7 keys of Psychology applied to Marketing and Advertising

The science of behavior has much to contribute to companies in search of sales.

Psychology is a discipline that is applied in many fields: sports, schools or companies.

Within this last context we find Psychology applied to Marketing, which is key to understand how marketing works.It is key to understand how the human mind works and it is essential to persuade consumers to buy our products or services.

Keys to Psychology applied to Marketing and Advertising

Any good marketing strategy cannot forget how consumers think, what their needs are and what their motivations are. That is why Psychology is a basic pillar in the world of Marketing and Advertising.

In the following lines you can find 7 keys of Psychology applied to Marketing and Advertising.

1. Emotional Marketing

Emotional intelligence is one of the great paradigms of Psychology today, since emotions affect our well-being and our behavior in a decisive way.Emotions affect our well-being and our behavior in a decisive way. Most people think that the decisions we make are based on a rational analysis of the alternatives presented to us, an idea that psychologist Antonio Damasio, in his book "Descartes' error", states that he does not share.

For Damasio, "emotions are crucial in almost all the decisions we make, because these, which are associated with previous experiences, set values to the options we are considering". In other words, emotions create preferences that lead us to choose one option or another.

Emotional marketing is applied in brandingin strategies to build customer loyalty, in commercial stories, etc.

• If you want to go deeper into this topic, you can do so in our article "Emotional Marketing: reaching the Heart of the customer".

2. Classical and instrumental conditioning

Classical and instrumental conditioning are two key concepts to understand behavioral psychology, and they are present in our learning, our behavior and, of course, in the world of Marketing.

Classical conditioning, popularized by John Watson thanks to the help of Ivan Pavlov, can be observed in the advertising world when situations or pleasant attributes that are not necessarily linked to the characteristics of a product or service are highlighted. or service. It is not uncommon to come across similar products from different brands that provoke different emotional experiences for users through branding.

However, when the real characteristics of the product and service are explained, the instrumental or operant conditioning model is used. That is to say, when a product really presents differences in quality with respect to its competitors, instrumental conditioning is effective. For example, by letting people try the product or giving away a sample of it.

Motivation

Motivation is an intrinsic force that guides us and allows us to maintain behaviors aimed at achieving a goal or satisfying a need. Many psychologists have been interested in the study of motivation, since it is a basic principle in the behavior of human beings. Motivation also affects decision making.

For this reason it is applied in the field of marketing, because understanding and influencing motivation will result in a greater purchase of products and services by consumers. by consumers. For example, if we detect through a survey that a user is motivated to buy a vehicle, there is a greater likelihood that he or she will buy one of our products if we are in the automotive sector. This technique is widely used today. An example of this is the use of cookies, which allow us to track the habits and concerns of potential customers.

4. Zeigarnik effect: creating expectations and suspense

The Zeigarnik effect is closely related to expectations, and owes its name to Bluma Zeigarnik, a psychologist of the Gestalt School, who realized that unfinished tasks tend to generate discomfort and intrusive thoughts in us. In the Marketing world, the Zeigarnik Effect is a technique used to attract customers, which is used in different situations. For example, in movie trailers.

It is common to see in some television series a short summary of the next chapter at the end of the programto create suspense and provoke the need to know how the scenes previously shown will conclude. This is called "cliffhangers" and is based on the Zeigarnik effect.

5. Persuasion

The psychology of persuasion is one of the key elements of marketing.. The purpose of this branch of social psychology is to study human behavior in order to understand the reasons why people modify their behavior under external influence. Although it is often confused with manipulation, persuasion is an art that consists of convincing people to act in a certain way.

There are a number of elements that are indispensable for effective persuasive communication. For example, reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, sympathy and credibility.

• You can learn more about this concept in our article: "Persuasion: definition and elements of the art of convincing".

6. Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing is a discipline that studies the mind, brain and behavior of the consumer and how to influence it to achieve more sales. Therefore, it brings scientific advances in Psychology and Neurosciences closer to the Marketing discipline.

Understanding the functioning of attention, perception or memory and how these processes affect people, their tastes, personality and needs, allows to carry out a more effective Marketing. There are many applications of Neuromarketing, as you can see in our articles:

• Neuromarketing has a great future
• Neuromarketing: your brain knows what you want to buy

7. Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a concept closely related to social psychology.. The psychologist Leon Festinger proposed this theory, which explains how people try to maintain their internal consistency. That is, we all have a strong inner need that pushes us to ensure that our beliefs, attitudes and behavior are consistent with each other. When this does not happen, discomfort and disharmony appear, something we strive to avoid.

Cognitive dissonance is very present in marketing, which explains why we often choose products that we do not really need and make purchases that are not always consistent. In fact, any consumer who does not feel satisfied with the product he has just obtained and does not know how useful it will be experiences cognitive dissonance. It may happen that, when choosing a purchase, we question the whys and wherefores, and look for explanations to justify our action. Human beings are like that, and cognitive dissonance is present in many of the decisions we make and how we behave.