Companies assume that brand building is more of an art than a science. However, prominent companies use a combination of art meet science, to make decisions that appeal to their customers on an emotional and logical level.
When marketing enters the world of neuroscience marketing, it gives companies and brands an insight into the way the brain responds to certain stimuli. While neuroscience focuses more broadly on the behaviour of the human brain, “neuromarketing” looks at how companies can adapt their brand awareness strategies to influence customers on a psychological level.
Considering how much work we put into influencing the human brain, approaching branding from a scientific perspective makes a lot of sense especially because:
- 95% of buying decision are subconsciously made ( Harvard, 2018)
- Human brain process visuals 60,000 times faster than text which is why pictures are important to content. ( LivePlan, 2018)
- 70% of the time, companies struggle to get customer attention both on offline and online platforms. (Zoho, 2018)
Neuroscience Marketing Definition: The Connection between Brain and Brand
The biggest challenge for marketers in today’s world is getting better results while spending less money. How can we solve for this challenge? Neuromarketing. Since the begin of marketing companies are trying to understand human attitude and behaviour to create products, services, logos and campaigns that appeal to the right customer. Marketers have even used these strategies to identify ideal user personas, using the right demographics and psychographic information. The more you can learn about our customers from a scientific perspective, the more we can adjust our marketing campaigns and advertising strategies to appeal to the right group and minimise budgetary waste.
For a basic neuroscience understanding , you just need to know that neuroscience is a field of research that studies the cognitive and affective responses of human brain. Essentially, it focuses on figuring out how the brain responds to a certain stimuli. So, in the case of “neuromarketing”, the main focus is on finding out how the brain responds to certain stimuli in marketing. Big companies like Google and Disney have invested in neuroscience marketing.Neuromarketing uses neuroscience methods to measure consumers’ neurological reactions to products, commercials, brands and so on. Thus, companies assure maximum appeal and immense profits. Although they may offer different services and products, the objective of all businesses is common which is to understand our brain so they can manipulate us into desiring what they offer. Neuromarketing enables them to do exactly that.
How exactly does Neuromarketing work?
It is not as complicated as it sounds to be honest though it is very scientific. Let’s say you are asked to think of something, the brain impulses travel to the cortex of the brain and make the articulators respond. This process whole happens so fast that the Electroencephalogram, (EEG) can capture every impulse. During the half second from when our brain receives a stimulus, and before it reacts, there’s something entirely neurological happening that is free from the control of the conscious which we call subconscious. It’s the action before our conscious filters the data because of bias or societal responsibility. The EEG promptly reads these electrical waves and relates them to memory, emotions and attention according to the activity in specific areas of the brain. It’s fascinating and may sound complex , but this half-second is the prime time here. It will give an accurate insight of how a person feels when watching a commercial or thinking of a product.
Neuromarketers claim though such methods are more cost effective, but it is even more efficient than traditional methods such as focus groups or surveys. A test using neuroscience methods like EEG does not need thousands of people to produce accurate findings. It only requires a sample of just twenty people. The low sample number is because our brains are remarkably similar, although there are differences between gender difference and age difference are some of the variables. Skeptics are fearful about the use of neuromarketing and mass manipulation over consumers. However, it can be determined that these tests can provide companies with valuable information, unlike traditional strategies. With neuromarketing tools they will know how to design products to look, function and feel before they are even ready to hit the market, minimizing risk and maximizing all resources.
How to bring neuromarketing into action?
1. Add Color to Life
Using colors to sell something is the best approach to it because colors can have significant impact on the human brain. Utilizing color effectively can be a powerful marketing tool. One of the most famous examples is the Red of Coca Cola’s.
2.The Need for Speed
Neuromarketing is useful for detecting customer trends. Whilst companies often seek to portray a sense of safety and security, speed and efficiency may be what customers are after. For example, PayPal has discovered that the promise of convenience activated the brain more than security. They used this information to convert more shoppers to their online payment service by emphasizing their speedy payment system.
3.Setting the Right Price
We are all aware that pricing something at $9.99 instead of $10 is an advertising tactic, but does it work? One fascinating new piece of information being used by neuromarketers, is that rounded figures are more likely to work alongside emotional decision making, whilst more complex figures work better when the logical brain is engaged. This is because complex numbers make the brain work harder, perhaps convincing it that the complexly priced product is the more logical decision.
4. Loss Aversion
One interesting thing utilized by neuromarketing is that people really don’t want to lose out! People are more worried about what they might lose to what they might gain. For this reason “buy before it’s gone” strategies are highly effective. When the alternative option is posed as a loss, consumers are much more likely to buy. A concept called “framing” is highly important in neuromarketing. This technique is teaches how to present decisions to consumers in a way that makes them more likely to splash the cash.
5.Ad Efficiency
Unlike back then where brain imaging was purely reserved for use the academic and scientific purpose, neuromarketing, has tapped into the incredible potential of fMRI imaging to grant us insights into human behavior and consumer habits. With that, you can compare advertising campaigns before releasing them to the general public. This gives an incredible potential and advantage for enhancing marketing strategies, increasing engagement and action.
Is neuromarketing praticable though?
The answer to that is certainly a yes. Though, skeptics are fearful about the use of neuromarketing and mass manipulation over consumers. However, it can be determined that these tests can provide companies with valuable information, unlike traditional strategies. With neuromarketing tools they will know how to design products to look, function and feel before they are even ready to hit the market, minimizing risk and maximizing all resources.
The idea that the brain can reveal hidden and profitable truths about consumers is attractive but can also be misleading, not least because behaviour is the bottom line in business. The most powerful development in marketing is not neuroscience but invisible and ever-present experiments. Every time you go online, marketers can test which ads and prices make you most likely to part with your cash. Because people today tend to shop on the internet more, few realise that others are tested with a different set of images and offers, before the most effective ones are chosen for the biggest return. The benefits are obvious, the tests are easy to run, and the scale is massive.