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Psychology Marketing Techniques 101

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Marketing strategies run the gamut when it comes to creativity – whether it’s pushing the envelope or pushing your buttons. Psychology Marketing (also known as Consumer Behavior Marketing) is one facet used by the industry meant to do exactly that; push emotional buttons to steer a response causing the consumer to consume a businesses goods, services and even agenda. It is well understood that “emotional marketing” plays a pivotal role in reporting/publicizing world events; selling medical pharmaceuticals-even selling cars! As a result, psychology marketing has become one of the most effective tools to gain attention and cause the consumer(s) to react verbally or financially to a cause, service or product.

Human Interest Stories: The Grandfather of Them All
Wikipedia defines it as “a feature story …presents people and their problems, concerns, or achievements in a way that brings about interest or sympathy in the reader or viewer. Human interest stories may be “the story behind the story” about an event, organization, or otherwise faceless historical happening, such as about the life of an individual soldier during wartime, an interview with a survivor of a natural disaster, or profile of someone known for a career achievement.” Human interest stories give consumers an emotional connection to the problem, product or service being promoted. It makes more difference in reactions and behaviors than most consumers ever realize.

Psychology Marketing is meant to:

– Look at how consumers think, feel and reason-out their decisions and ultimate selections

– Study how a consumer is influenced by their environment such as personal culture and media exposure

– Consider the targeted consumer, their motivations & strategies when comparing products or services for ultimate selection

This is what marketers use to adapt and strategize for their marketing campaigns to more effectively reach the consumer.

Best at the Game: Non-profits
Most non-profit companies have cornered the market on attaching emotional elements to their causes in all forums of media and promotion. So whether it’s a poster, TV commercial or internet ad campaign, their marketing strategies include elements that strike a chord and causes us to pause, consider and act. And once celebrities add their devotion to let’s say a particular cause or movement, undoubtedly the campaign increases its projected success.

Best at the Awww Factor: Pampers
About 95% of consumers love a cute baby and Pampers is kind of capitalizing on that with their marketing campaigns. One of my personal favorites is the Silent Night campaign by Pampers. This great commercial plays annually during the New Year and has a profound effect on all its viewers. How profound? It actually remains one of their most successful campaigns since 2008. Why? Because their Silent Night commercial causes you stop, awww out loud and think about the beautiful sweetness of babies sleeping peacefully. Their marketing team knew your affection and love meter would go up several bars half way through it and they’ve been reaping the benefits ever since the campaign’s inception.

Current Events-Shockwave Effect
Nothing is works in the favor of news media more than shocking news. You know the kind that makes you sad or enraged as what’s going on in the world. It might be hard to conceive that there’s marketing in calamity but there is. Ever since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, President Obama’s team has been hard at work to market the President’s legislative position in his responses orally in his speeches and with his actions as he continues to meet & address the Sandy Hook victims parents and school officials. His speech writing/marketing team penned an emotionally moving speech that he himself found hard to emotionally contains as he teared-up during his public address. His recent bashing yet inspiring Shame on Us speech moved many with a strong call-to-action for legislative changes in gun control and social responsibility.

These are 2 of my personal picks which includes one of the most watched and emotionally charged marketing campaigns to date.

The CDC’s Anti-Smoking Campaign uses scare tactics by showing us the horrific consequences of smoking. Some of the commercials are just sad but there are some that are inspirational for smokers to do whatever it takes which creates a sense of resolution. Ah yes, they’ve tapped into our fight vs. flight responses and the former outweighs the later.

Liberty Mutual’s Half Acre Campaign reflected a Pay It Forward theme that inspires all of us to take just a moment to do something for someone else, big or small, recognized or not. But it was recognized as the commercial captures. Over and over again people take notice and act in the perpetual the cycle of “do right”.