Digital marketing is full of subliminal messages. Have you ever heard it said or even thought about it yourself? Well, subliminal messages are a common practice in Marketing and Advertising, and even if they have been accused of being sneaky and dangerous, today, they have largely been cleared through customs.
With this article, you will learn about subliminal messages and understand how and when to use them to create effective digital marketing strategies. In particular, I will explain:
- what subliminal messages are, especially what they are for and why they are useful in digital;
- the use of subliminal messages in Content Marketing;
- subliminal messages as an E-commerce tool;
- their use in social networks;
- the use of subliminal messages in Email Marketing.
Before saying goodbye, I’ll give you some useful tips on how to build subliminal messages to use in your strategy. Creating them effectively is indeed a great tool for improving sales or, in general, your digital business.
It is no coincidence that subliminal communication has always been used in Advertising: with the use of specific words or images built to refer to something else, it is possible to guide the user wherever you want and push him to feel certain emotions or consider precise actions.
Underlying almost all new online sales techniques, there is a persuasive language that partly also uses forms of subliminal messages. In this regard, if you want to acquire advanced skills to communicate successfully on the web, I suggest you take a look at the Certified Web Content Manager Course.
What are subliminal messages?
What does “subliminal messaging” mean? Subliminal messages are a constant part of our lives. Even if these have come to the fore as an element of scandal, in reality, they are always present in the discourses we make, even in our way of speaking and moving.
The term “subliminal message” was borrowed from advertising, but it began to be talked about in 1957 when the sociologist Vance Packard wrote the book “Hidden Persuaders,” which later became famous in the field of conspiracy theories on mental manipulation.
In psychology, for subliminal messages, we mean any type of information that our brain assimilates on an unconscious level. In fact, the term “subliminal” derives from the Latin: sub (under) limen (threshold), understood as “below the threshold of perception”.
In reality, their effectiveness in marketing is not yet 100% established because it is believed that they do not produce a direct result but are more of an “aid” in a broader persuasion strategy. Despite this, however, subliminal messaging has proved to be a useful support tool in a more structured communication system.
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What is subliminal messaging for?
Therefore, starting from the definition of a subliminal message, you will ask yourself what is meant by a subliminal message in marketing and what it is for. The goal of subliminal communication in marketing is to instill an unconscious message that is linked to a specific product/service in the person who has “suffered” subliminal communication.
Often this information is connected to a sensation or an emotion that stays with the user for a long time, even forever.
Let me give you an example: the Amazon logo features a visual subliminal message in the arrow joining the “A” and “Z” of the logo. The arrow indicates both the speed of the Amazon e-commerce service and the comprehensiveness of the Amazon catalog (where you can find everything, from “A” to “Z,” in fact).
However, the arrow also points quite clearly to a smile. In this way, the Amazon logo presents not only a warmth that we perceive thanks unconsciously to winking graphics but also a dynamism that we immediately associate with speed, an essential characteristic of online e-commerce.
All these perceptions are “subliminal”; in fact, they remain unconsciously in a part of the mind.
This type of subliminal communication is called “sub-visual,” and it is one of the most common ones. It comes in the form of small, fast, and imperceptible images, which the brain assimilates passively.
Another common form of subliminal messaging is “sub-audible”, inserted into audio or songs. The most controversial remains the backmasking messaging, that is, the one that involves inserting a subliminal message backward within an audio recording.
It is undoubtedly the least used form of subliminal communication, but also the most famous in conspiracy theories: the theory involving tracks by The Beatles is famous, which, listened to backward, would contain encrypted messages of various types.
In any case, subliminal communication, net of conspiracy theories, is not as negative as it is portrayed; on the contrary, it has undoubted advantages both for those who do marketing and for those who are subject to it.
Benefits of subliminal messaging in digital
First, from the point of view of digital marketing, subliminal messages generally work. The unconscious part of the brain is always active, and that is why we are always so receptive to grasping the subtexts of the conversations and images we come across.
For them to work, they must be well constructed and be relevant to the needs of the exposed individuals. A subliminal digital marketing campaign on the water will affect you more if you are thirsty, and this means that subliminal messages must also be well-positioned for them to be truly effective.
That said, it should be emphasized that there is never a direct cause-and-effect relationship. Some psychologists are more inclined to speak of “priming,” i.e., an idea planted in the subconscious linked to an action/emotion that may or may not take place depending on the user’s needs.
Back to the water bottle: if subliminal messaging is put into gyms during the summer, it is more likely to be successful. This means that the single user always has the final word on the success or failure of the subliminal communication campaign.
Furthermore, it is a much less intrusive form of digital marketing than you might think. The Amazon logo manages to condense all its identity and values into a very small space, yet it remains a logo that the user may or may not recognize.
If you think back to what I told you about the idea planted in the subconscious, in many cases, it might never even resurface if the user doesn’t express that specific need. Back to water: if you’re not thirsty, the subliminal message on the water bottle will never produce any action.
