Originally posted – Jan 03, 2013
In a recent column, I discussed a relatively new field called neuromarketing, which combines neuroscience and marketing strategies, and is creating off-the-charts excitement and credibility in several business sectors around the world.
Quite simply, the primary human physiological fact that’s the basis for the validity of neuromarketing is that the human brain is divided up into three main parts – each with its own distinct functions:
1. The Outer Brain (also called the cortex) is responsible for logic such as learning, language processing and everyday thinking, and reflects our personality.
2. The Middle Brain handles our emotions, memories and moods.
3. The oldest part, called the Inner Brain, is the first part to develop, and it controls our basic survival such as hunger, breathing and other normal everyday physiological functions. It makes automatic decisions based upon our total well-being.
In a nutshell, the outer brain thinks, the middle brain feels and the inner brain decides.
For businesspeople, perhaps the most exciting finding among the latest neuromarketing research is that the inner brain – also called the “Reptilian Brain”because it’s the first part of the brain to develop and is still present in reptiles today – drives customers’ buying decisions and actually overrules the other parts of the brain. It always wins because it determines what decisions ultimately will be accepted by the thinking and feeling parts of our brain; and this is due to the fact that deep down it is mainly concerned with our basic survival and all of its aspects.
According to noted neuromarketing researchers and authors, Patrick Renvoise and Chris Morin, there are only six ways to “speak”to the inner brain. This is because:
1. It’s self-centered.
2. It’s sensitive to contrast.
3. It’s influenced by tangible input.
4. It likes beginnings and endings.
5. It’s sensitive to visual stimuli.
6. It’s triggered by emotion.
Therefore, if we focus on, appeal to and “sell”the inner brain, it will, in turn, “recommend”the product being sold to the parts of the brain (the middle and outer parts) that ultimately take the action to purchase – because it’s initially interpreted and endorsed by the old reptilian brain as being protectively correct.
“The reptilian always wins,” said neuromarketing authority and leading market researcher Clotaire Rapaille, in a PBS interview. “I don’t care what you tell me intellectually. Why? Because the reptilian always wins.”
Marketers have always known “in their gut”that people buy on emotion and then justify and accept their decisions rationally with logic. Now, we understand why that actually occurs from a technical, human neurological standpoint. It’s all about targeting customers “reptilian hot buttons.”
So, let’s look at these old brain functions and characteristics, as outlined by Renvoise and Morin, which I will paraphrase for you – and you will easily see how you can actually use them to more effectively operate, market and advertise your self-service laundry.
It’s Self-Centered
It responds and reacts to anything pertaining to one’s self. As a result, when advertising your coin laundry, your total message must focus on the audience, and not on you. This will affect your print ads, your website, your internal signage, your direct-mail pieces, and your television and radio spots.
In other words, your target audience will pay attention to your message if they first hear specifically what your laundry can do for them – not about the features of your store or machinery. Messages centered on such as things as saving time and the ease and comfort of using your laundry are perfect examples.
It’s Sensitive to Contrast
By contrast, Renvoise and Morin mean clear contrast, such as before/after, risky/safe, with/without or fast/slow. Without doing so, the inner brain gets confused, which causes it to delay a decision or make no decision at all.
You must advertise to create a perceptible contrast between your laundry and your competitors. Using neutral language (“We are one of the best laundries in the area”) simply will not impress the old brain. Rather, you should advertise very specific features and benefits that clearly contrast with other stores, and make you stand out. Such features as how many machines you have, your extended hours of operation, your sophisticated drop-off service and your responsive attendants are some examples.
It’s Influenced by Tangible Input
The old/inner brain is not hard-wired to process and deal with written language, especially complex words. If you use complex language, it will slow down the process, and your target audience generally will react by feeling they want to think about the decision you want them to make, rather than act.
The old brain is constantly scanning for what’s familiar, specific, definite, concrete and totally recognizable. The old brain appreciates only simple-to-grasp ideas, like “costs less money,” “lasts a lifetime”and “24-hour service,” rather than vague concepts. In line with this characteristic, it would be expedient to advertise your attractive prices, your exact hours of operation and the specific turnaround time for your drop-off service.
It Likes Beginnings and Endings
It’s well known to psychologists that most of us tend to remember the beginnings and endings of experiences such as movies we see, yet not recall the middle nearly as much. The old/inner brain enjoys openings and finales and often overlooks what is in between.
This phenomenon has serious implications on how you should construct and deliver advertising messages to your potential laundry customers. Placing the most important content at the beginning (such as in your headline) is an absolute must, as is it repeating it at the end. The content in the middle of your message does not get nearly as much attention from your target audience.
Here’s another tip: If you are placing print ads on flyers with other ads, try to be the first on the sheet because you will have the opportunity to anchor the first beginning point against which all other ad presentations will be measured.
It’s Sensitive to Visual Stimuli
The old brain is very visual. Interestingly, this may be the case because the optic nerve, which is physically connected to the old brain, is 40 times faster than the auditory nerve, which must transmit from the ear to the brain. Hence, we process visual things much faster than things we hear.
Therefore, use a lot of visual images in your advertising. By doing so, you will be sure to tap into the processing system that the brain has developed over hundreds of thousands of years. And, once the inner brain “sees”something it likes, it will then pass this endorsement along to the new brain, which actually decides to make the purchase.
It’s Triggered by Emotion
The old brain feels emotion very strongly. As the result, we remember events better when they are accompanied by strong emotion. For example, those of us who were alive in 1963 remember vividly the events associated with the assassination of President Kennedy. Similarly, we also remember the specific occurrences associated with the attack on the World Trade Center in New York. Both of these events were accompanied by strong human emotions.
As a laundry owner, you want customers and prospective customers to remember your advertising messages – so try to construct them utilizing as much emotion as possible. For instance, you can refer to how badly one might feel if they didn’t have clean clothes when they needed them or how disappointed a customer might be if she arrived at a laundry only to find it closed by pointing out that your store is open 24 hours.
In short, we’re not thinking machines that feel, we’re feeling machines that think.
Certainly, neuromarketing is still a relatively young field. Nonetheless, it has – and will continue to have – growing implications on how we construct and deliver advertising messages, and upon the many dimensions of marketing in general.
The buying decision, as we are clearly learning, is indeed a complex process and is, in fact, far more complicated than we have thought for decades. However, the more you know about the information being uncovered by today’s neuromarketing researchers the better marketer you will become.
Owning a small business no doubt is a challenging experience, especially during these times. Change occurs quickly and on a regular basis. And those of us in the laundry business have two fundamental things in common: (1) we’re all in it, and (2) we’re all in it to win it.
Smart, successful store owners are always tuned in to changes in marketing methods, tuned in to changes in customer preferences, and tuned in to changes in the cultural differences within their customer base.
And, more and more these days, the truly profitable operators also will be tuned in to research developments in such emerging areas as neuromarketing.
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