For any business to be successful, your copy must fire up your customer’s heart. As the voice for your company, your purpose is to effectively convey a message that draws your customers in and ultimately, leads to a purchase.
It’s important to remember, however, that your customer is seeking a connection with your product or service through your writing. They want to feel an emotional response, and it’s your job to trigger their emotions.
91% of people felt that when they had a connection with an organization, it was a positive one.
Emotional Connections
The emotional copy is designed to generate heat in the heart of the reader. It gets their blood pumping. Through your writing, you might stimulate their desire to take a cruise. It could leave them craving your Italian restaurant’s linguini.
At the very least, your words could serve as the catalyst for your customer to reach out and contact you for more information. Examine your message and brainstorm how you can make it emotional. Take a look at Paul Suggett’s lists, he lists The 20 Most Powerful Words in Advertising.
Below are some examples:
- When creating a business brochure about a cruise to Alaska, you could talk about “sharing the adventure of Alaska’s wilderness with your loved ones” or “traverse the majesty of the Last Frontier.”
- Copy advertising personalized birthday cakes, mention “make every birthday cake as unique as the person celebrating” or “birthday cakes as perfect as you are.”
- When writing content for a financial services company, talk about “watching your finances grow with your children” or “saving for the moments that matter.”
Key Emotional Triggers
While love and yearning are two of the more popular emotions marketers target, you shouldn’t limit yourself to positive emotions. Here are some additional powerful feelings to add to your copy:
- Fear. Speak to your consumer as if not heeding your message will result in trouble or trigger FOMO (fear of missing out). This is by no means a way to threaten your audience; rather, you are able to assuage their fears with your product or service. One example could be a security system, such as CPI Security or ADT Home Security.
- Financial Reward. Everyone is in search of the best deal. While this might seem like an obvious ploy for a marketing team, it is often overlooked. Keep it simple and share with your customers how you can save them the most money. Companies like Walmart and Target are great examples of how to utilize this tactic.
- Instant Gratification. We live in a society where we want everything done immediately or within a brief time period. Cultivate that emotion when advertising something that has a quick reward turnaround. A great example of this would be activity monitors, such as Fitbit.
- Time Savings. Time is a limited commodity, so it’s natural to understand why it’s so valued. Therefore, if your writing can persuade customers that your product or service will save time, point that out. For example, most people aren’t huge fans of cleaning their homes. Therefore, a maid service, such as MaidPro is a great example of someone finding a way to spend a little money to utilize their time doing something they prioritize more.
- Pop Culture. Popular culture is the lifeblood of our society; celebrities, music, and trends are all potential trigger points. If you can cull something from pop culture, you’ll be able to garner those emotions with what’s cool and hip successfully. For example, CPI Security uses Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly as their pop culture icon to stay relevant and trendy.
You may be wondering, which emotion you should pursue in your copy? The easiest way to tackle this decision is to examine your target audience.
Consider what would resonate most with them based on their interests, location, finances, demographics, and age. Utilizing this information, you can hone into the perfect emotion for that occasion.