Subliminal messages for Content Marketing
Subliminal messages can support any digital tool but should be used with caution. Content Marketing is particularly suitable because it is not a communication channel created specifically to promote but rather to provide information.
Precisely because of its nature, content is not perceived as an aggressive marketing tool and is rather based on slowness understood as the time spent describing the product, in short, on storytelling.
Subliminal communication then acts in the same way, using words to create brand awareness and start planting that idea that could lead to action. It is the principle that underlies the Marketing Funnel, so popular today because it really works.
But how to insert subliminal messages in Content Marketing? Whether it’s a blog, a website, or a page, there are some tricks you can take to include subliminal communication in your content. I will list some of them:
- Obliquity: that is the opposite of immediacy. Content Marketing is made up of content; use it to convey the values of your company or product without selling them directly. Fill your blog or online site with interviews, webinars, debates, and articles that approach the main topic but from a lateral direction. Talk about what matters to you by approaching it from afar;
- Timeliness: as I have already mentioned, subliminal messages are effective if they recall a user’s need at that specific moment. This also applies to content marketing. You should create ad hoc content to solve your future client’s need/problem and respond to his specific emotional need of the moment (always present, even if unconscious);
- Visual stimulus: Content Marketing is also made up of images; today, they are essential to convey a message and ensure that it is remembered. The content with visuals gets 94% more views and is remembered by more than 65% of people even after three days.
- Repetitions: iterating the message in different forms and on different channels is a great way to impress them on the user’s mind. However, you must first make sure the message is short, clear, clean, and easy to replicate.
Subliminal messages for E-commerce
Today, e-commerce is certainly one of the most profitable digital businesses, but also one of the most tiring. It is about having precise management of a large number of digital tools. In e-commerce, we work with content, in facts, but also with Visuals and video Marketing, Social to sponsor the business, and so on.
A painstaking and constant work made of a solid and integrated digital strategy, but also of continuous updates and improvements of the entire system. Obviously, even e-commerce cannot avoid having to generate profit from the sale, and here subliminal messages can come into play.
Precisely because E-commerce is, above all, a sales platform, the use of subliminal messages is mainly focused on building a persuasive language that attracts the future customer and guides him in the purchasing process. Creating an effective customer journey means following the user along the steps that transform him from a simple user to a buyer.
It is, therefore, a question of using the right words to respond to the user’s need (Why did he arrive on your platform? Why does he want to buy your product/service?) And convey a sense of urgency.
If you pay attention, all e-commerce platforms provide motivational phrases to remind you of the purchase and underline the discounts, placing emphasis on the uniqueness of the offer. The subliminal message is “now or never” and pushes the user to buy immediately.
The same thing happens when the platform presents you with other products similar to the one you bought. In this case, by involuntary association, you tend to take a look because “after all, I’m already here”. This type of content is present in the cart or in those parts of the site that are at the end of the purchase path.
A mechanism is turned on that is very similar to the one that connects the gym to drinking water: both reflect an extemporaneous need of the user that can be satisfied immediately. Why wait? And that is exactly what the message subliminally means.
Today, social channels are one of the most important tools for conveying communication in the advertising and marketing fields.
Even more true if we talk about subliminal communication, which becomes simple to insert between musical tracks and product placement. Thanks to relatively young and constantly updated legislation, in some cases still too vague, which does not allow for a single modus operandi.
Product placement, also called Embedded Marketing or indirect advertising, raged freely in both cinema and television before being regulated. The baton then passed to Social Media, which, being a new terrain, gave the possibility of greater freedom in the generation of brand awareness through the insertion of the products in a natural way in the shots.
The figure of the Influencer is nothing more than the latest evolution of broader indirect marketing work. It is no coincidence, in fact, that influencer marketing today is somewhat the center of subliminal communication on social media.
YouTube
YouTube is the epicenter of Video Marketing, and today’s trend does nothing but confirm how much this channel will become increasingly central to the new marketing strategies now directed toward video. Subliminal messages via YouTube pass above all through the product placement that the Youtuber applies through various types of content.
One of the most kinds there is the review which, even if in itself it cannot be considered a subliminal message, becomes so when context and music are used to set the mood and convey a certain unconscious emotion. The same thing goes for the background, the use of the background as a passive element to show products, phrases, and quotes, which are absorbed by the user.
On the other hand, Instagram is the realm of Photo Marketing, even if, by now, reels and story videos are demonstrating the general tendency of social networks to exploit videos as the main form of communication. What has been said for YouTube also applies to the video elements of Instagram, but in this case, all the tricks that Instagrammers use on images to convey certain messages are added.
The construction of the feed, for example, is part of the subliminal communication of Instagram, i.e., following a certain graphic project with the aim of returning a certain emotion. The decision to use a certain color palette gives the idea of warmth or modernity, or professionalism. Color can even become a distinctive trait, a signature in the digital world.
