scarcity marketing

Scarcity marketing is a well known technique to get people to think that they need to urgently buy whatever it is you are selling. It works because most humans have a fear of missing out. Particularly a fear of missing out on something that they think will bring them greater happiness, or power, or status.

A lot of people feel a similar fear of missing out on events and experiences that other people are doing. Social media is a FOMO generator.

We rarely hear people being scared of missing out on their own experiences. But given the amount of time spent considering alternative options—e.g., “what if I were doing what that person is doing”—it seems that the thing to be most afraid to miss is fully experiencing exactly what you are doing right now. It’s happening one time only. How much are you in it?