Emotional Marketing

Like it or not, humans are an emotional species. Most of the decisions we make each day have something to do with how we feel. Love drives us to buy a special gift, the need for acceptance drives us to dress or act a certain way, loneliness drives us to speed dating, fear drives us to search for protection and happiness drives us to celebrate. To become an expert marketer, we must tap into and use these raw emotions to connect with our buying audience. In fact, I would argue that there is an emotion at the core of almost every purchasing decision we make. Are your customers any different?

When you think about crafting your marketing message, to truly touch your audience, you must channel the raw emotion that will drive them to make a purchase decision. First identify the problem that you solve for your customers, and then dial into the consequences of what might happen if this problem isn’t solved.

For example, say you work for a telecommunications company and you’re trying to sell the latest and greatest cell phone. To get down to the emotional reason people buy, have, what I call, the “what then conversation.”

Me: What happens if Ms. customer doesn’t purchase this new cell phone?

You: She won’t be able to take advantage of the new emergency locator feature.

Me: What then?

You: No one will know where she is.

Me: What then?

You: She could be facing a life-threatening situation with no way to contact help.

Me: Aha. Fear. The underlying emotional reason Ms. Customer will buy this phone.

You don’t have to actually have this conversation with anyone else, but if you’re caught talking to yourself in your office, I can’t be held responsible for the teasing.

Have a great story of how you used emotion to market to your customers? Share it here.

Sept. Look-Smart Tip

Email newsletters are a must for keeping your business in front of your customers and clients, but poor content can make your subscribers disappear faster than a bad party. Want to create an email newsletter people want to read? Stay away from the

5 Enewsletter Sins

1. Weak copy. Always assume that people read your email newsletters all the way through. That means the content had better be good. Include relevant industry news, trends and solutions to their problems, and your customers will view you as an expert and are likely to keep receiving your messages.

2. Ego articles. The last thing anyone needs in their email inbox is a newsletter bragging about all the awards and praise your company receives. It’s OK to alert people to your company’s successes, but how about change the angle and write about it as a benefit to your customer, say a customer testimonial or client success story?

3. Too long. Your customers are busy, so get right to the point, convey your main message and end it. Break up longer stories by including only an excerpt in your email newsletter with a link to read the rest on your website. This way people can scan your enewsletter and read only the full articles that interest them. (Bonus, this drives them to your website!)

4. Impossible to unsubscribe. It’s very frustrating to be on an email newsletter list with no way to opt out. Make an unsubscribe button available and easy to find in every single email you send, and you’ll know your list includes only those people who are truly interested to hear from you on a regular basis.

5. Typo city. As a writer, I tend to have some sympathy for articles that could have been great had it not been for all the glaring typos and grammatical errors. However, your customers may not have that spot in their heart, so my advice: proofread, proofread, proofread and then have someone else proofread, then proofread again. You get the idea.

Look-Smart Tip: Develop a six-month editorial calendar that delivers solid content in every issue. Keep these common mistakes in mind and your customers will look forward to their weekly or monthly message from you.