With everything on your plate today, have you had time to look into neuromarketing? Probably not. But if you want to stay ahead in today’s competitive digital marketing era, it’s time to start using it. What makes neuromarketing so powerful is this: regardless of our demographics, our brains react in predictable ways to certain visual and auditory stimuli—a phenomenon studied in neuroscience for decades.
Neuromarketing is the science of analyzing how consumers react to advertising and products by studying their brain activity. Using advanced tools like eye tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers measure emotional responses and consumer attention. These insights help brands optimize their marketing strategies to capture attention and influence purchasing decisions.
Major Brands Are Already Using Neuromarketing
Companies like Coca-Cola, Google, Hyundai, and Frito-Lay have been investing in neuromarketing for years to improve the effectiveness of their advertisements and product perception. For example:
- Coca-Cola and Pepsi used fMRI scans to analyze consumers’ brain responses to their brands, proving that branding influences preference as much as taste.
- Hyundai conducted eye-tracking studies to optimize car designs and enhance buyer attention.
- Frito-Lay found that consumers reacted negatively to glossy packaging (unconsciously associating it with junk food), prompting them to switch to a matte design.
As a small business, how you can apply neuromarketing
You may not have the budget of a multinational company to conduct your own neuromarketing studies, but you can still benefit from existing research.
For instance, an eye-tracking study by James Breeze (2009) demonstrated that when an ad featured a baby looking directly at the camera, viewers focused mainly on the baby’s face and paid little attention to the text. However, when the baby was shown looking towards the text, viewers instinctively followed the baby’s gaze, increasing engagement with the marketing message.
A Practical Example
Look at the two images below and observe where your eyes naturally focus:
Image A
Image B
Ad B applies a key neuromarketing principle by directing the viewer’s attention toward the intended message.
Try It Yourself!
This is just one simple yet powerful way to incorporate neuromarketing into your social media posts and ad campaigns.
Give it a try and share your results with us! We’ll be conducting our own tests as well and will publish our findings in an upcoming article.
