“One of the purposes of life, and selfishly what makes people happy, is building things that are impactful.” – Dustin Moskovitz, Born May 22, 1984.
I disagree with Dustin here, but only slightly, and I'll forgive him because his audience are going to be “achievers”.
People don't typically want to build anything. Not most people.
But it's 100% true that people have a deep need to FEEL impactful, even if they don't build anything. Even completely useless people will say things like “having children gave me purpose” and it's because being a parent is a guaranteed impactful role, even if you fuck it up or don't even stick around.
Impact.
People want to matter to someone.
They want to influence someone.
They want to be remembered by someone.
They want to be recognized by someone for something.
And so much of consumer culture is sold on this very premise. Eat this, wear this, watch this, read this, smell like this, listen to this, drive this, be this, support this, vote for this, etc. Why? Because if you do, you will MATTER.
So take a look at whatever it is you're selling and figure out how it will make your buyer MATTER. How will it enable them to make an IMPACT on people they want recognition from?
Even if you sell mops, who is going to be impacted by the purchaser of that mop? Will it make the family appreciate mom? You've seen commercials for mops that portray exactly this.
Simple, right? Try it.