What is Emotion-Driven Marketing?
Emotion-driven marketing is a science-backed approach to marketing where we use the power of emotion to drive customers to action.
According to Harvard Business School Professor, Gerald Zaltman, 95% of all purchase decision-making takes place due to a sub-conscious emotional connection.
Some of us like to think our logic and rationale is how we decide things. We create pros and cons lists, read reviews, and do our market research after all.
It turns out that all that works is simply our validating behavior for a decision we’ve already made with our emotions.
It’s a Captain Kirk vs Spock type of showdown in our mind.
But don’t misread how this relates to selling your products and services.
Emotional marketing isn’t about using happy words to persuade or manipulate someone into feeling something they don’t want to feel or into buying something they don’t want to buy.
No, it’s about 🔥 hot-wiring directly into the area of the brain 🔥 that drives people to make decisions. And, best yet, we do it in a way that their brain likes, a way that helps them get the information from you they need to make a buying decision and feel good about it.
It’s about striking a chord with your ideal audience by using empathy, compassion, happiness, hope, even anger, and so much more.
When you watch this North Face commercial, you can see emotion-driven marketing at work.
Hardly any words, just images of people following their passion and the joys and the suffering that comes with it.
This isn’t about telling someone a North Face coat is warm or made with quality materials, it’s about tapping into that feeling that you might think you’re crazy for following your passion, but you’re not alone. This is helping people feel connected (emotionally, of course) to the North Face brand.
Why Emotion-Driven Marketing Makes Sense
Here are a few of many reasons why emotion-driven marketing makes sense:
- Emotions are more memorable than facts. When you evoke an emotional response in your audience, they are more likely to remember your brand and your message.
- Emotions are more persuasive than logic. People are more likely to take action when they feel something, rather than when they are simply presented with a logical argument.
- Emotions create a deeper connection with your audience. When you appeal to your audience’s emotions, you create a bond that is stronger than any logical reasoning.
- Emotions create forward motion. There is a sense of urgency and excitement that is created when a person feels a strong emotional charge. That can drive them to decide in your favor more quickly.
Why Emotion-Driven Marketing is Good for Business
Emotion-driven marketing can have a number of benefits for your business, including:
- Increased brand awareness and engagement. When you create emotion-driven content, you will get people’s attention and get them to engage with your brand.
- More leads and sales. People will buy from brands that they trust and connect with on an emotional level.
- Stronger customer loyalty. Customers who are positively endeared to your brand will be your loyalist customers.
- A more positive and profitable brand image. Emotion-driven Marketing can help you create a brand image that is positive, aspirational, and memorable.
How Storytelling Helps Drive Emotion-Driven Marketing
Storytelling is a cornerstone of Emotion-Driven Marketing. Stories have the power to transport us to different worlds, introduce us to relatable characters, and evoke a wide range of emotions.
By crafting compelling narratives that align with the values and aspirations of your target audience, we can create a lasting impression and establish a deeper relationship with your customers.
Visual content is another powerful tool in the emotion-driven marketer’s arsenal. Images and videos have the ability to capture attention, convey emotions, and tell stories in a way that words alone cannot.
Here’s another great example from Dove and their “Change Beauty” campaign.
How We Use EDM
Storytelling: We tell stories about you and your clients highlighting the challenges you’ve helped them overcome, their successes and aspirations. These stories connect with your audience on an emotional level and establish a sense of empathy.
Visual content: We carefully curate images and videos that are relevant to your target audience and evoke the desired emotions. These visuals help create a lasting impression.
Emotional language: We use language that is both evocative and authentic, tapping into the emotions that drive your clients. This language resonates and inspires action.
Here’s a great example of a visual ad tapping into emotions as well as some keys to what can make marketing humorous. Notice you have to know some things to “get” this piece, namely what band it represents (who uses the lips as their logo and who has a singer named Mick? But once you do, it all feels right and you have that “I get it” moment.
Now What?
Emotion-driven marketing, as you can see, is about winning hearts and minds first and then appealing to logic to validate a decision. By consistently implementing Emotion-Driven Marketing strategies, we have helped our clients achieve dazzling results.
If you are ready to chat further about how Emotion-driven Marketing can help your business, you can drop a quick meeting on my calendar. 🗓️
Promise it won’t be an overly emotional experience.
