Forget the “Omniscient Buyer”—Branding Still Works

Recently there have been articles on the power of today’s buyer. Because of the Internet, the articles say, buyers have an almost infinite amount of information at their fingertips. These articles would have you believe that buyers are now omniscient and therefore can make decisions based solely on the “facts.” This leads to one conclusion: Branding is dead because marketers have little hope of influencing buyers anymore.

This is complete nonsense. There are several scientific reasons marketing is even more relevant–and needed–today.

Yes, we do have more access to more information than ever before. In fact, this abundance of information means we have too much to process – and this is exactly what makes branding relevant. As Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson mention in their book, “Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion,” we are “cognitive misers”; we try to preserve our cognitive energy. To put it bluntly, we try to avoid thinking. And because we do this, we use branding (and need branding, I believe) to help us simplify decision making.

Given how much information is available, how busy we are, and how many choices we have, it is impossible for us to do research for every decision we make. Instead of going through the process of thoroughly evaluating all available information to determine the safest cars to buy, for example, we immediately consider Volvo because it is known for (read: branded as) being a safe car.

Imagine if every decision you made required extensive research; you wouldn’t get anything done. For example, I Googled “best” and “refrigerator” and got more than 8 million results. I also Googled “CRM,” “software,” and “review” and got more than 7 million results. There isn’t enough time to evaluate even fraction of this information. Of course you could check publications that do the comparisons for you, but you are still left with a ton of data to consider. And you would probably take a publication’s suggestion–because it is branded as being reliable!

Most purchasing decisions just aren’t important enough to warrant a ton of time-consuming research, which means that for those purchases, marketing may have a greater impact on those decisions. Those who believe in the omniscient buyer assume that all purchasing decisions are of equal importance and that people will approach them in the same way. But a person who thoroughly researches a car before making a purchase may not do the same when buying a microwave.

Therefore, despite the vast amount of data available, your marketing messages can still effectively reach people and affect their buying decisions. And even if your offering is one that buyers thoroughly research before making a decision, how the facts are presented can influence buying decisions.

For example, in 1987 two researchers, Beth E. Meyerowitz and Shelley Chaiken, conducted an experiment using pamphlets about breast-cancer prevention. They developed and distributed three pamphlets that asked women to perform breast self-exams regularly. The first pamphlet only had instructions on how to do the exam. The second had instructions and asked women to do the self-exam, emphasizing the positive consequences of doing so. The third pamphlet had instructions and stressed the negative consequences of not doing the exam. The researchers found that four months after reading the pamphlet, the women who were told of the negative consequences of not performing self-exams were significantly more likely to perform the exams. You can apply this principle—stress the drawbacks of not using your product rather than the benefits of using it–to your marketing efforts.

As marketers, we also know that some words sell more products than others and that using those words when presenting facts may make a difference as well. For example, researchers Irwin P. Levin and Gary J. Gaeth found that ground beef labeled “75% lean” was preferred over beef labeled “25% fat.”

Another factor to consider is the credibility of the source. Credibility affects the persuasiveness of facts. Therefore, if your company is perceived as being more trustworthy or authoritative than your competitors, you will have greater influence when presenting your information.

Contrary to what some articles would have you believe, marketing and branding are even more relevant today. Buyers may have a plethora of information, but they don’t have the time to analyze it and evaluate all their options. By seeking to convey your marketing messages in the most effective way possible so that buyers can easily understand the benefit and value you provide, you aren’t just branding your company; you are doing buyers a service.

Wayne E. Pollard is the author of “Minds Before Market Share” and the president of Hunter-Pollard, a management consulting firm based in South Orange, NJ.