Applied Neuromarketing- Introductory Review

Confused about your business? Looking for a disruptive strategy to ensure customer subscription? Or are you wondering if there may be a gap between your customers and you?

Even if you have run out of strategies for your marketing team and are completely without hope, your business can almost certainly survive the COVID-19 crisis. You can rise with a business strategy that is stronger than the previous one you had before the crisis.

With COVID-19 cases growing worldwide, firms are scrambling to deal with a wide variety of problems, from slumping sales and stalling supply chains to keeping key stakeholders healthy and making sure they can continue being operational. Is neuromarketing truly the hard knock businesses need to combat this quagmire? I personally believe so ,although with prior recovery measures and CSR from everyone not just firms because we need to stay alive before selling (else it might be an extreme case of hard selling marketing philosophy). According to Ryan W. Buell, "When the rationale for customers to help seems mostly about enhancing profitability, the request to lend a hand can feel disingenuous, and in some cases, can lead to behaviors that run counter to the organization’s objectives. But when it’s clear that our engagement is broadly helpful—to ourselves and to others—most people are delighted to engage."
Nobel prize winner Wangari Maathai said that, in the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called upon to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. For me everywhere, that time is now.

Last week, I gave a proper introduction to neuromarketing and explained it’s basic operations. If you can understand people and know what engineers their decisions,you will thrive nevertheless in this era.

The cxl Institute’s digital psychology and persuasion nano degree program I am currently enrolled in is broadening my view about traditional marketing and digital marketing. My love for business blogging have drastically increased too. This would be a very brief introduction to applied neuromarketing taught to me by the legendary Andre Morys. A big thanks to all the cxl guys for all you have have done so far.

Disruptive and exponential growth is what great businesses bring. I mean businesses that have taking the bold step to massively innovate and transform their industrial norm to a higher ebb. Firms like Facebook, Amazon, Uber, etc fall in the category am referring to. We may ascribe their successful run to a great business model, technology, data, infrastructure, logistics, but always know that every of these variables are connected to customer experience. Since Great customer experience is the Hallmark of business growth(I mean disruptive and noticeable growth), every firm is implicitly or explicitly pursuing it.

Using Facebook as an example,one of it’s core strong points is in its notification feature. It is like a feedback system to the users. It gives an instant gratification to people since it shows who liked,loved ,or the general interaction with your content. Instant gratification releases Nucleus Accumbens (the brain craves for and loves it). The reward system in the brain is capable of producing dopamine which is like a drug for the human body. So every business should target the brain’s reward system to get maximum results.

HOW THE BRAIN REALLY WORKS
In a nutshell, let me give a run down of how the human brain works and why is is imperative for new and existing firms to take notice. Below shows the important parts I would be briefly talking about;
BRAIN STEM: Sometimes called the olde brain. It does automatic function (auto pilot modes), in charge of blood pressure, breathing, heart beat,etc. It is close to the cerebellum, which is the thinking part of the brain with a processing speed of 200x more than the cerebral cortex.
LIMBIC MAP: Controls emotions and motivation,but also controls negative things like addictions. This part of the brain is able to produce endorphins, dopamine, automatic behaviors, etc. The amygdala here is responsible for cravings. In a realistic sense,it collection of values or motivations allocated in a certain way.dominance, balance and stimulus are the 3 cire of the limbic map.
CEREBRAL CORTEX: Often referred to as the new brain. It makes the brain big and situated at the outer region of the brain. It is used for cognition, language and deep thinking. You can do complex stuff here too.The grey matter is situated here. Daniel Kahneman categorized it in the system 2 of the brain (checkout my last post where I made mention of it). Here is not a smooth road because it requires massive thinking than the system one zone(old Brain). This is why our brains tend to avoid anything that has to do with system two. We are very capable of stressing out brain,but the brain usually likes the easy way out( I guess that is why print adverts generates less engagement than graphic media).

Now here’s the interesting part. Our brains deceive us with false representations atimes because most of the core nerves emanating from our sense organs (eyes, nose, mouth,ear,skin), directly goes to the limbic system before going into the cerebral cortex. We are wired to jump at very fast emotional conclusions. This knowledge should substantiate my prior opinion that man is an emotional being. Daniel Kahneman’s model is not just any model,but something we could use to optimize our content or websites. Anything people perceive must go through the limbic map. Every of our decisions are made non conscious,but some are post rationalized more.

POWER OF IMPLICIT CODES
The disruptive firms I made mention about uses implicit codes. They are hidden in adverts, typography,and general design. It is what the product or service is positioned to do to you and not for you. In using implicit codes, remember the limbic map because only then will it ensure a state of resonance and relevance. We need to control the attention of our buyers if we truly want to get their subscription because they need to be directed where to look,what to do and how to do it. It has been researched that people cant control their attention,so we'll help them in order to influence them. It is worthy of note that the limbic map has motivation in them.this is why we can put some novation's in them and expect a befitting result. In a website for example,some implicit codes includes;

Background color: if very dark it shows dominance

Spaces: Means the firm can afford spaces.

Unfriendly face: depicts high fashion, successful,or professionals.

Classic architecture: prestigious, etc.

We need to measure what we want to say verses what we eventually say to customers. Atimes,our intentions would be genuine but our content would be misleading or contrary. We need to do a 5 seconds test to ascertain if the auto pilot parts of the human brain can easily ascribe intended meaning to our outputs without involving the cognitive part that kicks into scrutiny when there is enough time to process the info from the site. Amazon prepares implicit codes in their official site in order to make people judge the site in their limbic map.

Have your brand massively suffered from the coronavirus pandemic? The good news is that it can also emerge once the crisis is over with a more resilient future through neuromarketing to make a full transition from obscurity to become a success.

That would be all for the week. Stay safe everyone