Marketing, the Applied Division of Psychology

At Setup, we regularly interview marketing leaders from different industries ranging from Tourism to Packaging to Entertainment and Healthcare. Having periodic conversations with marketing leaders not only helps us keep a pulse on every industry, but reveals common trends and challenges that all marketers are facing.

This Industry blog explores the ins and outs of the Professional Service industry. We spoke with Jake McKenzie, the CEO of Intermark Group, a leading firm in psychology-driven marketing, for his thoughts.

1. What innovative changes are happening in the Professional Services space? What changes made are going to remain permanent moving forward?

   Compelling question. At Intermark Group, we acknowledge that the professional services industry has grown more competitive as AI, automation, data-centric business strategies, and cloud technologies make it more accessible for companies to provide service solutions at various price points.

   However, the most notable of all changes has been the use of data. When I got into the business, few clients tied advertising efforts DIRECTLY to sales results. Now, that time seems as quaint as the three-martini lunch. This trend will only get stronger as companies begin to leverage their own data to drive decisions, changing the role of the CMO and agencies forever.

   This also means that advertising is shifting further into the “science” side of the art/science spectrum. Inevitably, the other sciences – the behavioral sciences – are coming fast as well. One can’t run experiments (data) without understanding what to test. There are over 120 years of research on how consumers think and act. Successful marketers understand that this is the next great frontier for driving better outcomes – applying the behavioral sciences. Most Nobel prizes in economics in the last 15 years have been awarded for behavioral economics. It’s a reason that so many CMOs today have a background in or a passion for Psychology. This evolution is inevitable.

   Intermark identified this as a need to drive better outcomes and became the nation’s largest psychology-driven marketing firm. The demand for PhD-led insights is massive, and will only get stronger.

2. Are there other industries or companies outside of this industry that you have looked to for inspiration + why?

   Absolutely, we recognize software development and video game designers were early innovators in the behavioral sciences. Those industries realized very early on that you had to GENUINELY understand consumers to be amazing. When you understand consumers and use psychology to meet their needs and talk to them in their language, you not only succeed, but become BELOVED. Take Apple for example – they make digital devices, and some would argue that their technology is always behind the competition, sometimes way behind. Yet, they understand their consumer and spend a great deal of time meeting their psychological needs. Thus, they are beloved. 

   At the core, professional services are all about generating and communicating real value to people. And in marketing, we should achieve that by helping companies deeply understand their customers and then help brands create connections with those consumers. 

   As the nation’s largest psychology-driven marketing agency, Intermark Group leverages the behavioral sciences – like psychology – to truly understand how consumers think, employing PhD Psychologists to apply well-documented human psychology in our field. Why? Because there are countless psychological studies and principles that directly correlate what occurs in the human mind with strategic marketing effectiveness.

   For instance, did you know 90% of all purchase decisions are made with the subconscious part of the brain?

   So, yes. We’re in the service of marketing, but it's clear that we will continually refresh our perspectives and harness psychological insight for better marketing outcomes. 

   Because brands need a new edge to succeed in today’s world, a psychological edge.

3. How have the last few years + virtual methods impacted the Professional Services?

   For eons in the professional services, time has been our currency. From business consulting to legal, marketing to recruitment (and everything in between), the formulas were straightforward. But in a post-COVID and highly digitized world, there’s a bourgeoning emphasis on speed, data-driven outcomes, optimizing productivity, and utilizing tech to elevate the quality of our creative services – looking at you, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). 

   We call it the Amazon Effect, but consumer expectations have pressured us all to be faster, sharper, and nimbler.

   As a full-service agency, Intermark houses strategic marketing, advertising, PR, digital solutions, social media marketing, comprehensive production, and additional offerings all under one roof. It’s critical for clients who want to source and streamline projects and campaigns in one place. But, with a workforce that stretches across the U.S., it’s imperative that we keep up with cutting-edge solutions to remain virtually connected and collaborative, like Cloud-based technologies, innovative creative applications, and data insight tools.

   As advancements in Big Data continue, our strategies must also be steered by sound intel. Professional service providers are increasingly expected to understand marketing analytics to drive more personalized customer experiences, conversion, and ROI. 

4. What lessons can other industries learn from the Professional Services space?

Innovation is not a new idea nor a committee. You must always be looking for new ways to break cliches and drive better outcomes. Data, AI, and now Psychology have all made marketing dramatically different than it was just a decade ago. Marketing and advertising is a competitive sport – every share point of growth comes directly from someone else. The highly competitive nature of this industry makes innovation “de regueur.” 

At Intermark, we’re constantly thinking beyond the traditional marketing and advertising methodology, and our background in psychology gives us an unparalleled view of changing customer beliefs and behavior. It’s one of the many ways we’ve differentiated ourselves in a noisy, saturated market.

Other players in the professional service industry are innovating in similar ways. And it’s this agile spirit and commitment to thrive -- amidst disruption, innovation, and transformation – that makes our collective one to be admired.

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No matter the industry, meeting the customer where they are at by utilizing tools that collect data is important. Intermark invests in a psychological approach to understand their consumer. How are you observing your audience and implementing that knowledge into your marketing strategy?

We interview marketing professionals regularly to get their thoughts on their industry, as well as what they’re keeping an eye on. Subscribe to the newsletter below to never miss an update, and check out other industry blogs below.