Marketing and Psychology are more interconnected than you might believe. As far-fetched as it might seem; psychology plays a huge role while designing marketing campaigns for business. Some of the most successful brand owners heavily rely on human emotions, the subconscious mind, and people’s obsessive-compulsive tendencies. No wonder why a lot of us are impulsive buyers, it’s all part of a grand scheme. Various psychological studies in the previous decade have proven that there are many ways brands toy with people’s minds. Needless to say, it’s possible to persuade people into buying stuff they didn’t even plan to buy in the first place. So, if you’re a brand owner who plans to expand their business shortly we’ve got the whole gist for you. Here are some amazing psychology-based marketing tips and tricks that can help you stay a step ahead of your competitors.
The Sheep and The Herd Phenomenon
Often times our mind coaxes us into participation. So, even if it’s something that you don’t want to do, you’d still want to do it just because the majority of people around you are doing it. Precisely, that’s one of the reasons why brands don’t shy away from building a ghost following. Nowadays, the reliability of a commercial business relies on the number of followers they have.
You’re more likely to buy something from a brand that has thousands of followers on their Instagram handle than someone with barely a hundred followers. Buying ghost followers and fake reviews on the internet is an unethical yet workable approach that can affect your sales in the long run. Long story short, you’ll notice that a large majority of people trust this business and wants to buy their products. So, automatically you’ll shift your trust onto them and won’t shy away from the idea of buying a few items.
Colors and Human Behavior
It’s extremely interesting how a specific set of colors can influence our decisions. Believe it or not; the colors you surround yourself with can affect multiple things. Similarly, it’s very interesting to note how many businesses utilize colors in their logos and packaging to influence their customers.
“Multiple psychological studies suggest that colors have a great influence on our subconscious mind. That’s why brands spend a great amount of time deciding the color palettes for their logo and packaging.”
The effect of these colors is also different for different genders. For instance; male-centric brands use brighter colors meanwhile female-centric brands lean towards pastels to attract their attention. Similarly, the use of red in a brand’s logo can indicate danger or urgency. This is why a lot of signs and billboards pointing towards sales are colored red. Thus, people might hurry in their purchases as they fear they’ll lose the chance of buying something in an economical range.
The Illusion Of Sales
Everyone loves sales, and if they deny it they’re probably lying. The idea of saving even a few cents on a shopping run is way too pleasing to the human mind. It offers you a sudden rush of happiness and achievement. More or less you’ll be happy about the fact that you actually found a way to save some bucks. It’s an extremely successful marketing campaign used by every local and international brand. They toy with your sense of achievement by giving you a sweet yet bitter lie.
Now, we’re not saying that none of the sales out there are genuine because there’s always a silver lining in a few cases. But, one cannot neglect the fact that sales are usually a marketing hoax created by corporations to loot you some more. During sales, there’s always an anchored price mentioned along with the discounted price. After taking a look at the discounted price you’ll obviously assume that you’re saving up some bucks compared to the anchored price. Comically enough, the discounted price is never even discounted. Instead, the anchored price is just a hoax placed next to it to influence your decision.
Story Building and Testimonials
Back in the 80s and 90s customer testimonials during advertisements were quite a huge trend. When viewers see similar people praising the results of a product on television, they’ll be keener on buying that product. That’s one of the reasons why the customer testimonials in those advertisements are usually given by people that are very similar to you. These people could be a housewife in her mid-30s talking about the amazing results her new dishwasher conjured for her. It could also be a high school-age teenager raving about how helpful this new brand of ballpoints was during his final exams.
Most of these ads involve stories and everyday events; fictionalized or non-fictionalized. Now, what’s so special about using stories in your marketing campaign is that; humans are emotional. People connect with stories and are influenced by narratives. Humans are more likely to remember events, rather than stories. That’s the way the human psyche works and brands often find ways to make you remember their product in this way. You’ll relate to what happened in an advertisement and then get persuaded to rush to your nearest mart.
Loss and Fear
Fear is something that can make people go to extreme measures. Similarly, people want to avoid the fear of losing is something at all costs. Marketing campaigns make the most out of this fear by introducing new policies every now and then. Have you ever wondered why popular cosmetic and clothing brands offer limited stocks to their customers? In a few cases, many technological giants also provide limited-time trials to their users. Why would companies do that instead of creating more products? There’s a pretty clever reason behind that.
According to behavioral psychologist Daniel Kahneman; These fear-based policies force our brains into believing that they shouldn’t miss out on this advantage or it’ll be gone pretty soon.
