Episode 406: Are you avoiding emotion in your small business marketing?
In this episode, Fiona talks about the importance of understanding emotional drivers in marketing to reinvigorate sales and engagement. She also discusses creating meaningful connections and driving brand loyalty. Tune in!
You'll Learn How To:
Tap into the emotional needs of your audience
Understanding the emotional drivers in purchasing behaviour
Utilizing customer testimonials
Assessing marketing strategies to balance emotional and rational drivers
Personal purchasing and emotional responses
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Sit down, and think about your drivers. What are the drivers? What are the main messages, the main drivers that are coming across in your marketing? And how often are you leading with an emotional driver versus a rational driver? If you are at the point where you understand the emotional drivers, but you're not sure how to put that into practice in terms of what that looks like in my marketing, it could be showing reviews or customer testimonials that speak to that drive.
Welcome to episode 406 of the My Daily Business podcast. Today is a coaching episode, and this is one of the most important things you can do in your business, particularly if you're finding that sales have slowed down, or that your marketing messages are just not getting through in the way that perhaps they once were, you've been blaming it on all sorts of other things. Just know that going through today's episode and implementing what you're learning, not just listening to it, but implementing things may be the thing that you need to kickstart sales and engagement. Before I get stuck into that, I want to mention two things. The first is that if you have ever wanted to write a book, particularly a non-fiction book, so a book about your areas of expertise or a book to help your brand authority or personal brand authority, or building your credibility in a particular industry, then you may be interested in the fact that we are now running a How to Get your Book Published course and coaching program.
This is going to be a six-week course and coaching program. It kicks off on the 2nd of May, 2024 and runs for six consecutive weeks. You can take part wherever you are in the world, and I'm going to go through every single thing from how to write your book proposal and choose the right publisher to what to expect in terms of advance, looking at things like contract. What do you own? What do you not own? Do you have the the copyright to go out and make say an audiobook for yourself? Or is that having to go through the publisher and all sorts of things from the design through to how to write the book, how to go from, you've landed a deal now to how do I write 70,000 words plus things like permissions and all sorts of other things that so many people do not understand about the book publishing industry.
I'm going to be sharing all of that and helping people get a grip on what is involved in getting a book published. If that is on your wishlist and you've wanted to do that on your bucket list, whatever it is, then just head on over to mydailybusiness.com/courses. Or you can DM us and we'll send you the link to the course as well. If you are interested in getting into it, ASAP as we've had a bunch of people already sign up and we will be capping that group to make sure that everyone gets their chance to talk and get feedback. The other thing I want to do is acknowledge where I'm recording this and acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of this land, and that is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their elders, past, and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into today's coaching episode.
I want you to take a minute and consider the last thing that you bought for yourself. Not necessarily, or it could have been for the business, but not like buying stock or putting an order in or something like that, but something that you went out and bought. It could be that you bought it online, or it could be that you bought it from a physical store. It could be that you bought it from, somebody on say Facebook marketplace. Just think about what was the last thing that you bought and why you bought it. Just ponder on that for a minute. It could have been completely out of necessity that you bought it. It could be. Things like toilet paper or toothpaste could be something that you were saving up to buy and you've been thinking about it for ages.
It could be completely a random impulse buy or it could be something that you bought for somebody else that you just, had to have it. Think about how you felt just before you bought it and how you felt after you bought it. I'm going to go first. I recently bought a new iPhone, I've had a pretty old iPhone for ages, and for the last year and a half, I've been saying I need two new phones. I've been watching for years a certain photography element in this phone that I didn't have access to in my old phone. I've been thinking about this for years, and in the last six months, I've been tracking it and then I'm like, “Should I buy the iPhone?” It's an iPhone 15, should I buy that now or should I wait till September and get the iPhone 16 when it's supposed to come out?
