung ho personalities who went separate ways after the game, or on a losing team that gathered together after the game for good times.  Most of the people chose the latter.

Hot Button #7 – Fun Is Its Own Reward
   Marketing is serious business.  Who has dollars to waste on frivolity? Yo, lighten up.  Don't take yourself and your product so seriously. You can have fun with your product and make money.  Almost any product can be fun if we get back to the child within us and appeal to the child in the consumer.

Hot Button #8 – Poverty of Time
   Poverty of time is a huge handicap. This is particularly true for women in their childbearing years. Taking care of the kids and putting dinner on the table is still considered the woman's job. It doesn't matter if the woman works forty hours a week, attends PTA meetings in the evening and writes computer software in her spare time. Even prominent women executives in so-called liberated homes are trying to play super-mom. These women, despite their business standings, consider parenting their prime job and proof of importance and worth.

Hot Button #9 – The Desire to Get the Best that Can be Got
   There is a certain mystique about buying the best one can reasonably afford. It's different than the desire for status because this involves owning a treasure strictly for the personal satisfaction of owning the best.  In every category there is an "est" factor.  It is the brightest, fanciest, fastest product in a given category – the quintessential.  Buying the best is a tool of one upsmanship.  You can't be one-upped if you have the finest.

Hot Button #10 – Self-Achievement
There was a headline in a recent issue of Inc. that summed it up: "Picture Yourself a Success." It was the personification of the rewards of self-achievement. Self-achievement is a major goal for most people.  The saying goes, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." Not so. It's whether you win or lose.  The real phrase should be, "It's not whether you win or lose, it’s whether I win."

Hot Button #11 – Love of Cosmo and All That It Stands For
According to The New York Times, even blue green algae do it. Do what? Bond with each other to have baby algae. According to the article, blue green algae have to get together spiritually in order to reproduce. Of course we all know that blue green algae are asexual beings and reproduce by cloning themselves. When they want to do this, they gather together as a group. Sort of a one-celled singles bar.

Hot Button #12 – The Nurturing Response
What do the following have in common? Lucky Dog dog food, Band-Aids, a bowl of hot, steaming cereal and a trip to Disney World. They all have to do with the nurturing experience.  The nurturing instinct is one of the great pulls of life. The desire to give care is strong, and probably even stronger than the urge to get care.

Hot Button #13 – Reinventing Oneself
   A person who has no regrets is a person who has not yet left the womb.  Consumers and business buyers carry a great deal of physical and emotional baggage with them. A trip or vacation can help a person start over or it can be a symbol of starting over.

Hot Button #14 – Make me Smarter
   This whole website (and book) is about emotion and the irrationality of the human purchase decision and now we're talking about appeals to the intellect?  Yes. Because people want to think they're smart. Knowledge comes in many forms. While it's expensive to educate consumers, it can be done in ads, on the package and even in brochures and telephone calls.

Hot Button #15 – Power and Dominance
   "Power may corrupt" as the saying goes, and "absolute power may corrupt absolutely," but it makes a great marketing hook.  Instill your product and sales pitch with power that the customer can harness to get more power.

Hot Button #16 – Wish Fulfillment
In every product category, there is an ideal. In the travel category, for example, the wish may be for a deserted isle, surrounded by pristine beaches – all expenses paid.  Of course, on this isle will be a four-star hotel with room service and the requisite jet skis and motorboats. You probably can't deliver wishes, but in most dreams, the anticipation is better than the reality. Sell the dream.

But that's just the beginning. Buy the book, or check-out the book at your local library. You can probably read the book at your local Borders or Barnes and Noble over a latte. Better yet, become a "Certified Hot Button Marketing Firm™ and make money from your knowledge by giving seminars. Please e-mail me for details at feig@barryfeig.com