How Marketing Affects Your Mood
You probably aren’t aware of it, but marketing plays an active role in your everyday life. As you watch TV, walk through stores, drive on the highway and use social media, you may not realize that you’re being marketed to at every turn! But the truth is that marketing affects more than just the products you buy; it also affects your moods and feelings about yourself and other people, even your overall happiness and well-being.
Marketing may not seem like the most important thing in your life, but that’s only because you’re used to it being there. It affects everything from what you do with your free time to how you feel about certain products and services. Learn about how marketing affects your day-to-day life in this article on marketing effects on people’s daily activities.
Advertising, marketing, and promotions all contribute to the idea that a product or service can make you happier, healthier, and more successful. As consumers, we’re constantly being bombarded with messages telling us we need this or that in order to live fulfilling lives – and it’s enough to make anyone feel inadequate when it comes to their spending habits. However, marketing isn’t always about making us feel like bad people for not buying products; some of it just makes us feel good about ourselves when we do buy them.
The marketing industry isn’t just about selling products and making money; it’s about making people feel better about themselves in order to sell more products and make more money. Consider this example: you walk into a store that sells jeans, but you aren’t looking to buy any right now because you have more than enough at home. However, the salesperson convinces you to try on that pair of jeans because they will fit your butt and thighs perfectly, so you do.
Marketing affects your life in a variety of ways, most of which you probably don’t even realize. For example, while you might be aware that marketing makes you crave certain foods, there are other daily activities that it drives as well – like your mood! If you want to be able to live a happier life free from the influence of marketing, use this guide on how marketing affects your mood to help you make informed decisions about what you buy and how you spend your time.
While it’s easy to think of marketing as something that affects businesses and companies rather than individuals, the truth is that the information we’re exposed to in our day-to-day lives can dramatically affect our buying decisions—and even the way we feel about ourselves. Whether you realize it or not, marketing can have profound effects on your mood, your self-esteem, and even your actions. Here are some ways marketing may be affecting you without you even realizing it
Why do we even bother with advertising?
If we didn’t have advertising, companies would be forced to compete on price and quality, which would benefit consumers. The reason companies spend billions on ads is because they know that people are willing to pay a little extra for something if they feel it makes them more attractive or gives them social status. Imagine an alternative world where everyone is satisfied with what they have—this kind of purchasing behavior is effectively impossible. Which means you’ll always have advertisers trying to sell you stuff—and as long as there are advertisers, there will be marketing that affects your mood. Be wary of products and services that claim to help with self-esteem or make you cooler, especially those directed at teenagers; these products often rely on false claims and peer pressure.
An analysis of emotional responses to brands
Many people assume that marketing is meant to influence their emotions in some way, but few marketers take into account how ads have a real, tangible impact on our feelings. A good example of how brand loyalty can enhance your mood is Apple’s iPod campaign. The Silhouette Ad shows a couple of silhouettes listening to music and walking on a beach at sunset . The key to this ad’s effectiveness lies in its ability to manipulate feelings. A study conducted by Stanford University found that consumers who prefer Apple products tend to be happier than those who don’t – branding plays an important role in how we feel and associate with certain items and services.
Understanding what a brand means
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing and advertising. They have become more significant with goods and services now being purchasable through many different media channels. Simply put; a brand is what separates you from your competitors. As consumers get more savvy about brands, they have started to place more importance on them when it comes to making decisions about what they buy; research has shown that up to 70% of buying decisions can be made solely on whether or not someone trusts your brand enough to make a purchase. Let’s take a look at some ways you can build trust and promote your brand using social media marketing techniques…
What your brain thinks when you see a logo
When you see a logo, like Nike’s swoosh or Starbucks’ mermaid, your brain doesn’t actually process that image. Instead, it assigns meaning to it based on what you know about it—and who you are. This is called Semiotics. For example, Nike’s logo might remind you of a marathon—which inspires pride in your ability to run marathons. When you see Starbucks’ logo, on the other hand, you may think about how long of a line there will be inside or how terrible their drinks taste. In either case, that specific brand evokes some sort of emotional response from within us–which is exactly what companies are trying to do when they use marketing as a tool to reach out and touch people on an emotional level.
Advertising helps you make better choices
When you’re shopping for food, clothes, a car or even a bottle of water, you’re bombarded with ads. You may feel like these commercials are talking directly to you, but they’re not. They don’t know your name and they don’t know what kind of person you are. Yet every ad has been carefully crafted to reach a specific type of consumer—yourself! The more ads you watch and process (be they visual or auditory), the better marketers can cater their products toward your preferences.
Don’t get mad, get even
Research has shown that many people can trace their mood swings to advertising, whether it’s an ad for a new product or a catchy song on an ad. The takeaway is that we are all influenced by ads in some way. However, one of your goals as a brand manager should be to be mindful of how your target market could respond when they see your ads. Make sure you keep in mind that not everyone will react positively to them, so don’t put all your eggs in one basket if you want marketing success.
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