But I was like, no. And one thing had led to another and I'd cracked the screen three times in my current phone or my old phone. It had come to a point where I was like, I either need to pay and get this phone fixed or I need to upgrade the phone. Before I bought that, I was full of research. I had gone through all sorts of things. I also knew exactly how much it was, I knew which colour wave I wanted. I have done all of the research and looking into this. But I was also excited if I think about the emotions that were there, it was excitement, it was the ambition of photos and things that I can take now both in my business for content and also with my personal life, my kid's food.
I was excited about what would happen. I was also looking forward to freedom, A bit more freedom in terms of my old phone just never seemed to connect to the internet well when I was out or in particular pockets. Whereas this new one connects to 5G. I don't know if they all connect to 5G, but my other one did not. I have this freedom can get in the car and Spotify works immediately, and just small things like that. I was looking forward to it, then I bought it and any phone these days is about the same price as a computer. It's always a bit of a shock, even though I'd researched it, it's just like, I'm old school and grew up with like no phones and then had like the Nokia 6610 was it? I can't remember.
But it did not at all come close to the cost of a computer. I mean, your phone is a computer, it's in your hand, and you're using it all day long. I bought the phone and then the feeling after buying it was a little bit of have I done the right thing? This is a cost to the business and is it worth it? And should I have just waited till October? But more than that was a relief. It just works. Everything is easy on it. It just connects more easily. It seems to be working better, has a better screen, like a whole bunch of things. It was excitement, it was a feeling that I'd done the right thing. It was a feeling that this is a good expense that I've thought about and I've treated seriously and considered. It was all of these things.
All of those things that I've just relayed are emotions. A lot of those things I've mentioned are emotions. I was excited, I was nervous, I was ambitious, I was determined, I was feeling confident. I feel like a relief. I mean, all of those things that I've just mentioned are emotions. That is how most of us buy things we buy with emotion. We are buying because we think either perceived or real, we are filling an emotional need. What happens is that most people when it comes to marketing do not use emotional drivers in their marketing messages. What they're doing is using very rational drivers. Rational drivers are things like proximity, I'm going to buy that because it's close to where I live or where I work, or I'm going to choose that because the price point, a price point is quite a rational thing, as in that one is cheap, that one is expensive.
I won't go with the expensive one, I'll go with the cheap one. Other rational drivers include things like durability. How long will something last? Things like versatility. That is why a lot of the time people have, I'm talking about myself, but I think a lot of people share this. A lot of black T-shirts or white T-shirts or a few pairs of jeans are things that can be versatile, dressed up, dressed down, dressed in different ways, goes with everything, that thing. That's a versatility. You have things like the cost per wear of items when people are calculating things or looking at them very much from a rational perspective. Things like suitability, security, and safety. You might buy a car because it's deemed the safest on the market. However, rational drivers in terms of the actual reason that we buy something and the way that we make decisions when it comes to purchasing behaviour, only equate to about 10 to 12%.
In other terms, 88 to 90% of the way that we buy is driven largely by an emotional response to something. This is something that a lot of people can see when they stop and do that exercise that I've just walked you through on thinking about something that you've just bought and how it makes you feel and what you tie into it and the emotions that you felt pre, during and post buying that whatever it is, product, experience, service, that is how we buy. And yet when we market, we fail to include emotional drivers and emotional language. We are not using that psychology of buyer behaviour in anything that we are putting out. We will focus so much on the rational, even though that is only 10 to 12% of how we buy. I guess today's coaching is looking at what are the examples of emotional drivers and then how might you use those in your marketing from your taglines through to your customer service content, through to marketing, through to social media.
How does it come up and how can you utilize that emotional response that we all have and the emotional drivers that determine whether we'll purchase something or not, and utilize those to drive sales? The first thing to get clear on is what is an emotional driver. I've just talked about rational drivers and those are things like economy or price, proximity, durability, versatility, safety, and security. If you only market with that, you are leaving so much money on the table, and not just money, but the connection that drives brand loyalty, which then can drive a whole bunch of things, including referrals, retention and revenue. What are emotional drivers? The emotional drivers can be anything that is triggering an emotion. It could be things like status.
