How are you feeling right now? Talk about it
Were you around when this song first hit the charts? I was 10, I had just started at a new primary school and my brand new bestie, Julia, thought we could bond over learning the lyrics.
Learn them we did and Ms. Carey's Emotions became our anthem for the next 6 months. Flash forward almost thirty years, Mariah's winning Icon awards, Drake's sampling parts of the song, I'm still friends with Julia and... I'm still focused on emotions.
Not the Carey kind, but the ones that move someone from being aware of your brand to being an advocate for it.
It may seem like Buyer Psychology 101, but it's thought more than 90% of purchase decision are based on emotions. In fact, when it comes to guiding people to buy from your small biz, it's ALLLLLL about tapping into the emotion.
When it comes to marketing and the path to purchase, this equation is key:
Emotional Driver + Rational Driver = Purchase
How often are you marketing your business with an emotional driver?
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For wayyy too long brands have led with rational only drivers —price, location, durability, versatility — rather than leading with emotion.
How does what you sell help your audience?
How does it make them feel?
How is their life improved?
How do your past experiences and history influence your business today?
How do your audience's values align with what it is you do?
How will their purchase from your brand help them live the life they want to?
Why should they buy from you, over another brand?
The answers to these questions form the basis of the emotional drivers you need to be discussing when it comes to you marketing.
People buy from people, and incorporating emotional drivers in your marketing (status, pride, comfort, emulation, ambition, individuality etc) help people form genuine, human connections with your business. Don't get me wrong, emotional drivers aren't just something to tap into for a day or to up this quarter's sales figures [FIRST NAME GOES HERE]. Looking at genuine ways to increase the visibility of your emotional drivers is key to your long-term success. A study from Motista between 2016 - 2018, interviewing more than 100,000 consumers, found that people who felt an emotional connection with a brand had 306% higher lifetime value than customers who felt merely satisfied with a brand.
As you start this new month, still basking somewhat in that New Year glow, review your marketing messages. How are you offering a chance for your audience to connect, on an emotional level, with what it is that you do?