There is Marketing and Then There is Neuromarketing

I have done a bit of reading on Neuromarketing lately and wanted to share some of what I have learned as I am certain you can apply this knowledge to your business. There was an interesting article in Entrepreneur Magazine that got me thinking about Neuromarketing.

Your Brain on a Hand

Christophe Morin, co-author of Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in Your Customer’s Brain, says entrepreneurs can improve their products, services, marketing and advertising by learning six keys to neuromarketing.

These tenets stem from Morin’s argument that most purchase decisions are made subconsciously, in the nether regions of the mind he calls the primal brain, areas where basic fight-or-flight instincts kick in. We buy, he says, out of fear.

Keys to Neuromarketing

1. We’re self-centered: Nothing triggers self-centered action like a transaction. “People are completely egocentric and all they want is something that will create a difference in their lives, eliminate pain and possibly bring them more pleasure,” Morin says.
2. We crave contrast: “The bottom line is, on any given day, we will receive about 10,000 ad messages, and only the ones that are huge contrasts will get any attention,” he says.
3. We’re naturally lazy: Abstract advertising and marketing won’t get through. Keep it simple, but strong. “Most companies tend to create abstract messages and use too many words,” Morin says. “Reading is much more a function of the ‘new brain.’ We recommend that, of course, companies use a lot of concrete visuals.”
4. We like stories: Advertising and marketing with strong beginnings and ends create anchor points that we latch onto, so Morin advises entrepreneurs to sum up and recap their strongest selling points at the end of any promotional material. “The brain has a natural tendency to pay attention at the beginning and end of anything,” he says.
5. We’re visual: Appealing video and graphic presentations can make the difference at cash registers where price and reason can’t. “We process and make decisions visually, without being aware of them,” Morin says. “Only later do we rationalize decisions we made.”
6. Emotion trumps reason: Give us the right emotion to ride on, and we’ll buy what you’re selling. “When we experience an emotion,” he says, “it creates a chemical change in our brain, hormones flood our brain and change the speeds with which neurons connect, and it’s through those connections we memorize. We don’t remember anything if there isn’t an emotion attached to that experience.

You should reflect on these 6 points whenever you are creating marketing material as you can’t argue with science…can you?

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