Economic, Marketing & Neuromarketing Studies

Economic, Marketing & Neuromarketing Studies

Microeconomics focuses on the individual and the firm, while macroeconomics concentrates on governments and corporations. Mesoeconomics is a relatively new concept, covering issues that fall outside of the two categories.

Wealth of Nations. The resulting ideology of classical economics centers on laissez-faire and the invisible hand, which both advocate non-intervention in markets which are seen as self-regulating.

After the Great Depression in the 1930s, an alternative outlook, Keynesian economics, has gained in prominence. John Maynard Keynes called for greater governmental involvement in economic affairs.

The basic tenets of the social science are demand and supply, and the ensuing market equilibrium (when supply equals demand). The following graph shows such a situation:

Equilibrium graphics. Economic equilibrium explained graphically. At E, supply equals demand, and thus, the market is in equilibrium. 

Marketing

In a free association exercise, one of the first words that come to mind when prompted to think about marketing, is advertising. However, while advertising is certainly a part of marketing, it fails to describe the full picture.

The AMA (American Marketing Association) defines marketing as the exchange and communication of potential benefits (paraphrased summary; Crane et al., 2011). The goal is to identify consumer needs and turn them into appropriate wants. Obviously, legal, social, environmental, moral, ethical and other concerns must be respected.

Economics. Comic book style young woman talks about economics. Economics is dubdivided in microeconomics, mesoeconomics and microeconomics. Such disciplines, such as finance are similarly branches of the social science.

Also, professional marketers often stress the importance of building customer relationships. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) databases, popular among many firms that deal with the public, have added to the tools that organizations possess to achieve such ends.

The social discipline looks at, among other things, concepts such as lifelong value, brand, niche, and target audience. For example, commercials running during the Super Bowl will likely differ from those interspersed with Saturday morning cartoons. Also, no matter how amazing the campaign, a bad product will fail, as has been demonstrated many times by history.

A related term is telemarketing, which refers to agents calling, often at random, individuals (called cold calling) with the intent to sell goods and services. Telemarketers seem intrusive to many, even in B2B or business to business undertakings, and national ‘Do Not Call’ lists have consequently been implemented.

As an academic major, marketing is offered in most BCom (Bachelor of Commerce) or BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) programs. Individuals with such backgrounds often work in banking institutions.

Four PS. The four Ps (product, price, place and promotion) of the marketing mix.

According to Wikipedia, Neil Borden coined the expression ‘marketing mix’ (also known as the 4 Ps) in 1953 during an AMA presidential address. Still, the online encyclopedia notes that the term was a reformulation of a previously expressed idea by James Culliton in 1948. Today, it is almost impossible to find an introductory textbook on the subject that would omit mentioning the concept.

Also, social marketing is a sort of selfless marketing, aimed at benefiting other parties than the marketer (Crane et al., 2011). For intance, McKenzie-Mohr (2000) explains how social marketing can contribute to ecological sustainability using psychology to promote environmentally responsible behavior.

Neuroeconomics

Neuromarketing is a relatively new field in business, management or commerce studies. The discipline combines principles of economics with insight into the human brain as achieved thanks to neuroimaging, electrophysiology and other methods.

Neuroeconomics. Bar graph, depending on whether the bars are congruent, the may be called histograms.

The application of scientific methods to market research dates back to at least the 1990s, although the term itself appeared at later times. Despite severe criticisms, neuromarketing research may nonetheless contribute to science, at least Lee and colleagues (2007) seem to think so.

Pie Chart. Pie chart, also often used in economic, business and marketing presentations.

Others (e.g. Ariely & Berns, 2010) explain the rise of interest in applying neuroscientific principles to facilitate commercial success by two factors. Mainly, cost efficiency and the notion that such data is unavailable elsewhere.

Line Graphs. Line graph with four series.

References:

• Ariely, D. & Berns, G. S. (2010). Neuromarketing: The hope and hype of neuroimaging in business. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11 (4): 284-92.
• Crane, F. G., Kerin, R. A., Hartley, S. W. & Rudelius, W. (2011). Marketing, 8th Can. Ed. McGraw-Hill Ryerson: United States of America.
• McKenzie-Mohr, D. (2000). Promoting sustainable behavior: An introduction to community-based social marketing. Journal of Social Issues, 56 (3): 543-54.
• Lee, N., Broderick, A. J. & Chamberlain, L. (2007). What is ‘neuromarketing’? A discussion and agenda for future research. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 63: 199-207.
• Wikipedia.