Psychology in Marketing: Inciting Emotional Appeal

Whether you realize it or not, psychology plays a massive role in marketing today. In order to understand and effectively market to your audience, you need to be aware of the influence your brand has on consumers. Marketers use psychology to their advantage in a number of ways, most of which involve understanding how consumers think. Psychology impacts the decision-making process — potentially leading to conversions like contact form submission or purchases on your website. We have highlighted a few ways brands can tap into human psychology to enhance their marketing strategy.   

 

Value in Frequency

 

Have you ever seen a product in one place and then began to see it everywhere? That effect is known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, where you learn something new so now your brain knows to look for it and register every occurrence you see or hear about it. To incorporate the effects of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon into your marketing strategy, you need to put your brand messaging out there as much as possible. Remarketing ads are a great way to leverage this effect and drive users back to your website after they have seen your Facebook ad or visited your website for the first time.

 

Sending a Message

 

The Verbatim Effect is another psychology principle which can influence your marketing strategy. This is the idea that people are more likely to remember vague details rather than the entirety of the message that was supposed to be communicated to them. Make sure that your message is clear and certain keywords stand out so that what a consumer does remember is easily searchable and will still lead them to your brand’s website. Ensure you have a strong keyword strategy to help guide your content and copywriting.  

It is also important to be concise with messaging because the average consumer has an attention span averaging about eight seconds. When formulating marketing messages remember that consumers want to know what your product will do for them rather than focusing on mundane lists of features.

 

Building Trust

 

Studies show that consumers are more likely to trust a brand if the product or service was recommended by someone they know. 85% of people trust online reviews just as much as they trust personal recommendations according to BrightLocal. In order to build trust with your brand, it is important to be honest. Address your flaws rather than just brush past them. Taking the high road when it comes to diversifying yourself from competitors can truly impact consumers perception of your brand. Respond to reviews quickly and authentically. Influencer marketing is another way to build trust with your audience. According to a research study by Olapic, 31% of participants purchased a product or service after seeing it being promoted by a social media influencer. Working with influencers will also help consumers differentiate your brand from your competitors, in turn, setting yourself apart.

 

Psychology in Color

 

Color plays an important role in how your brand is perceived and should guide your branding and design decisions. The image below illustrates the emotions typically associated with different colors. In a study done at Performable, their website’s call to action button was tested to measure the effectiveness of a red button vs. a green button. Normally people would associate green with “go” and red with “stop”, so the prediction was that the green button would cause more conversions. The results of this test concluded the opposite: the red button achieved 21% more conversions than the green. Red produces a sense of urgency in marketing whereas green is viewed as a color to evoke calm and relaxed feelings. Testing out colors and creating your own experiments on your website could be beneficial to enticing consumers to take action.

(Image Credit: The Logo Company)

This is only a small piece of the bigger picture in understanding how psychology plays a role in consumer behavior. Attracting and engaging with consumers requires a combination of both marketing and psychological tactics, something Noisy Trumpet achieves by staying up to date with the latest trends. Contact us for help in identifying business opportunities to connect and engage with your target audience. We’re just one call, like, follow, retweet and DM away.