How to Use Neuromarketing to Book More Brides

Guest post by Katie Smyth.

Humans are wired to seek pleasure and to avoid pain – it’s a primal and integral part of our makeup. Neuromarketing studies consumers’ reactions to marketing stimuli – in this post we’ll look at how using just one principle can book you more brides!

Neuromarketing helps us understand the ‘why’ behind consumer behaviour and gives insight into how we can market our wedding businesses more effectively.  Many neuromarketing experts tell us that the brain’s pain avoidance response is about three times stronger than the brain’s pleasure seeking response.

When it comes to making buying decisions we may think we are being rational and logical when in reality these primitive impulses are having a massive effect on our choices.

When we hand over our hard earned dollars the area of our brain that lights up is the exact same area the turns on when we are experiencing physical pain. Ouch.

This pain we feel when we’re spending up is contextual, meaning that we hurt less when we believe that some is good value or ‘worth’ our money.

Credit card companies have been on to this for some time – they completely remove the act of handing over money therefore lessening the pain. Our brains also have the tendency to see money on credit as not ‘real’ money, or money that’s not actually our own, adding further distance between us and the pain!

Steps to Avoid Buying Pain

Take these steps to apply this pain avoidance principle to your wedding business clients:

1. Because buying pain is contextual you need to make the most of opportunities to communicate the value of your service or product to your clients and customers.

Don’t be shy! Tell them why they should buy from you. Why it is worth their investment?

If you aren’t sure on your value proposition, get clear on it now! Also make sure you know your ideal customer inside and out so you are able to really tap into their wants and needs.

2. Tell your customers/clients how your product/service is going to save them from pain.

This doesn’t have to be physical pain (although it definitely could be!), it’s most likely going to be emotional pain. Does your product/service save your customer from feeling frustration, irritation, time-poor, upset, unhealthy?

Let them know that you understand their pain.

3. Remove ‘pain points’ from the purchasing process.

Make the process as easy and clear as possible for your customers. Don’t make them jump through hoops to make a purchase, it prolongs the pain!

Consider packaging your services or products so your customer only has to pay once, therefore avoiding buying pain.

How can you apply this principle to your wedding business? Share in the comments below!

 

About the Author

Katie is a communications consultant with a flair for wrangling words, brainstorming branding strategy and manhandling marketing collateral (she likes alliteration too). She has been studying and working in communications for over seven years and has been known to speak about good communication to rooms full of eager ears. Katie works with her clients to discover simple and direct messaging which speaks to customers and ultimately brings in more sales. You can find her online at katiesmyth.com or on Facebook.

Photos provided by Katie Smyth