Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing
By Sarah Zane
Did you know that 95% of all thoughts, emotions, and learning happen before we are even aware of it? The subconscious is a powerful tool that drives many of our decisions. And yet, most marketing ignores the subconscious, instead targeting the conscious mind.
In his best-selling book, Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing, marketer and blogger Roger Dooley shares the secrets behind the science of selling. By studying and applying the principles of neuromarketing, or the way the brain responds to various marketing stimuli, Dooley believes marketers can harness the power of the subconscious for superior results.
Here are 4 lessons you’ll learn in Brainfluence:
Lesson 1: Keep your brand associations consistent and become the more familiar brand.
By working to keep your brand associations consistent, positive and constant in customers’ minds, you are positioning yourself to be their default choice. The easiest way to achieve this goal is by using images in your marketing that trigger a positive response in the subconscious.
When scrolling through social media, how often do you actually stop and read a text-only post? Words can be boring, but images grab our attention — though not all images are created equal. According to astonishing research, it takes less than a second for the part of the brain associated with emotion to light up after we see a picture of a baby. Humanity is essentially hard-wired to react positively to an image of a baby. Similarly, Dooley writes, images of money stimulate people to spend more.
In his book, Dooley pushes marketers to use this dynamic to help them sell more. Incorporate graphics of babies, money, and other positive-reaction inducing images in your ads and you’ll draw people’s attention to your credit union. It’s that easy.
Lesson 2: Meet with people in person to make them more likely to listen to you.
Engagement is an old tool for marketers, but did you know that meeting with an existing or prospective member in person and engaging in small talk before getting down to business makes them more likely to listen to what you have to say?
When discussing a new account, loan or line of credit with a member, aim for a face-to-face meeting. Even a socially distanced in-person meeting is likely to produce better results than a conversation that takes place over the phone or through email.
Lesson 3: Build sensory features into your products, services and marketing.
In his book, Dooley writes that sensory features created with the intent of targeting emotions and stored memories of customers enables them to connect with your brand. This can take the form of sights, smells and sounds that trigger warm feelings in most people, such as holiday-themed music, images of home-baked goods and the smell of coffee. Get creative, and get your members engaged with your brand!
Lesson 4: Grab people’s attention by surprising them.
The hippocampus is the part of the brain that helps us use a previous sequence of events to predict what will happen next. When something goes off-script and takes us by surprise, we sit up and take notice. Dooley urges marketers to use this neuromarketing principle to draw attention to a brand or to a specific product or service. It can be a unique design on an ad, rephrasing a common saying or including a bizarre image in your branding — anything that makes people look twice will force them to pay attention to your message.
Are you ready to bring your marketing to the next level? Stop selling to just 5% of your members’ minds and tap into the incredible power of the subconscious. Brainfluence can show you how.
