It's how you make me feel that matters

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Advertising, Mainstream Media, Marketing

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Here’s another obvious but overlooked aspect of communication: you’re selling emotion.

We are emotional creatures. We feel first, then think – and this is wholly right and as it should be, because to feel primal fear is to ensure survival. You don’t analyze how many claws the lion has, you feel the fear and run like hell.

Knowing this, knowing that we are emotional creatures first, think very careful about your work in marketing, advertising, and media. In all of your work, in all of your campaigns, you want to target an emotion as the hook that attracts attention, convinces the prospect, and converts the customer. In all of your media, you have to decide what end emotion you want someone else to feel, and plan your work accordingly.

I’ll give you a few examples.

In the Financial Aid Podcast and my work on FAFSAonline.com, the free FAFSA application prep site, I focus on the emotion of reassurance. When you’re done, I want your fears to be mitigated, I want you to feel a little more confident that the financial aid process is manageable, that you can do and accomplish everything in the process, and that it’s not the mind-boggling maze that others market to your fears in order to get you to buy, sign on the dotted line, and hope everything will be all right. Quite the opposite. I want you to feel reassured, a little more secure, and resolute in your ability to navigate the process.

In Marketing Over Coffee, the emotion John Wall and I go after most often is conspiracy. Not tin foil hat stuff, but the sense that you’re in on the secret. You’re a part of the secret club of Marketing Over Coffee, you’re there with us in the coffee shop as we talk over stuff that’s of interest to us. You know the special handshake, the secret sign, and all the privileges that come with being on the inside, with the “in” crowd.

Look at a product like the Pet Rock from the 1970s. Who in their right mind would have predicted that this phenomenon would have taken off? Actually, looking back, there’s absolutely no surprise that it did, as it markets to the dual emotions of convenience and guilt. You know someone who’s endured the childhood trauma of losing a pet. You also know people who are so absent minded they’d lose their own reproductive organs if they weren’t integrated in them. Pet rock’s marketing to the emotions of knowing you can’t possibly hurt your pet rock, nor do you have to be responsible in any sense.

Examine the feelings generated by many of the well known folks in social media. How does Chris Brogan make you feel? How does Gary Vaynerchuk make you feel? How about Ann Handley, Pete Cashmore, Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin, Perez Hilton, or Justine Ezarik? I guarantee you that if you know of any of these folks, the answer is never “nothing”. They all create emotions in you that make the sale.

Heck, how do I make you feel?

Look at your own products, services, and communications. Ask yourself what your audience is currently feeling. If the answer is nothing, you’re in a heap of trouble. (this, by the way, is what most of us feel when reading press releases) If you don’t have a core emotion as part of your marketing, advertising, and communications strategies, stop everything else and go think that through.

You’ll feel better for it.

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Comments

14 responses to “It's how you make me feel that matters”

August 23, 2009

Peter Mis

Chris,

Great post, as usual. Far too often in business we fail to translate factual feature into meaningful benefit. All customers are listening to the same radio station: WII-FM, which means What's In It – For Me. That in a nut shell is how we effectively motivate or inspire those we hope to act to actually act, appealing to what is in it for them.

Very few decisions we make are logic-based. Do I really need a pound of french fries and a gallon of Diet Coke when I super size my purchase at McDonald's? Warm, salty washed down with ice cold and refreshing. All based on emotion…

No matter what your message, one delivered with emotion will have a much greater chance of succeeding.

Peter

Reply
August 23, 2009

Terrintokyo

This is so true – I'm going to refer it to my webvideo workshop students, because it's the key the stories we tell, no matter what medium.
re: Marketing Over Coffee's conspiracy vibe: ssshhhhh 😉

Reply
August 24, 2009

jchutchins

Chris, you make me feel equal parts confident and inspired. The confidence hails from the fact that I'm in this crazy space like you, giving away content like you, and knowing that I've got allies and friends who'll support my creative endeavors.

The inspiration you provide hails from the fact that you're doing it right, and doing it with grace. I strive to emulate that.

Excellent post. Keep up the excellent work.

