The Heart Of Emotional Marketing
Emotion is the driving force behind virtually all human behavior—consisting of a broad spectrum that falls into the base categories of happy, sad, fear, anger, and includes every little nuance in between. Tapping into these raw feelings is the key to successful emotional marketing, and done right can have a dramatic effect on your target market.
But therein lies the problem—managing to get it “done right.”
If we understand that emotional marketing is a way to create a reaction in those we reach, then surely it’s but a simple process to put together a campaign that causes the required response?
Sadly this is often not the case, often due to the failure to understand that such a marketing ploy isn’t simply a one-off initiative. On the contrary, truly successful emotional marketing is a long-term strategy that creates brand loyalty by tapping into the heart of what drives customers to respond in a particular manner.
In a world where likes and shares are a vital component of success, emotional marketing can be a powerful tool in creating brand loyalty. The four basic types of emotion can be broken down into the types of behaviors they elicit:
Happiness spreads the word:
If something makes us happy then our first instinct is to share with others. When it comes to social media, this is the fastest method by which to create viral content.
Anger creates loyalty:
Similarly, something we feel anger or passionate about will also instigate sharing and an increased number of views.
Sadness encourages empathy:
Pulling at the heartstrings makes us empathize with a cause. Charities often use such a ploy as it’s proven to motivate people to donate their money and time to help.
Fear increases trust:
Because when we feel unease we cling to what is comfortable. Showing consumers that your particular product, brand, or message is a positive among negatives is a powerful tool indeed.
Emotional Marketing Strategies
There are different methods of emotionally connecting with your audience. Successful strategies include:
Tell a story:
Human nature means we love a well-constructed tale—a proven method through which to connect with your target market.
Inspire achievement:
We all aspire to something, and a campaign that features an aspirational approach targets many positive emotions, including hope—a potent driver in all of us.
Use color:
Color and emotions are closely linked. A color theme within a marketing campaign can be effective in evoking the desired emotions of your audience.
Create a movement:
Nothing is so powerful than feeling that you’re part of a greater cause. Whether it’s to fight global warming or remove plastic from our oceans, building a community that associates your brand with their ideals has a massive influence on customer perception.
Curating an effective emotional marketing campaign is a key strategy for long-term success. The innovative team at digital marketing agency, Smashed Media, continues to break new ground in this formidable method of marketing, working with individual brands to continually drive their message to the heart of a target audience.
In the information-heavy society we live, quality campaigns need to be crafted, revolutionary, and, very often, slightly left-field to have the desired effect. That’s the key to emotional marketing, and one that brands large and small would do well to address in order to succeed in what is today a very crowded marketplace indeed.
