Even if they don’t realize it, marketers are building their careers on the principles of marketing psychology, thanks to John B. Watson.

About The Man:

Watson was a psychologist who founded the psychological school of behaviorism and is considered one of the pioneers responsible for today’s marketing.  He spent years studying and using psychological practices to sway customers.  He was responsible for many very successful campaigns including Pebeco Toothpaste in which he used scantily clad women to seduce and capture his audience and Pond’s Cold Cream.  He was also given credit for the term “coffee break” which was used in his campaign for Maxwell House Coffee.

He believed that in order to appeal to customers, you have to play on their emotions and stimulated desire for a product, not playing on their logic.

Around the same time, Walter Dill Scott, another psychologist and advertiser entered the field by creating a plan for successful advertising based on psychological principles that marketers still use to this day.  He laid out the steps for a successful advertising campaign that have become the basis for all marketing ambitions today.

You Must Capture Your Customer’s Attention

Since the days of Scott, marketers know that capturing their customer’s attention is critical to any campaign.  Even though the strategies for getting someone’s attention have changed, the foundation of Scott’s steps is still the same.  If you create a message that evokes curiosity and entices the audience, readers will open your emails and click through to your campaign eagerly.

Curiosity is one of the most powerful foundations in a successful marketing campaign.  The brain releases certain chemicals when there is an arousal of curiosity.  When your audience becomes curious, they will probably remember the message you are conveying by the end of the ad.  Today’s marketing practices are deeply rooted in the psychological principles of Watson and Scott.

Consumers Must Experience A Positive Feeling From Your Message

Through your advertising, you need to create a positive feeling and able to associate with your message and/or your product.  Pavlov, as in Pavlov’s Dog, discovered the elements of operant conditioning which is a  process in which behavior is altered by rewards or punishment and often used for learning.  It is creating an association between images, sounds, and positive or negative effects on moods and behaviors.

To date, it is considered one of the most powerful approaches in marketing.  It requires the audience to interact with your message to discover something hidden in the marketing campaign or to receive an award such as a discount.  In other words, you want to condition your customer to interact with your marketing in order to get a great reward in the form of a discount.  Therefore, the marketing psychology of the past is still very much alive and well in today’s busy world of the internet and digital devices.

Create The Emotion Known As The Fear Of Missing Out:

Even back in the early 1900s, Scott realized how emotions play an important role in the overall effectiveness of marketing.  Since then, marketers have understood how important it is to evoke emotions through their campaigns including joy, envy, fear, and FOMO!  FOMO is the Fear Of Missing Out and is one of today’s greatest tools for marketers to create a certain desire in their customers.  You need visitors on your site to feel they are missing out on something. With a well-structured campaign, you are inviting them to become emotionally engaged and invested in your product.  When you create a greater level of engagement, you will create more revenue as well.

When you combine emotions like fear of missing out along with gamification marketing campaigns, your customers’ interaction will constantly grow.  In this day and age, consumers expect digital shrewd campaigns that entice them into interacting along the way.  Gamification marketing fulfills their desires and, all the while, never losing the principles of marketing psychology!

Concluding Remarks

Although marketing has changed in so many ways since the 1900s, the effects of psychology in your ad campaigns is exactly the same.  Gamification marketing is now the answer to the amazing marketing ideas of long ago.  In a world that is consumed by the internet, marketers are becoming even more successful at taking psychological principles and getting their messages across to their consumers.