You see that all the time, particularly in the automotive industry where you have a bunch of people that will get caught up in the status of what car they're driving and what that says about them. I have never been that type of person. I think cars are such a gigantic waste of money and they depreciate immediately. All you ever do is spend money on them. But I'm not a car person. I never have been. I'm not wowed by cars in any particular way, and I've always bought secondhand cars, but some people are, and for some people that status of, I'm driving off the car yard with a brand new Tesla is huge for them. And that might include them thinking about if I've hit that, then I miss success or I perceive to be a success, or I am above everyone else in my family.
All of us have things that we will fall into when it comes to status. For some people it's cars. For some people it's handbags. For some people, it's travel and showing where they stayed or how much time they get off a year. For other people, the status might come from academics. I've done my masters, I've done my PhD. All of those are purchases. Most people are not on scholarship and are not able to have a completely free ride when it comes to tertiary education. That is status, even if we are thinking, I'm not purchasing but you are, you have to pay that money back for that education. That is status. Another emotional driver might be ambition. That, for example, I would say that a lot of my clients are ambitious people. They want to increase their revenue, they want to increase how much time they get back.
They want to change their systems and processes. They want to improve, live an incredible life and do things on their terms. They have a level of ambition, which is part of why they pay somebody to help them with their business. Or they might buy a course because there's an ambition in them to do more or to do things better or to learn how to increase X, Y, Z in their business. That is an emotional driver. Another emotional driver is individuality. That is a big one. Particularly when it comes to homeware, lifestyle, fashion, travel, hotels, hospitality, where you choose to eat, what you choose to cook, and what flavouring or spices you're using that can go to status. It can also go to individuality like, I'm so cool and interesting. I buy this particular type of spice, which is unknown in the area where I live, for example.
But individuality is huge when it comes to things like fashion in particular. Whenever I'm running Marketing for Your Small Business signature course or workshops or when people have asked what's an example of individuality as an emotional driver that I can relate to? I will often relate it to Gorman. Gorman is an Australian clothing company. I think they have about 40 plus physical stores across the country, which is quite large for a retailer in this country. They have stores in every major shopping centre and stores in major capital cities around the country. And yet they have nailed to a large degree pushing the emotional driver of individuality. They do that through their collaboration and partnerships with various artists so that there's always new and newness and freshness. But also there's the idea of like, if I'm wearing bold, interesting prints, then I'm quite individual.
I'm quite quirky, I'm quite eccentric, eclectic, all the things. Gorman was originally owned by Lisa Gorman and many people know that story. A lot of people don't know that it is now a hundred percent owned by Factory X. Factory X also owns brands like Dangerfield, Princess Highway, Autonomy, and some other brands that you wouldn't necessarily link to the emotional driver which is individuality. Gorman has done an incredible job of making people feel that they are individuals by wearing Gorman. Even though it has 40 or even more brick-and-mortar stores, it is sold everywhere. You can go to a barbecue or a party or conference, and you'll see Gorman everywhere. That is despite it being everywhere and despite it not necessarily being this clear cut, I'm such an individual because it is a fashion brand, it is a mainstream fashion brand.
It is in every shopping centre out there. Yet they've done such a good job of marketing that message and their alignment with artists in particular that if you compared it to say another Australian brand like Country Road does not have that individuality, emotional driver that Gorman has. That is an example of another emotional driver, the idea of being an individual. And this isn't any hate on Gorman. I have plenty of Gorman clothing myself, I have bought a lot from that brand over the years. But it's to say, to show you an example of the fact that if you are clever in terms of taking these emotional drivers and reiterating them over and over in your marketing messages and in every way that you communicate with your audience, it can have a massive impact on your sales as a business, as a brand, as a company.
