Emotional Marketing
Why are emotions important?
Brain-damaged patients left devoid of emotion, struggle to make the most elementary decisions.
The ability to make analysis of cost and benefit is maintained but without emotions they just don’t know what to choose.
Emotions allow you to mark things as good, bad or indifferent and this forms the basis of the decisions you make.
Emotions are so powerful they can motivate you to kill.
Trolley problem 1
A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks toward five people who will all be killed unless you pull a lever to divert the trolley onto another track that will only kill one person.
What do you choose? Most people choose to pull the lever.
Trolley problem 2
A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks toward five people who will all be killed unless you push a stranger onto the track to stop the trolley.
What do you choose? Most people choose not to push the stranger. This is partly because we feel it is wrong to use other people as a means to an end especially if it involves harming them.
Trolley problem 3
A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks toward five little children who will all be killed unless you push a deranged psychopath onto the track to stop the trolley.
What do you choose? I’ll let you decide.
Changing people’s emotional experience changes their behaviour.
The stronger the experience of Emotion the more likely it is people will react to your message.
Emotions can be triggered with:
Powerful copy
Effective visuals
Persuasive videos
Compelling offers
Engaging stories
Riveting audio
Fun events
Here are 12 Emotions to consider:
1. Make them feel they’re missing out People feel more compelled to do something if they think they might be missing out on something good. This is especially true if lots of people are into something cool, or does something that make them more successful, and you’re the only wet blanket on the planet that isn’t doing this. Tips:
Tell them about the success others are experiencing with your product or service.
Create spaces that are exclusive to clients or subscribers.
2. Create a sense of excitement Marketing content that looks and feels exciting suggest to people that there might be something rewarding on offer here. It also puts people in a positive frame of mind that makes them more likely to act on impulse. In today’s cluttered world exciting content is also more distinctive, attention grabbing, engaging and memorable. Tips:
Make your content colourful, use diagonal lines, be vibrant, suggest action, and include happy faces.
Offer or announce something new, spectacular or amazing.
Share exciting events from within the company.
3. Create a sense of curiosity
Curiosity is that gap you create between what someone wants to know and the answer you’ve got for them. Sometimes you need to make people aware of what it is they would like to know. And as knowledge about how big an impact your product of service might have on their lives increases so their curiosity increases. Tips
Ask a potent question and put the answer behind a button click E.g. What is the biggest mistake you make over and over again? It’s not what you think it is. Click here to find out.
Tell them enough to spark their curiosity but not so much that you give your story away.
4. Make them laugh! A touch of humour can make a brand stand out from the crowd. It can add a dash of personality and character and make the brand more distinctive and human and therefore approachable. In an effort to present our brand as professional and serious we sometimes forget that we are communicating with other human beings. People respond well to humour. Humour is the one thing that still consistently gets through the attention barriers. Humour makes us feel positive. Tips:
Share cartoons, jokes, funny images or quotes
Poke fun at yourself (and become more relatable)
Think like a marketer and act like a producer
5. Add some Feel good factor! Research shows that positive posts are shared more often than negative ones. Positive statements, happy faces, bright colours all contribute to a sense that there’s a lot to be grateful for and that life is good. By sharing positive content people will associate your brand with the sense of feel-good and they will be more inclined to want to work with you or buy from you. Tips:
Share positive quotes.
Share your successes and the successes of your customers
Be human, share your stories, especially those where you finally win
6. Create a sense of relief!
We have a lot of stress, worries and challenges in our daily lives so we’re always on the lookout for practical solutions. If you can show people the real impact of the pain they’re experiencing then the solution you offer will deliver a deep sense of relief. The more you can get people to connect to the pain the bigger the sense of relief will be that there’s an answer to their problem and you’ve got it. Tips:
Frame your product or service message as a solution to a clear and present pain.
Focus on how your solution will change their lives.
Make sure access to the solution is as effortless as possible.
7. The Fear of loss. The fear of loss is more powerful than the hope for gain. People would much rather save something they’ve already got, than go after something they want. In marketing, for example, you’ve got two important objectives; get more traffic and convert as many of them into sales. But what if your ideal client visited your website yesterday and they simply weren’t convincing by what they experienced? You’ve lost them and the thought of this feels awful. The fear of loss is a powerful motivator to take action. Tips:
Find the hole in the customer’s bucket that your product or service will plug.
Highlight the implications of what their loss mean for them personally.
Use words like “don’t”, “stop and “avoid”
It’s OK, be dramatic.
8. Utilise uncertainty One of the key principles of success is to know where you’re going and what to expect when you get there. Uncertainty in a time of constant change motivates us to find answers. By highlighting areas of common uncertainty in you industry you draw attention and can then set yourself up to provide insightful and useful information to those who are searching for it. Tips:
Use the uncertainty that is naturally present in people’s mind to inspire them to take action
9. A sense of urgency With so much on our plates we constantly move what we are able to give attention to up and down our priority list. Anything that can be postponed to later is moved down that list where it risks the chance of being forgotten. So if you want to increase the likelihood of people responding to your message you should create a sense of urgency. Tips:
Present a limited offer
Create a limited time offer
Limited availability
10. Surprise people The unexpected make us pay attention. We immediately want to know if this new event or information holds a threat or a reward. It takes creative thinking to come up with something unexpected. Tip:
Think about what you do in a different way
See if you can combine two things that don’t usually go together
11. Anger Anger forces us to take bold action. Anger is one of those emotions that you shouldn’t overuse. But if it is mixed in sparingly with all the other emotions it can be very effective. So, what should you get people to be angry with? Anything that someone consistently does and that isn’t getting resolved that causes problems for themselves or for someone else is a good start. Tips:
Make people want to reverse an injustice and right a wrong
Use very emotive words and visuals
Shocking statistics will help your case
12. Aspiration and hope We get so bogged down in our everyday tasks that everything becomes just taking one step after another. By helping people see the bigger picture or dream more boldly or see possibilities they have not imagined yet, you will inject a strong sense of hope and aspiration into them. Through well crafted words, effective visuals or the power of video you can take them on a 2-3 minute journey that leave them with a sense of “ah yes, that’s where I want to be” or “that’s what I want” Tips:
Highlight the possibilities
Focus on what success looks like
Understanding where your customers aspire to go next, and figuring out how you can help them get there.
Emotional marketing is not about focussing on a single emotion but using emotions like an artist’s palette to make your content more colourful, engaging and memorable.
There will always be emotional responses to your content.
You need to be in control of them so they can result in positive action.
