The Psychology of Marketing

Psychology: the scientific observation of mind and body; human/consumer thoughts, behavior, emotions, actions, and motivation.

Marketing: the active acquiring, satisfying, and retaining customers, ultimately to drive revenue in business.

Hi, I’m Jennifer Tuttle. I hold a BS in psychology from West Virginia University and I’m nearly complete with my Master's of Science degree in marketing from Southern New Hampshire University. I have 30 years of marketing experience in the field.

One might ask why did you get an undergrad in psychology? This answer is very simple. When I was young, I wanted to save the world so psychology seem like the obvious choice. But unfortunately two years after graduating and working in the social work field, supporting developmentally disabled adults, I reached a HARD burnout. But at the time, I was very fortunate to have connections that allowed me to start work in a more professional business setting.

I was hired initially as an administrative assistant at Perot Systems, reporting to the head of marketing for the telecommunications billing services division which resulted in me learning some fundamental understandings of marketing and business. It also quickly began to grow my love of marketing. Over the years I moved from marketing role to marketing role, each time elevating my understanding of principles and best practices. Ironically, I was always teased along the way about having an undergrad in psychology. As a young post-grad I was often teased, "so if you know psychology, can you read my body language?" Me, "why yes, I do and know that you are flirting with me so that I will file your expense report for you (jerk)." During those times, I actually failed to see the connection of my undergrad with marketing. But now looking back, I realize just how much it really did help me not only from a business perspective but also within marketing strategy.

Within marketing, we strive to deliver the message with the image or ad or the video or whatever form of content you’re pushing that resonates with the consumer. But I believe that many marketers overlook the first step which is to get into the mindset of the consumer, ie. the study of psychology. It once again is the study of consumer behavior, so it is in my humble opinion that the psychology of consumer behavior is a critical foundation of good marketing. So in other words, my instinct as a teenager looking at the world and trying to figure out where I fit in professionally was actually spot on. Being able to take all of the studies and information that I gleaned in college has made more of an impact on me as a professional marketer that I never realized or appreciated.

So I offer this very simple advice to anyone struggling to understand why they’re marketing is not effective. Answer this question, do you know who your customer is? If you can’t answer this from a psychology standpoint, then I assure you this is why your marketing is failing.