Using Emotion In Marketing Communications

[onlinelearning]

Great marketing seeks to tug at the emotional strings of the audience. Because if you can get them to think about things that trigger emotions - like happiness, longing, their sense of loss and more, you can also trigger them to answer your call to action. In fact, if you do it right, you can elicit those emotions in an audience just by them seeing your brand.

 

* Titles – Use emotional trigger words in your titles to get your audience’s attention. Appeal to their sense of curiosity or loss. Words like “last chance” or “limited time offer” can and will go far in helping you get more click-throughs and responses, too.

 

* Headlines – Whether it’s an email marketing message or a blog post, it's important to develop creative headlines that don’t confuse the reader but instead pique their attention. Use headlines such as “8 Ways to Ride a Bike” or “101 Ways to Avoid a Dating Disaster” to get their attention and make them want to read the article, eBook or content.

 

* Subheaders – Sometimes a subheader can help explain what’s going to be inside so that you entice your audience to read the content, listen to the podcast, or watch the video. You can think of them as taglines too. Just a few words to push your audience over the edge to consume the content will go far.

 

* Power Words and Phrases – Create a swipe file of power words and phrases that you can use when you want to trigger emotion in your audience. Words and phrases like “act now”, “bonus”, or “breakthrough” will work to get your audience into the mood you want them in to receive your messages.

 

* Transitions – Don’t underestimate how important transition words are in text and speech. You can put your audience in exactly the mood you want them in with the right transition words. Words and phrases like “Listen…” or “Never again” or “Still not convinced” will go far in helping you explain a concept even more deeply.

 

* Calls to Action – Never, under any circumstances, forget to add in a call to action or two. Your CTA is important because without it your audience is unlikely to do what you want them to do based on the information you’ve provided. You have to tell them what to do. “Buy now”, “Reserve your space”, “Click here now to start your free trial”, are all good CTAs, but you need to be as specific as possible.

 

* Closing Phrases – Another opportunity to tug at your audience’s emotions is with closing phrases. You can use phrases like, “It’s in your hands”, “This is the final day that…” or “You’re moments away from changing your life by …” and so forth. See how these words trigger certain emotions?

 

* Postscripts – Never forget the power of a P.S. when you’re writing a letter, a sales page, or email. After you’re done, just in case the audience is still reading instead of acting, include the P.S. and say something like, “P.S. Your satisfaction is always guaranteed” or “P.S. Act by Friday and you’ll also get the free report” and so forth.

 

When you incorporate these trigger words and phrases into your marketing communications, you’ll see an immediate return on investment. The power you have when it comes to using emotion in marketing is astronomical.