That is another emotional driver, individuality. Another one that is often used is the idea of responsibility and contribution. That could be contributing in some way to people less fortunate. It could be contributing to a cause, it could be contributing to giving back. Another brand that has done wonders in terms of getting this message across is Who Gives A Crap which is a great Australian brand that is best known for toilet paper. I think it's 50% of the proceeds from that brand go back into donating to places where they need clean water and sanitation. 50% of profits go to sanitation nonprofits and places that can help other people gain access to clean water. A lot of people will buy into that brand because they want to have that feeling good, giving back, contributing, and being a socially responsible person in the world.
That is a huge emotional driver as to why people choose, Who Gives A Crap toilet paper over some other brand of toilet paper. Another example of an emotional driver is emulation. And we see that all the time. When you look at brands that have, particularly if you look at high-end designer brands. Gucci was super popular in certain decades, and then it has become even more popular again, particularly by a younger audience in let’s say the last five years. And largely that is because this wants to emulate celebrities, influencers, emulate people that, we are seeing more and more on social media and they might be wearing the latest Gucci. There's a whole bunch of people that want to emulate that. That emulation is an emotional response. It's an emotional driver to want to emulate the people that we see.
That can happen to NBA players. And then you've got a whole bunch of 10-year-old boys who are all girls, all people of all genders who want to buy into basketball shoes or basketball accessories or this particular type of sweatband or sporting brand. There's that emulation, which is huge. Also, that can be why some brands choose to pour money into influencer marketing because they know that that emotional response is massive for sales. When it comes to your marketing, you want to be thinking about how often you are relying on rational drivers. Remember that's price, proximity, safety, security, versatility, durability, and how often you are mentioning or even daring to include the emotional drivers. That may well be the reason that people are coming to your brand in the first place. If you don't know where to start with this, the first thing is to consider what are the three biggest frustrations with your industry.
This is one of the key things that I get people to work through when we're looking at their audience and buyer persona and all of that is what are the biggest frustrations? Let's say for example, in business coaching, one of the biggest frustrations is, I'm going to spend all this money and I'm not going to change anything in my business, or you don't have the experience, or is this just going to be six months of talking about my values and not having practical help in terms of setting up things in my business, like your systems and processes or having a better financial understanding. Those are frustrations. You can look at those frustrations and look at what is the emotion underneath all of those frustrations. And then if you were to flip it to use somehow solving the problem of those frustrations, what would the emotional result be for that audience or for that buyer?
You can look at what are they frustrated by in my industry, and then how do I solve that? And then when I solve it, what is the emotional response that will result because of that great action? Another thing you can think about is to consider the hope. When you look at emotions, it's often there is hope somewhere in there, especially it's positive emotions. For example, individuality, you will hope to appear as an individual that you're not part of the mainstream, that you're an early adopter whatever. Whatever comes into mind for people when it looks like I'm an individual, what does that look like? There's a hope there. What is the hope bridge with emulation? If I look or emulate my favourite celebrity or influencer, then you're buying into their type of lifestyle for a moment.
If you have things like status, there is a hope that you are perceived in a certain way. You look at an emotional driver and the hope bridge and then think about whether is that something that is coming forward in your marketing. This is where people can get stuck or think that they're manipulating people. Believe me, I have heard all the things about marketing in my life about all the things. And yes, there's a bunch of people that are super dodgy and that do manipulate through marketing. What we are trying to find is the genuine emotional driver that people have when they're seeking out your product, service or experience, and then looking at your marketing and is it connecting with people through that emotional driver. For example, if you have an emotional driver or you think your audience has an emotional drive to be ambitious, that is there, it is present, whether you call it out in your marketing or not.
What you want to do is look at your marketing and think, if that is present and if I genuinely can help people, then I need to be tapping into that emotional driver of ambition in order to connect with people on a deeper level, rather than tapping into, my course only costs $7, for example, which is a rational driver and is not going to be a long-term reason that you drive genuine deep connection, which is what marketing, genuine marketing is all about. The idea today is to sit down, and think about your drivers, what are the drivers, what are the main messages, the main drivers that are coming across in your marketing? And how often are you leading with an emotional driver versus a rational driver? And suppose you are at the point where you understand what are the emotional drivers, but you're not sure how to put that into practice in terms of what that looks like in my marketing. In that case, it could be looking like showing reviews or customer testimonials that speak to that drive.
