Advertising is very expensive.
It is therefore essential to use strategies and methods that make our advertisements more effective.
There are several books that can help you to improve your ads, many of which that treat arguments related to the positioning theory and to the neuro marketing.
Although the positioning theory is essential to convey a specific and consistent message to its target, it is through neuro marketing that it is possible to identify a set of “ready to use” tools to make advertising messages more effective.
We will cover both the topics in this website. Both, neuromarketing and Positioning theory, are essential to improve your effectiveness and sales power, but first and foremost you need to understand how it works your brain.
In your Customers’ Mind
Unlike other animals on the planet, the human being is the one that stands out for having the most complex brain. The human brain weighs is about the 3% of body weight but requires the 20% of the total resources [1].
The ease of processing the advertising message is an important element in determining the effectiveness of your campaign.
The human brain is emotional. Although women process messages with more emotion than men, both genres must be attracted emotionally so that the message is remembered and activated. Advertisers must reveal the emotional triggers that their product satisfies and explains accurately[2]
Using “power images” that recall pleasure, pain and gratification is certainly a way to favor the action of customers, such as a “purchase” or a “contact request”, or even a “research” and deepening of the advertised product.
The AIDA model attributed to Elias St. Elmo Lewis through an 1898 publication is still valid.
Your advertising message must be clear, free from clutters, and explain how it solves your client’s problem.
Dr. A.K. Pradeep, author of the book “The buying Brain – Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind” from which I drew much of the information that you read on this page continues his explanation of how the brain works by explaining the gratification mechanism.
When the brain meets a gratifying behavior (rewarding behavior) it releases a powerful dose of dopamine as a reward for testing and repetition. The continuous repetition of the activation of the “gratification system” of the brain promotes the creation of neuronal pathways that stimulate the performance of these behaviors with greater frequency and simplicity.
It is very important to exploit this mechanism to motivate consumers to try out a product through powerful emotional images and statements that describe the benefit and pleasure and then a call to action.
On the other hand it is very important to avoid publishing complex advertisements that are full of distracting elements or messages that are misleading and do not convey the advantage or solution to the problem.
So what to do?
Dr. A.K. Pradeep helps us by pointing out what our brain can not ignore.
- Eye contact: can be used as a challenge activator or empathic communication.
- Images that stimulate the pleasure / reward system
- Stories: as reported also in “Neuromarketing: Is There a ‘Buy Button’ in the Brain? Selling to the Old Brain for Instant Success” to our brain can not ignore the stories that are a tool of sharing necessary for the survival of our species.
[1] The buying Brain – Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind, Dr. A.K. Pradeep – Copyrights 2003
[2] ibidem