Are You Targeting The ‘Right’ Side Of The Consumer’s Brain?

Marketing messages that appeal to the logical (left) side of the brain–the part that’s “literally asleep 95% of the time”–won’t get your brand far, said cognitive scientist and SiteTuners CEO Tim Ash.

To plant the seed of an idea into a person’s brain, “all” marketers need to do is design a message that’s easily consumed by the subconscious brain.

But the way they go about that perplexes cognitive scientist Tim Ash. Marketers continue to target the logical (left) side of the brain–the part that’s “literally asleep 95% of the time,” he said.

Does this mean marketers are missing big-brain opportunities to influence our audiences?

In this episode of The CMO Show, hosts Mark Jones and J.V. Douglas take a look under the hood of the human brain to explore the neurological side of marketing with Ash, who also is CEO of SiteTuners.

“Right now we’re designing things that are too complicated and require us to use our conscious brains to process them,” he said. “[It] takes a huge, laborious effort to make those kind of rational decisions. … The rational part of the brain doesn’t even get woken up most of the time.”

A strong believer in the role of conditioning to effect change in ourselves, Ash also delved deep into the role of social inclusion and environment in shaping customer behaviour.

“There’s no such thing as a permanent sense of self, and your environment and the conditioning propaganda, whatever you want to call it, has a very strong influence on us,” he said. “We think of ourselves as active agents and we decide what we do, we decide when we change our own beliefs, and, in fact, that’s not even the case.”

Tune in to discover why humans are the herdiest of animals, how to avoid confusing brands for products, and what negativity bias truly means for opportunistic marketers.

The CMO Show is a podcast about brand storytelling and the future of marketing. To listen to previous episodes, visit the website or follow along on iTunes or SoundCloud.