Neuromarketing for Small Businesses

Neuromarketing is an emerging field within the marketing and advertising sectors.

Blending neuroscience and marketing psychology, the growth of neuromarketing may have implications for small businesses.

The amygdale is a part of the brain that controls humans’ emotional responses to the stimuli they encounter.  It plays an integral role in the “fight-or-flight” response to stress, in which humans have to decide how to react.  The amygdale is activated when a person has to decide to “buy or fly” when faced with a bombardment of products and advertisements.

The nascent field of neuromarketing has the potential to help advertisers succeed in their marketing campaigns.  Neuromarketing Research can identify what attracts interest on a website, advertisement, packaging or store.

Considerations

Conducting Neuromarketing Research can involve important considerations.  For example, one researcher has suggested that small businesses not use the term “we” nor commence their pitch with a long company overview.  This researcher is capitalizing on humans’ primitive survival instinct.

Uncovering Instincts and Behavior

Throughout the ages, Homo sapiens have retained the instinct to survive.  This instinct can be seen in its primitive manifestation as the will to survive in dangerous physical circumstances, such as in a land full of animal predators.  This instinct can be seen in its more sophisticated form as the will to survive financially by devoting a lot of time to one’s job or fervently trying to close a business deal.  Economics and psychological research has shown humans to be self-centered (in the survival sense) and risk-averse.

Understanding Consumer Psychology

Before purchasing a product or service, a consumer subconsciously considers how the product may benefit her.  If the product costs a lot, she then takes into account the possibility of its not benefitting her and the financial loss she may incur as a result.  So the advertiser may need to allay these concerns and appeal to the consumer’s instincts of self-interest and self-preservation.

Small businesses may not have the same financial resources that large corporations may draw upon in certain marketing initiatives such as purchasing expensive TV ads.  Neuromarketing, with its potential to delve into the deepest caverns of the human subconscious, may furnish these small businesses with some alternatives.  Changing the wording of a presentation, as in the example above, does not come with the same high costs concomitant with TV ads but may help a business capture the attention and subsequently the buying potential of a consumer.

Benefits of Neuromarketing

A small business may not be able to fall back on widespread consumer awareness of and loyalty to its brand.  A consumer, especially one deciding to embark on the purchase of an expensive product, may look for well-known suppliers.  For a small business, well-executed marketing initiatives may be crucial in grabbing the attention of a consumer and helping to convince him that its product is of high quality.