The bio is another short but very important element, which can be used to insert subliminal messages through CTAs (Call To Action) or even links and rhetorical questions, useful for positioning yourself or your product.
TikTok
TikTok is the new social tool to focus on. Exploded in 2016, it is becoming a fundamental platform for Influencer Marketing and, yes, even for subliminal communication. The subliminal power of TikTok mostly showed up in its infancy, when the overexposure of music in videos revolutionized the music industry.
A large number of emerging artists have found themselves in the top positions of the Billboard charts thanks to their use of TikTok backgrounds. Many record companies, sensing this particular ability, have begun to include TikTok in their digital strategy, especially in the UGC (User-Generated Content), user-generated content, professing headlines like “I used this song in my TikTok video and within two days I got a promotion at work”.
These types of videos have become a trend on the platform and are real subliminal messages because the same users who generate them are not aware that they are spreading an advertising campaign.
Subliminal messages for Email Marketing
Email Marketing is another powerful and often underestimated tool within digital strategies. In fact, emails have an excellent opening rate, almost bordering on 100%, and are a great way to do both attributions (acquire new contacts) and retention (cross and upselling activities). All these qualities also depend on the potential for subliminal communication that Email Marketing brings.
Like Content, E-commerce, and Social, Email Marketing has a whole textual and visual part that can be developed with the same techniques I have already told you about, but Email Marketing also has specific elements that can be studied to produce the maximum result through subliminal messages.
- Subject: it is one of the most important Email Marketing tools and the main responsible for the high opening rate because it is the first item we read when we get an email. If you notice, a part of the object is always dedicated to a clear Call To Action but always alludes to a certain range of feelings, such as exclusivity, urgency, success, or the free nature of a service/product.
- Emoticons: it might seem like an irrelevant detail, but the use of emoticons to guide the user to the emotion he should feel when reading the email is a very useful feature. Try checking your inbox: you will see that most of your emails use them.
- Call to action: if the logo, payoff, and visual already do a great job of conveying subliminal messages, inserting the right Call To Action could be the real winning move.
In essence, it is a question of always integrating the same techniques but applying them according to the specificities of the various channels, which obviously will need different precautions to have the maximum impact. The important thing is not to abuse subliminal messages and always use them to convey positive messages.
Tips for creating effective subliminal messages
Our excursus on subliminal messages is almost done, but before leaving you, I wanted to offer you some tips on the do’s and don’ts to create effective subliminal messages. Yes, because not all donuts are born with a hole, and in some cases, the subliminal communication strategy simply doesn’t work.
I will then present you with two examples in support of one and the other category.
First of all, to create an effective subliminal message, it needs to be subliminal! Subliminal communication should act on an unconscious level and with content that is subtle and works of sensations, not blatant messages. There are two risks in this case: that it doesn’t work at all and that it also irritates the user because he realizes he is being manipulated.
The second suggestion is that the message you intend to convey returns coherent imagery with the product/service you want to sell. As I told you, Amazon’s arrow speaks of the speed of service and the exhaustiveness of the catalog, two characteristics that are absolutely in line with its platform. The happiness derived from the arrow-smile is only the latest of the messages conveyed.
Don’t: Burger King
Now, let’s take, for example, the 2009 Burger King campaign. The company launched a series of promotional messages to advertise the new loaf. The chosen image presented a woman with her mouth open, intent on waiting for the burger loaf, and a slogan that said, “It will blow your mind”, which had a double meaning, explicitly sexual.
The fact that the imagery recalled was sexual had nothing to do with the product (related to food) nor with the way it was sold. Such a direct and not very subtle message provoked a lot of criticism and little desire to go and buy it.
What to do: Coca-Cola versus Pepsi
The marketing battle between these two famous brands is now legendary and has been going on for almost 100 years! Both fronts have found ingenious ways to exploit it for their advertising purposes. It is now famous for the Halloween 2013 Q&A campaign, when Pepsi released an image of a Pepsi Cola can with a Coca-Cola cape and the tagline: “Have a Scary Halloween.” Coca-Cola’s reply was not long in coming, and the company used the exact same image with the phrase: “Everyone wants to be a hero!”.
This type of subliminal communication works because it manages to convey different types of messages in a subtle way but, at the same time, leaves a positive feeling to the users. In fact, if Pepsi wanted to hint at the horror of drinking Coca-Cola, while Coca-Cola wanted to refer to the idea of being a superhero in the field of colas, both brands were playful and ready to make fun of each other. A double win!
There are many examples of the correct use of subliminal messages; I suggest you analyze them and have fun researching the most absurd, ingenious, and playful ways in which they have been inserted to convey corporate messages and values, sell your brand, and even yourself. Subliminal communication can become a powerful ally for your marketing strategy.
If you want to use a subliminal message strategically, contact an expert. He will guide you step by step in creating effective promotional campaigns.
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