Have you made anybody cry today?

Well, maybe you should have.

We’re here today to talk about putting an emotional spin on your marketing materials. In other words, including writing or a design that tugs at the ol’ heartstrings a bit or helps bring out clients’ other emotions. It’s something we often recommend to clients because studies have shown just how effective it can be. But sometimes, folks tend to be hesitant about the idea.

Why We Think This Might Be

Most people seem to think that they make decisions rationally. So when they are thinking about marketing materials, they tend to think in terms of what facts they can present to their audiences. Now, don’t get the wrong message here – we do think it’s essential to present facts about your product or service to your audience. But we find that taking those facts to the next level by blending them with language or design elements that appeal to the emotions is an effective technique.

Targeting Real People

When’s the last time a TI-89 walked into your store and made a purchase? (Besides in that strange dream you had last weekend after that wild party, of course.) People are so much more complicated than machines, and most of us don’t make our purchases using a strict, foolproof formula that determines whether something we buy is worth the money. (As evidenced by the ridiculous amounts of money that are spent every day on very ridiculous things.) This leaves plenty of room for marketing materials to persuade a person to buy something by establishing an emotional connection with the person.

In other words, thanks to human nature, people who are iffy about the features of a product may still purchase it if it brings about the right emotion.

How To Do This Best

Of course, this can be a delicate undertaking. Since emotions play such a key role in determining what someone will buy, you definitely don’t want to inspire the wrong emotion through your marketing materials. It’s easy for an emotional marketing newbie to accidentally annoy someone he was trying to make happy or make someone mad that he was trying to fill with empathy. Like plumbing, dental work, and tattoo art, emotional marketing is usually best left to professionals with experience in the area.

May we suggest the ultimate emotional marketing team — imPress?