Neuromarketing promises to solve our everyday problems of finding the right words to get people to open our emails, click on our links, and buy our products. How best to brand our product so it appeals to your target market, and even how to structure our website to keep our customers engaged.
According to Dooley (2014) “Neuromarketing is the application of neuroscience to marketing. Neuromarketing includes the direct use of brain imaging, scanning or other brain activity measurement technology to measure a subject’s response to products, packaging, advertising or other specific marketing elements.In some cases, the brain responses measured by these techniques may not be consciously perceived by the subject, therefore these data may be more revealing than self-reports in surveys, in focus groups, etc.
Neuromarketing has been around for about 10 years, but it is just beginning to take off in terms of scientific research and substantial progress.
You probably know the distinction between the two cerebral hemispheres. The left hemisphere is the center of linear thought, such as language, logic, and mathematics. The right hemisphere is the center of conceptual thoughts such as art, music, and creativity. In addition to this, research shows that there are three brains that work together and make up the whole. The core of the brain is called the ancient brain and evolved over the course of 375-60 million years ago, it is responsible for decision making. The next layer is called the midbrain, which is estimated to have developed over several million years later and is responsible for emotional processing. Finally we have the new brain, the last outermost one which is believed to have developed between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago and this determines our rational decisions, essentially it is this layer where we find our sense of self, identity and consciousness (Bhavanani, 2009).
Considering this, Renvoise (2012) suggests that one of the problems is that in marketing we are addressing the part of our brain that makes decisions, and at 450 million years old, almost everything our language of only 40,000 years can throw up seems wise. . in that
He goes on to detail that researchers have found that humans make decisions emotionally, and the decision is activated in the ancient brain, a brain that doesn’t even understand words. The book goes on to provide some useful advice.
However, many ideas introduced by neuromarketing are certainly nothing new. The idea of appealing to emotion is thousands of years old. It was first documented by Aristotle in his masterful work on Rhetoric, known as the rhetorical triangle. Logos, to argue by means of logic. Ethos, argue through the use of character. Finally, pathos, arguing using the power of emotion. Aristotle himself, a logician, still agreed that an argument is rarely won by logic alone, but an argument can often be won primarily by the use of emotion.
That’s why a speech that uses a story is so much more powerful than one that just has statistics. People become captivated by a story, they become emotionally attached. They watch it unfold in their minds, become protagonists, and, if told right, come to the same conclusion as the statistics, except now they’re emotionally invested and ready to act.
The use of emotion is something that we find throughout our history. One of the best cases would be the “7 deadly sins”. Perhaps not all of them would have objectively known that they must appeal to emotions to persuade, and most may have repeated what seemed to work. But if Aristotle wrote about this more than 2000 years ago, it is certainly nothing new.
However, what neuromarketing can provide is a much more detailed analysis. Each company was able to discover the emotional drivers of their customers. Currently, when we create a customer profile, we consider your demographic data, your age, job, income, title, type of employment, etc. But none of that tells us your purchase triggers. What if we knew in which emotional states they are most likely to buy? All emotions are strong, but have you noticed how some people are laid back, while others are so worried? How easy would it be to panic sell a product to someone, if this person was naturally caring and relevant to something she was stressed about? It’s not ethical, but the potential is there. Whether it’s selling to the laid-back person, selling them a lifestyle that matches their attitudes, or a way to start a business that could give them both. When neuromarketing begins to reveal to us our innermost emotions and how they respond to particular things, that is when it will become powerful because we will learn what to avoid and what to use. We could learn which colors trigger certain emotions for the brand. What are the best words to close a sale. And what is it that makes certain news go viral? What is the most powerful emotion? Based on the type of company you have, which emotion should you be targeting the most? What emotions lead to the highest sales? There are many questions that neuromarketing research will hopefully answer, which can give us all a greater understanding of our brands, customers, and ourselves in the future.
to your success.
References:
Bhavanani, A. (2009) https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/rishiculture/conversations/topics/2930
Dooley, R. (2014) http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/what-is-neuromarketing.htm
Renvoise, P. (2012) Neuromarketing.