Five interesting psychological marketing tactics

psychological marketing tactics

Understanding consumer psychology and effectively playing on it is the foundation of marketing.

Though some might disagree with this analysis claiming that other forces are at work too in successful marketing as well as contributing factors.

However, it is our opinion that consumer psychology is at the top of the list.

If a brand or a firm can properly execute psychological marketing tactics then their campaigns have higher chances of becoming a success which will, in turn, lead to better brand awareness, higher conversions and sales, customer loyalty and a lot more.

However, the question still remains; in actuality, what are psychological marketing tactics?

A good marketer always puts effort whether through market research or customer surveys, to ensure that they understand what type of products appeal to the consumers, what the reactions are of the audiences to their content and campaigns and how everything is received.

All this helps marketers to come up with engaging content that is well-received by the target audience. Thus, the need for understanding consumer psychology.

This understanding is what is taken into account to generate different strategies which are called psychological marketing tactics.

Different kinds of psychological marketing tactics:

#1 - Color psychology:

A huge part of content reception by the audience is dependent on the colors it is exhibiting.

This psychological marketing tactic is mostly employed in print marketing and advertising; and also comes in handy when deciding the signature colors of a brand or product.

The reason for this is that people have different feelings and emotions towards different colors.

 An example of this is the color blue which is generally associated with reliability, dependability, and strength and is thus the brand color of many banks and insurance firms.

The color red is mostly associated with fire, energy, aggression, excitement, and passion.

Green mostly nods back to the environment, clean energy, conservation, agriculture, growth, and money.

Therefore, marketers can use these tactics to subtly relay a particular message through their campaigns or to rouse certain emotions in their target audience.

#2 - Scarcity:


Using terms and phrases like ‘limited edition’ or ‘one time offer’ implies that the brand or company is offering something special, which is available in a small quantity only.

This leaves the consumers wanting to own that product as they then will have something unique and rare in their possession.

The feeling of owning something special that no one else has convinces them to go and make the purchase.

The psychological play behind this marketing tactic is the same that turns out of date or low-value goods into Giffen goods that are started to be considered a luxury after becoming rare, like record players.

#3 - Emotions:

Emotion in marketing

Emotional ideas and marketing tactics that rouse the sentiments of the target audience or person viewing the content will have a greater reception.

Not only that but it will be more widely shared on social media, increasing brand awareness and free promotions.

Furthermore, people are more likely to make a purchase or sign up for something if it is being promoted or shared by someone they know or follow.

Also, an emotional campaign has better retention and is known to make a lasting impact, just look at ‘Love Has No Labels’ by Ad Council or ‘The Power Of Dreams’ by Honda.

A different approach could be loss aversion; no one likes losing or having to give up something.

This fear of loss is what many marketers can use as a weapon by finding out what their target audience fears of losing the most or is scared emotionally and using those as a means to convert leads.

This can be done in two ways – the subtle approach which shows or hints towards the fears, or by charging straight in with guns blazing and telling the marketers what will happen if they won’t do something.

#4 - Visual appeal:


It is a given that attractive things receive a better reception from consumers and the target audience.

Whether it is a good looking model, a lively color combination, a good font or breath-taking photographs.

A simple message attracts more attention and is received better if it has an aesthetic appeal to it.

#5 - Impact:


A consumer is more likely to perform a particular action if they know what their efforts are going towards.

This might not be effective in all cases but if you are targeting women, or parents, or people who are more empathetic then they will want to make a difference.

 However, this won’t just work if a marketer says that ‘all your contributions will go to charity’.

A wiser approach would be to make the consumer aware of how exactly their action will be making a difference and to what extent.

For example, if a company is planning to donate a percentage of their earnings from sales to housing people affected by floods,

then what !

the tagline should be something that showcases the number of victims you are planning to help, the fact that their contributions will give them a ‘home’ don’t use house because that won’t have the same emotional effect. 

Secondly, use pictures or stories of the victims in your marketing to show who it is that the consumers are helping.

A good example of such a marketing campaign would be Amnesty Internationals’ Anti Abuse campaign that can be seen across many bus stops in Germany.

To Sum Up..

Aside from these psychological marketing tactics, there are much more that can be used by marketers, however, these were the ones that are at the top of our list.

It isn’t necessary that marketers should use one or all of these psychological marketing tactics in their content.

They can use as many as it takes, making sure that too much doesn’t result in the creation of something that misses the entire point; so be smart about what you’re planning to utilize.

Like color psychology, emotions and impact can all be utilized to create something amazing; what can be done for example is that a marketer can create emotional content, tell people what impact they can make, and then use the right colors and images to showcase it.

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