The success or failure of a marketing campaign is highly dependent on the perception it creates in the customer’s brain. Well rounded marketing strategies often find a place in the consumer’s System one brain processing, and driven by the instantaneous decisions of consumers. However, campaigns that completely overlook the System two brain processing segment often face failure. This is because purchase decisions are often not instantaneous. There are a few things that market research companies should keep in mind in order to ensure a success of their marketing campaign.
Keeping it simple
If a particular advertisement is too complex or convoluted, it takes up too much effort on the customer’s part to decipher the message behind it. This serves to take the thought process away from System one and the consumer then starts analysing. Keeping a market research simple enough for the respondent to take quick decisions is the key to successful marketing strategy because the data generated by such research will be more useful for the company.
Sending emotional messages
The essence of evoking a System one processing based decision in a customer is to ensure that the advertisement of a particular product touches their emotional cord. A marketing campaign that evokes the reactions of excitement, awe or inspiration tends to perform much better than others. Market research companies often tap this tool to create a bond with the customers that later turns into brand loyalty.
Predicting purchase behaviours
System one based advertising has been found to be most successful in shaping up beliefs about the brand in the customer and eventually governing their purchase behaviour. The marketing team should focus on advertising the product in such a way that it appears to be the obvious choice for the customer. This can only happen if the product makes a place in the consumer’s System one segment of brain processing.
Knowing the customer’s preferences
A very important goal of market research is to find out what exactly do the customers want in a product or campaign. A well-designed research will unfold many patterns that need consideration.Sometimes, new marketing strategies focus such on reviving the image of an old product that they mix up its public image. For example, if a brand has iconic characters in advertising campaigns, the public tends to associate those with the brand and the product. Removing those characters in a new campaign is a strategy that might backfire.
Decision making and cognitive processes in the human brain happen by two distinct pathways. System one is responsible for instant and intuitive decisions that are fast; while System two is responsible for slow and reasoned decisions. Market research companies employ techniques that focus on both these segments tend to produce better, more successful marketing campaigns. While System one based thought processes govern the first impressions created in the customer’s mind, a fine usage of components in the advertisements that reinstate these impressions go a long way in ensuring its success.