For example, if it was status, then you may have a quote that is talking about, I've been saving for this forever and I love it. And every time I roll my suitcase along at the airport, I feel like I am heading to the left and I am all for first class despite sitting in the back baby. There's an element that was probably a bad example, but there's an element of status that comes through with that. Likewise, if one of the things was individuality, and maybe you make custom T-shirts somebody is in their testimonial, I wanted something super awesome to wear to my school reunion, and I got a custom T-shirt and everyone was asking where it was from, and I just felt so interesting and unique amongst a sea of sameness, for example.
You can use customer testimonials, reviews, those sorts of things. For example, another way that you can bring this to life is to show your journey using that emotional driver. Again, let's say ambition and you see this all the time where somebody's like, I was stuck in a dead-end job and then I started doing X, Y, Z, and now look at me and I can teach you how to do that. There's a level of you showing by example, behind the scenes or your journey and pinpointing your drive for that emotional driver and how you were able to hit that up. And by in turn, you are then connecting with people who look at that and are like, I see myself in that journey and I have that same drive, but I'm not where you are yet.
I would like to be there so I'm going to follow along or buy or subscribe or whatever it is. Another massive one is showing value alignment. For example, our number one value has been freedom from day one. I was in an executive role at a major company here in Australia before I started my business, and I felt like I had zilch freedom in that role. I did have creative freedom, but, in terms of my time, I did not have my time. I was there at the crack of dawn. I was working nights, I was working weekends, I was working public holidays. A lot of that I brought on myself, I have to say, because I thought that that's what I needed to do anyway. Part of starting my own business was very much about freedom, and it's always been freedom, and I see all these people suddenly using the term freedom.
My little snarky comments aside, but that has always been the number one value. I show that I show the fact that I work three days a week, that I have time to collect my kids from school, drop them off at school, that I have time to go outside, take photos of nature, and go on walks because I've set my business up in a way that it can bring in sufficient income. I only work three days a week. I'm not somebody who has ever bought into the whole hustle, hustle culture. That's why in my first book, the literal tagline is sidestep the hustle and build a business you love. Same with our group coaching, sidestep the Hustle, and it's always been about freedom. I show that freedom through different mediums and ways in my content, whether it's the Sunday email, whether it's this podcast, whether it's Instagram or TikTok.
That is something that I have a lot of people contact us and say, I want to work with you because I love how you've set up your life. It's not so much about other things like hustle, hustle, hustle, grind all the time. Look at all of these awards and accolades. I want a life where I have time and freedom, and I feel like I have created that I'm proud of myself for that and I've helped so many other business owners do that. That is an element of values alignment where somebody would see that and then be like, I'm aligned with whatever she's doing and I want to learn from her. You could have a look at your values and think about how often are those showing up in your marketing, or am I constantly just coming back to rational drivers?
That is it for today's coaching. It's to assess where you sit with your marketing when it comes to emotional and rational drivers. What type of marketing could you introduce to bring those things to the fore? And how often are you just falling back on what you've always done? Or rational things like price, proximity, that thing. If you want, we have a freebie that goes into emotional and rational drivers and asks you to go through a couple of questions in a bit more detail. If you want to go through that, you can just find that plus a whole bunch of other free stuff at mydailybusiness.com/freestuff. If you have any questions about this or you just want to tell me maybe something that you are implementing as a result of listening to this, then please just send us a DM @mydailybusiness_ on Instagram or @mydailybusiness on TikTok. Thanks so much for listening. If you found this useful, please can you just hit subscribe, review the stars or send it to a friend because maybe they need to find it right now. Thanks so much for reading and see you next time.