Customers are more likely to buy something when they know they won’t be able to do it in a few days. It’s quite simply the fear of losing an opportunity that forces people to purchase something they don’t even need at the moment. It’s one of the reasons why your mother purchases two tubes of toothpaste from your local mart when it’s on a limited-time discounted price.
Reciprocity
Kindness and reciprocity are key parts of human nature. Thus, if someone does something good for you, you’ll probably look for chances to return their favor. Now, you might be wondering how that’s related to the topic? The answer to this question is that reciprocity and business go hand in hand. Most restaurants tend to reward their customers with additional perks; if there’s a slight delay in service if a customer has been a long-time patron of their business etc. Now, these additional perks aren’t solely designed to show their gratitude; they’re also a part of an elaborate marketing plan.
When customers feel like they’re being treated well by a business, they want to reciprocate that favor. That’s why some customers tend to visit only a specific restaurant or shopping mart despite having multiple others in their locality. For instance; food delivery apps usually provide 10% off discount coupons to the customers that frequently use their services. As a result, their customers only use their services instead of some other food delivery service because they feel valued by a specific business. It’s this cycle of reciprocity that results in a booming business in the long run.
It’s All About The Rhythm And The Jingle
Yes, in the grand scheme of things we’re all part of a Pavlovian experiment. But, in this case, big corporations play Pavlov’s role meanwhile we’re the dog that gets influenced into making decisions. Musical tunes are harder to forget, especially when they get stuck in your head. Using an amazing jingle for your brand’s marketing campaign will have two basic advantages;
Every time people hear that jingle they’ll be reminded of your brand
A jingle’s harder to forget and can classically condition your customers
McDonald’s food chain takes the cake when it comes to this marketing policy. Their specific tagline “I’m lovin’ it” and the sound of someone humming before the tagline are widely acknowledged. That’s why every time you hear that music on TV, you’ll indirectly divert your attention to their food.
Branding and Subtlety
As a brand, you’ll obviously want to offer your customers as many options as you can. There’s a large variety of people that you cater to, and everyone prefers different things. So, one can assume that providing multiple options might increase sales. Yes, it’s a great idea that seems to work in a few cases. But, it can have the opposite effect on the people interested in your products. While viewing way too many options for a single item, customers tend to get a little too confused. You don’t want your customers to get too confused as they’ll probably click off your website and you’ll lose the chance of making a sale. Make everything seem a little more simple and subtle.
Similarly, popular companies choose to have logos with less prominent color schemes and simple designs. These logos are easier on the eyes and people can easily identify with them. Some great examples of this case are the logos for Amazon, FedEx, and McDonald’s. These are all unnoticeable and less obvious ways of branding that don’t make your customers feel like they’re getting bombarded.
Community Building and Support
Building a marketing campaign that connects with your customers on an emotional level is the most brilliant decision a brand can make. Various brands claim to admit that they’re working for a good cause. That’s usually done by claiming that a specific part of our sales is going to be donated to an ethnic minority, third-world country, LGBTQ+ organization, or an organization working for animal rights. Their catchphrases usually sound something like;
“10% of our annual sales will be spent on marine life conservation in Hawaii”
OR
“30% of our monthly earnings will be spent on building churches in a particular locality”
This indicates that a huge corporation might be indirectly working for the betterment of things that need improvement. This raises the notion of favoritism. People will be keener on spending money on your brand when they feel like they’re indirectly helping a good cause. Ethically speaking, it almost feels like a way of toying with people’s emotions; but everyone does it and it seems to be working.
Visual Media and Its Influence
If you’re running an online business but your marketing campaign’s devoid of aesthetics, you’re just jeopardizing your investments. It’s 2021 and people consume visual media like food. Any clothing-based brand is more focused on finding amazing photographers than finding the right designs. Cosmetic brands like MILK makeup and Glossier heavily rely on using the right aesthetics and Tumblr-inspired packaging. That’s one of the reasons why they’re among some of the most popular make-up brands among teenagers. When something’s appealing to our eyes, it obviously calms our minds down. People are attracted by specific color schemes and patterns as they have a noticeable effect on brain activity.
The way you present your product directly impacts your sales. If there are no HQ pictures on your online shop, people will click off without wasting another single minute. That’s the way everything works. So, finding ways to improve your presentation skills on social media handles is a great way of boosting sales. Another great way of using visual media is by appointing brand ambassadors. This particular strategy works best for tweens and teenagers. People pay more interest to a brand when it is being represented by their favorite pop star or model.
Final Words
So, what’s your general opinion on this topic?
Do you really believe that psychological tactics can influence sales or that’s just a hoax created by behavioral psychologists? We’d love to know how you view things or if any other tricks can be great contenders for this list.
