Marketing is more science than art. The creation of a successful advertisement requires that human psychology comes first. From vision and memory to decision-making, it’s crucial to consider how people’s mind work in order for your product or ad to have an impact.

 

Design with Forgetfulness in Mind

The human brain is a powerful supercomputer. It can process around 40 billion pieces of information every second! However, it sucks at remembering things.

 

Can you still remember the name of your kindergarten teacher?

How about the day you first met your best friend?

Hmmm, how about your wedding anniversary?

 

Forgetting information is normal. Like a computer, the brain routinely deletes information to give room for the new.

 

With that said, it is important to remember that less is more when it comes to marketing. Why? Because the brain can only process bite-size chunks of information. Which would you rather read and remember?

 

A wall of text, two paragraphs long, narrating this afternoon’s event?

 

Or a small post-it note with all the necessary information carefully organised in what, where, when, and why?

 

When creating your next social post, website, or flyer, design with forgetfulness in mind. This will help you focus on the most important information rather than babbling about the details.

 

Tell a Story

We all love good stories. Be it from a thriller novel written by your favourite author, a classic movie, or the latest gossip from your favourite reality TV show. Brand storytelling isn’t a new concept and there’s a reason why it still remains an effective marketing tool today.

 

A story captures your audience’s attention.

 

No, it’s not because the character has a beautiful face. It is because a story is built on a chronological narrative that stimulates the brain. The human brain constantly looks for patterns and it loves filling in gaps by making causations.

 

Stories have a cause and effect pattern — our hero did this, then this happened, then an enemy came, then that” — that’s easy for the brain to follow and remember.

 

Stories make your audience experience empathy.

 

Unless you’re a psychopath, humans are innately empathetic. That’s why when you smile at a stranger, he or she will smile back at you, 99% of the time. Thanks to mirror neurons.

 

Mirror neurons play an important role in understanding how another person feels. And that’s what makes stories click. Stories create mental images of the character’s challenges and eventual triumph (or demise), which in turn lead people to experience empathy.

 

Engaging with your target audience at a mental and emotional level is a surefire way to build trust and credibility.

 

Obey Social Rules

Let’s say you are at a party and you see your high school friend, John, standing in the corner. “Hey mate, how are you? It’s been a while!”

 

“Oi mate, my favourite colour is blue!”

 

What would you feel? You might have a chuckle and think about how odd John is.

 

All human interactions whether physical or online are bound by certain social rules. For instance, when your website takes too long to load, visitors will be put off and will eventually leave your website — the same thing you would do if John takes more than a couple of seconds to answer a simple “how are you?” question.

 

Let the Brain Wander in the Right Places

Try to count your exhalations for 2 minutes and see if you can get through it without thinking about your deadlines, dates, or dinner. Unless you trained your brain, you are most likely to zone out after 20 seconds. Why? Because the brain’s attention span is short. And it is normal. According to psychologist Peter Killeen:

 

“Your neurons can fire for a while with the energy they have in them, but not for long: After a dozen seconds, each needs more energy.”

 

Now, unless your target audiences are monks who spent decades taming their consciousness, you need to find a way to make this work to your advantage.

 

People don’t want to read walls of text. And if they do, they’ll probably understand half of it and retain less than 10% of the information the next day. So when designing an ad or a website, it is better to break up information with video, images, and various text formats. This technique creates an illusion as if your audiences were wandering around, however in reality, they are just learning about your product in different ways.

 

Give Your Customers the Ability to Choose

 

Choice equals control.

 

More choices equal more control.

 

Humans love to take control — that’s how the brain is wired from the beginning. And it’s a good thing. However, there’s a catch. Too many choices could lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed.

 

The illusion of choice is more common than you think. For example, in the car industry, you may find yourself choosing between Audi, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Bentley, or Porsche. But do you know they’re all owned by Volkswagen?

 

Another great example is the beer industry. Almost all of the world’s top beer brands are controlled by 5 big companies namely Anheuser-Busch InBev, SABMiller, Diageo, MolsonCoors, and Heineken.

 

For these businesses, the brand you choose make little difference. What matters most is that you bought a car or 6-pack of beer from them.

 

And you think you have a choice. Well, you do. But does it matter?

 

That is the power of the illusion of choice.

 

It’s Not Luck. It is Science.

Like Volvo’s industry-shaking interception campaign and Yellow Pages classic Not Happy, Jan! TV ad, well-crafted and impactful marketing campaigns are made with human psychology at its core.

 

And the best way to start is by understanding your target audience. Don’t know how? Give us a call and we’ll gladly help you out.