Did you know that small business advertising can actually be more effectively created by using science?

“In the real world of making ads, it often comes down to a creative person saying ‘I like this’ or ‘I like that,’ without much reliance on research,” says Curtis P. Haugtvedt, PhD, in an interview with the American Psychological Association. “But psychologists have all this knowledge about persuasion and communication. People need to understand there’s a scientific way of making these ads better.”

So, with that said, here is some scientific knowledge you can use to improve how well your ads perform.

The Science of Small Business Advertising

What is neuromarketing and how does it work?

Neuromarketing is a great tool for small businesses with a limited advertising budget because, unlike traditional advertising methods (which often involved increasing your ad spend in an effort to increase your market presence), neuromarketing is about getting better results while spending less money.

Neuromarketing has existed for about a decade, and has its foundation in using neurological tests to understand how customers’ brains work and how marketing has on their opinion formation process. This is primarily done through two types of brain activity tests: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG).

What can we learn from neuromarketing?

If these tests sound complicated (and expensive), don’t worry – we’re not suggesting that you invest in medical testing for your target audience groups. Instead, here are a few takeaways that existing neuromarketing research has told us can help small businesses create more effective advertising campaigns–without increasing their budgets:

• Use simple and easy-to-read fonts to encourage actions
• Use imagery that suggests the action you want them to take and how you want them to feel about your product or service
• Build trust by offering no-strings-attached trials and/or easily accessible information

What is the future of neuromarketing?

Does the idea of brain science get your marketing gears going? Ours too. If you’re curious about the future of neuromarketing, the truth is that there is still a lot to learn about how the human brain will react to the changing advertising landscape (but it all looks promising).

For the particularly geeky among us, check out this excellent TED talk about how video imaging can impact physiological operations like heart rate, stress, and mood. Pretty fascinating stuff, right?

The future is limitless, and it all points to one truth: you don’t have to have an astronomical budget to get the most out of your marketing efforts. Smart advertising that appeals to our core humanity can be just as impactful – if not more so – than a million dollar campaign.