Neuromarketing

Chances are good that by now you often come across the term Neuromarketing have come across. You may have heard that there are specialists who analyze the success factors of advertising. Some companies also use techniques that unconsciously generate a need for products from the customer, which can lead to a purchase.

Let's take a little time to focus on what Neuromarketing really is, and how it is used by companies. It should also be clarified what impact it has on the marketing field.

The term Neuromarketing was first used in 2002. However, research into the interaction of the human brain for marketing purposes began as early as 1900.

Around this time, researchers, from the Coca Cola company, studied neuronal activity. They also conducted brain scans when consumers saw advertisements or interacted with products.

The ability to analyze the subconscious reason for a purchase is a highly coveted notion for researchers and marketers.

What is neuromarketing?

Since this is a broad field of science there are numerous variations on the implementation ofNeuromarketing. Rather, it deals with understanding the function of the consumer's mind to respond. Neuromarketing aims to bring together the fields of neuroscience, psychology and marketing. It acts as a kind of link between marketing and science.

But the consumer's mind works in a complicated way and it is often not easy to generalize the thought patterns. This is due to the fact that the thought processes often only work in the same way under specific conditions.

Simply put, there is science behind what people do and think, and neuromarketers want to know how to use this to their advantage.

But to Neuromarketing effectively, marketers need expertise on neuroscience.

Neuromarketing in research

Although research techniques vary widely, they all focus on the goal of understanding how the brain works. There are modern means to Neuromarketing-collecting data. Techniques such as neuroimaging methods (EEG scans, fMRI scans), eye tracking or more psychological methods such as facial coding are among the best known.

EEG and FMRI scans measure brain activity and are used to analyze how the brain works when viewing or using certain products. Eye tracking is used to track consumers' gaze and see what catches their attention. Facial coding can measure consumers' emotional reactions in response to different products.

A big advantage of all these measures is that consumers do not have to try to give the reasons for the sale themselves, and also can not lie.

As the field of neuromarketing grows, more and more academic research is being conducted on consumer choices, decision-making processes and much more. This information is then available to neuromarketers for analysis processes.

The practical component

The key process of neuromarketing is to translate the results of such research articles into profitable insights. In this way, neuromarketers can better understand consumer behavior and adapt marketing accordingly. Of course, most neuroscience marketers also conduct some of the research themselves.

Let's say a company wants to launch a new product. To do this, details such as the packaging and a marketing campaign need to be designed.
While some of these questions can be answered by traditional market research, such as a survey, it may be more effective to know the real feelings and thoughts of users.

While consumers are shown a series of different packages, researchers can measure brain activity and detect the level of excitement. They can also use eye tracking to examine which parts of the product excited them the most or not. This is just one of many examples of neuromarketing applications, making the possibilities virtually endless.

How do companies use neuromarketing?

The findings of neuromarketing can be used for a wide range of application fields.

In a broader sense, this means applying evidence-based findings from all research areas relevant to consumer behavior. In addition to their own research, as already mentioned, companies that Neuromarketing-use insights as a strategy. For example, a retail store could take advantage of previous consumer behavior research. For example, vertical signage was found to make consumers uncomfortable, so stores would be better off doing without it.

A restaurant could choose to promote healthy products on the left side of its menu, as research has shown that people are more likely to choose those products when they do.It could also use specific smells to evoke certain memory effects in diners.

In addition to the use of sensory marketing such as scent, touch, sound and color, there are other fields of application that focus on psychological factors. For example, the strategic use of comparable models in advertising instead of famous celebrities is a smart thing to do in some contexts.

The influence of neuromarketing in modern marketing

The influence that the Neuromarketing left on the field of marketing as a whole is undeniable. Since many success stories stem from the strategic use of Neuromarketing have emerged, more and more companies are beginning to realize the benefits of using Neuromarketing-techniques. Nevertheless, there are also some skeptics in this area.

D Since the early years of neuromarketing, people have feared corporate power and controlling consumers without their consent. The idea of marker taking a peek into consumers' brains to buy until you're broke seems pretty scary.

And while it is true that Neuromarketing potentially undesirable and unethical influence on consumers, it actually influences consumers in ways that are similar to old-fashioned marketing.

Many forms of traditional advertising and marketing have been used with the aim of bypassing rational decision-making processes and hitting the "trigger points" of the brain. Often these can certainly be just as persuasive as Neuromarketing-Techniques.

Nevertheless, it has made people realize that there are certain ethical aspects that should be considered. Questions of the ethical aspect of neuromarketing should be applied equally to conventional forms of marketing. The question of what makes marketing ethical should receive as much attention as the question of what makes it effective.