The Value of Neuromarketing: What Students in MBA Courses Should Know

January 18, 2022

How the trend of neuromarketing can optimize your business strategies

A woman looking thoughful with many media images floating around her head

Selling any product requires a marketing strategy that focuses on the needs and desires of consumers. The biggest challenge comes with identifying your target market and finding the best possible way to appeal to them. This is where neuromarketing comes in. Neuromarketing is a method of determining consumer tastes and testing new products. It studies the brain through various techniques with the goal to predict - and often influence - consumer purchasing decisions.

An increasingly popular method that employs new technologies, neuromarketing is becoming an essential part of business strategies of the future. The more businesses understand the psychology of consumers, the more they can engage them in meaningful ways. Here’s a closer look at how MBA students can use neuromarketing in their future businesses.

How Does Neuromarketing Work?

Neuromarketing relies on brain-scanning technology to observe how people’s brains respond to different stimuli, such as the design of a product or the placement of an ad. It works by measuring psychological and neural signals to gain an insight into the preferences and decision processes of consumers. The results can then be used to tailor a marketing strategy that more effectively appeals to consumers.

As those with an MBA in Marketing know, successful branding is about engaging consumers on a more personal level - aligning your brand with their values and goals. Once you know what consumers want to see, you can develop an image that meets their expectations. Among many other ways, neuromarketing is used to test responses to ads, optimize web design, improve product packaging, and perfect color schemes.

A woman and a man analyzing data on a sheet of paper, with a laptop and a monitor also showing business data
Neuromarketing gathers reports on consumer preferences and decision-making

The Tools of Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing primarily depends upon brain scanning and physiological tracking. This involves gathering data from eye-tracking, facial expression monitoring, electrodermal activity, response times, and heart rate. Each of these measurements can indicate how consumers respond to and feel about a specific marketing stimulus. Using advanced neuroscience technologies, marketers can get an insight into consumer reactions that are often unconscious, and create a marketing strategy that appeals to their deepest desires. They may decide to alter the layout of an ad based on where a person’s eyes tend to fall, or they may change the color of product packaging to stir up a particular emotion in the buyer. With accurate and insightful reports on the workings of consumer minds, marketers can develop a better understanding of their target market.

Two people at a table, one showing data on a clipboard, the other one taking notes in a notebook
Those with an MBA degree should find ways to adjust their marketing strategy using data on consumer responses

How You Can Apply Neuromarketing After Your MBA Degree

In today’s world, consumers are overwhelmed by choices; the success of a business depends upon its ability to create a unique and personalized customer experience. Students in MBA courses will learn how to create products or services that fulfill customer expectations and deliver those products right when the customers need them. You will learn how to maneuver a brand’s message across different channels to reach your customers with emotions and facts. Neuromarketing is one of the primary ways in which you can get accurate data on consumer feelings and predict their future responses. As the digital transformation of business continues to take hold, we can expect to see neuromarketing taking center stage in the development of more personalized marketing campaigns.

Are you interested in earning an MBA degree?

Contact WU Executive Academy for more information.

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