Reply
August 24, 2009

Peter Mis

Chris,

Great post, as usual. Far too often in business we fail to translate factual feature into meaningful benefit. All customers are listening to the same radio station: WII-FM, which means What's In It – For Me. That in a nut shell is how we effectively motivate or inspire those we hope to act to actually act, appealing to what is in it for them.

Very few decisions we make are logic-based. Do I really need a pound of french fries and a gallon of Diet Coke when I super size my purchase at McDonald's? Warm, salty washed down with ice cold and refreshing. All based on emotion…

No matter what your message, one delivered with emotion will have a much greater chance of succeeding.

Peter

Reply
August 24, 2009

Terrintokyo

This is so true – I'm going to refer it to my webvideo workshop students, because it's the key the stories we tell, no matter what medium.
re: Marketing Over Coffee's conspiracy vibe: ssshhhhh 😉

Reply
August 24, 2009

Matthew Weiss

Chris, nice piece. I would add that in addition to emotion, one can appeal to a cause or belief as well. I would also add that marketers should lead with the cause, emotion or belief with which they are aligned. In this way, they can capture the attention of those interested in our ad-cluttered society.

Reply
August 24, 2009

framesmedia

.

Reply
August 24, 2009

framesmedia

and it begins by flowing from within, being true to one's self.
Genuine emotion/passion/sincerity cannot be faked.

Reply
August 24, 2009

Matthew Weiss

Chris, nice piece. I would add that in addition to emotion, one can appeal to a cause or belief as well. I would also add that marketers should lead with the cause, emotion or belief with which they are aligned. In this way, they can capture the attention of those interested in our ad-cluttered society.

Reply
August 24, 2009

framesmedia

.

Reply
August 24, 2009

framesmedia

and it begins by flowing from within, being true to one's self.
Genuine emotion/passion/sincerity cannot be faked.

Reply
August 24, 2009

pookyamsterdam

Agreed indeed- although we are clearly in an advanced technological age, we are still Human version 1.0
and we are all still meaning seeking creatures, to paraphrase Jane Goodall. We find meaning in both text and in each other, Certainly speaks to why social media works on that level. And also in this storm of information, and being sold on every front, we hold onto a power in SM of being able to flick & click through at our own pace.
It is not so much coming at us, as we are going to it.
You are so right that we will gravitate to that which makes us feel. I wonder about the people who create some marketing campaigns and if they actually do perform a gut-check on the messages they are spending so much money on. I think that should be of utmost importance to every advertiser, not to forget “where they live.” And again in SM, and posts like yours which so clearly relates to that which we carry inside, you strike a nerve. You make me feel …………..part of the process.

Reply
August 24, 2009

pookyamsterdam

Agreed indeed- although we are clearly in an advanced technological age, we are still Human version 1.0
and we are all still meaning seeking creatures, to paraphrase Jane Goodall. We find meaning in both text and in each other, Certainly speaks to why social media works on that level. And also in this storm of information, and being sold on every front, we hold onto a power in SM of being able to flick & click through at our own pace.
It is not so much coming at us, as we are going to it.
You are so right that we will gravitate to that which makes us feel. I wonder about the people who create some marketing campaigns and if they actually do perform a gut-check on the messages they are spending so much money on. I think that should be of utmost importance to every advertiser, not to forget “where they live.” And again in SM, and posts like yours which so clearly relates to that which we carry inside, you strike a nerve. You make me feel …………..part of the process.

Reply
August 24, 2009

pookyamsterdam

Agreed indeed- although we are clearly in an advanced technological age, we are still Human version 1.0
and we are all still meaning seeking creatures, to paraphrase Jane Goodall. We find meaning in both text and in each other, Certainly speaks to why social media works on that level. And also in this storm of information, and being sold on every front, we hold onto a power in SM of being able to flick & click through at our own pace.
It is not so much coming at us, as we are going to it.
You are so right that we will gravitate to that which makes us feel. I wonder about the people who create some marketing campaigns and if they actually do perform a gut-check on the messages they are spending so much money on. I think that should be of utmost importance to every advertiser, not to forget “where they live.” And again in SM, and posts like yours which so clearly relates to that which we carry inside, you strike a nerve. You make me feel …………..part of the process.

Reply