I wasted an hour today researching “neuromarketing.” If you like, I’ll tell you what I found.
This is a new field. It’s based on insights and techniques from neuroscience. Its goal is to make people buy more.
Let me give you an example. Scientists put people inside an fMRI machine and showed them Coke and Pepsi. It turned out the two brands created different reactions in the brain.
This seemed like a pretty stupid result. There must be more to it, right? So I listened to talks by a couple of neuromarketing experts.
They made suggestions such as: make your advertising me-focused… use simple language… appeal to emotions. This was all backed by the latest science. Never mind that you could find it all — and much more — in a copy of Breakthrough Advertising. Which Gene Schwartz wrote in 1966.
But speaking of Gene, I think neuromarketing is good for one thing. It illustrates a concept Gene first talked about, which helps you sell in a crowded market. In Gene’s own words:
“If your market is at a stage where they’ve heard all the claims, in all their extremes, then mere repetition or exaggeration won’t work any longer. What this market needs now is a new device to make all these old claims become fresh and believable to them again. In other words, A NEW MECHANISM — a new way to making the old promise work. A different process — a fresh chance — a brand-new possibility of success where only disappointment has resulted before.”
By the way, even though neuromarketing is a disappointment so far, that might soon change.
Google and Facebook both started neuromarketing teams. These companies have such massive resources. Maybe they’ll get more out of neuromarketing than everybody else has gotten so far.
But if they do, don’t count on them to share what they discover. Instead, better grab a hardback copy of Breakthrough Advertising… and start reading and underlining. And if you want more recommendations for books to get you started in marketing, take a look here: