Neuromarketing… the term has a hint of futuristic menace to it. And if that appeals, I hate to break it to you, but there’s nothing menacing or evil about it. It’s really just referring to the practice of seeking to understand how the human brain functions in potential buying situations and taking steps to appeal to it in order to increase the odds of a sale.
As a marketer, you’re always doing that anyway. Neuromarketing is just the aspect of marketing that focuses on human psychology rather than either “gut feel” or analytics-based approaches. And it isn’t meant to replace those other aspects, just augment them.
Four Tips for Getting Inside a Prospect’s Head
Again, let me stress that there’s nothing unscrupulous about trying to create momentum toward a purchase of your product or service. Neuromarketing simply uses what we know about how people think and react in order to do just that. Here are some concepts you can use to improve any area of your marketing strategy, from your website to your content marketing materials:
- Decoys. Scientists will tell you that the human brain is designed to compare things. In fact, we often struggle to make decisions if we haven’t done some comparing. So, give your prospects something to compare. For example, if you are trying to sell a $100 service, offering a $150 service that is slightly better but not enough to justify the price difference (i.e. the decoy) will drive more interest in the $100 offering.
- Scarcity. It’s well known that people are much more inclined to buy a pair of shoes they’re interested in if it appears that it’s the only one of its kind left in the store. The same mental process is at work in time-based scenarios. That’s why sales are only offered “for a limited time.” You don’t want to overdo it with scarcity tactics, but when used properly, they can increase engagement and sales.
- Reciprocity. It’s human nature to want to do something nice for someone who has done something nice for you. Ever wondered why that server brought you a piece of candy with the check? Studies show it increases their tip by a few percentage points (at least) on average. So, do something nice for your prospects and you will benefit from it. It’s one of principles that makes content marketing so powerful.
- Rescue. Your prospect has a problem and your product is the solution. The key to the rescue principle is forcing them to confront their problem. For example, if you run a lawn care service, having a prospect complete a quick online survey that gets them to think about 1) their favorite hobbies, and 2) how much time they spend on mowing and weeding, leads them inevitably to the realization that they could enjoy more of the former if they weren’t doing so much of the latter.
What Drives Your Perfect Prospect?
If you’ve got questions about how to motivate your prospects to engage more frequently and more deeply, give us a call. Our team of content marketing experts is highly skilled at generating interest and turning it into action. As a leading Colorado Springs inbound marketing firm that is expanding into Springfield, MIssouri and Olympia, Washingtom, we have had the pleasure of working with clients nationwide. Let’s talk about your marketing objectives a strategy for achieving them.
