#15: Neuromarketing, with Christophe Morin

On this episode, we dive deep into the human brain and neuromarketing, with Christophe Morin.

[powerpress]

Did you know that sales stem…from the brain stem? They do, according to scientific research. Over the past decade, advertisers and scientists have teamed up to study consumers' buying decisions and the results are revealing. The science, called neuromarketing, is now widely used by the world's largest brands to directly reach the part of the brain that decides.

Neuromarketing is no stranger to controversy. Although some refer to it as evil manipulation, neuromarketing uses a scientific process to explain what motivates customers to buy and satisfy the rational, emotional and survival instincts residing in the "old brain" or "reptilian brain." That's the part making the real decisions – and it’s also what Christophe has been studying to predict consumer behavior.

Christophe is the marketing guru of the consulting firm SalesBrain and he co-authored the best-seller Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Button in Your Customer’s Brain. In this interview, Christophe explains how this science works and how it can help to boost your client communications, presentations and messaging.

SHOW NOTES:

02:30  Christophe started by explaining what neuromarketing is and how it relates to sales.

03:50  Christophe says it’s important to understand the different parts of the brain and what each does – as there’s one particular part where buying decisions are made.

06:20  So what are the best steps to get right into the reptilian brain – the real decision-maker?

08:15  Christophe walks through six rules for reaching the reptilian brain, starting with “self-centeredness.”

10:25  The third rule is tangibility – that is, making the message concrete.

11:20  Can you create a tangible sensation through the use of copy? If you're telling a story, can you reach that part of the brain?

13:15  What about advertising and marketing, which spend a ton of money simply to reach people?

15:15  Christophe gets back to those six steps for reaching right into the reptilian brain, with step number 4: understanding that our pattern of attention follows a particular curve.

17:50  Christophe says the last two stimuli are truly essential, starting with the fifth: the fact that we’re mostly visual.

19:35  But what if you sell something that's not a visual, like insurance, which is not exactly a tangible product?

20:35  The last piece – and the wrapper of it all, Christophe says – is the importance of emotions.

23:25  Having too many choices can actually frustrate the reptilian brain. Christophe says that’s why the most effective sales message builds on a maximum of three claims.

25:20  How do you know when you have “connected” with the reptilian brain?