Neuromarketing

We have been talking about the problems that advertisers are facing, so today; we will talk about the solution.

Neuromarketing is the marriage of marketing and science creating a window into the human mind. It is helping to revel WHY and WHAT advertising messages are being remembered and what messages are being forgotten.

Here comes the bold statement, so get ready for it. The truth is never easy to handle: Companies do not understand consumers. The brands that they are developing do not match the consumers’ thought process and their needs. And, just by chance their needs are met, marketers do not communicate their products and services in a way that grips minds and hearts. Basically: Companies need consumers to not only purchase a product, but remember it, have a loyalty to it, and keep coming back for more.

Martin Lindstrom, who wrote the book, Buyology, stated. "Advertisers are like Christopher Columbus in 1492, gripping a torn, hand-drawn map as the wind picked up and his boat lurched toward what might or might not be land."

Neuromarketing is unlocking the subconscious thoughts, feelings and desires that are driving purchasing decisions by consumers. Here is what the biggest discovery: Consumers think one thing subconsciously and consciously say another! Which, as you can imagine, creates a huge problem for marketers.

Another glaring issue is that marketers have been using the same out-dated research for decades: Quantitive and Qualitative research. The issue is that small factors slant focus group responses and these responses determine advertising techniques. These techniques do not work because consumers and marketers don't understand their subconscious buying behaviors.

You buy Colgate toothpaste, Gillette razors, Coke over Pepsi, Ford over Dodge, and the list goes on. But why? You might not be able to answer what brand of toothpaste you have in your bathroom right now, but when you get to the store, you know exactly what kind of toothpaste to get.

The fact of the matter is that 60% of shoppers make decisions in less than 4 seconds. Most purchase decisions are made from the unconscious area of the brain that associates a positive and influential memory with the product or service.

Next time we will talk dollars and cents: $12 billion on consumer market research and $117 billion per year in marketing an actually product. Could all this be wasted?