Emotional Marketing Techniques

Emotional Marketing Techniques
by Sanders Consultation Group Plus
http://www.newbiehangout.com/articles/sanders/emotional.htm

Emotional marketing basics

What is emotional marketing you might ask? Emotional marketing is the kind of marketing that the big marketing companies have used for ages. It was born from their research into the human psychology of what causes us to buy things. Think about that for a moment. When you make purchases, why do you make them? Think about the process involved and the differences between things you planned to buy, and those that you did not plan on buying but did anyway.

I would bet in each case that there was some kind of emotion that pushed you to pulling out your wallet, checkbook, or credit card wasn't there? I am sure that after the purchase you had all kinds of reasons to logically back up your purchase didn't you? But if you take all of that logic away, and dig deeper into the principles that actually motivated you to make the purchase, then I will bet that the underlying reason was the way that the purchased item made you feel. It is okay. You are not alone. You are no different than me or anyone else who buys things. We all buy based on the way that a product or service makes us feel, and the big marketing companies all know that. It's all about perception and how your products/services make a potential buyer feel.

You can have all the traffic in the world coming through your website, but if you lack the proper mix of emotional marketing and compelling content, you are destined for failure. In this article we will look at the problems new webmaster/website designers face with their marketing efforts, pushing the right emotional buttons to get your visitors to buy, ten emotions that create the most drive for any marketing effort, and over 100 words that generate emotions that compel visitors to take advantage of your programs.

The problems new webmasters/website designers have with marketing campaigns

Most new webmasters/website designers starting out develop decent sites, and they think about ways to tell people what they offer online, but they usually fail to think about feelings in the marketing mix. Their offerings may be brilliant, or their products/services advanced and capable, but without the ability to generate emotions from their potential customers they fall short of their goals. This is usually the result of little or no marketing understanding.

They spend hours in promotion or design, and work hard to drive traffic to their site, but have little or nothing to show for their efforts. What is even more aggravating is having people come back to your site from a bookmark, but still having no sales or affiliate program revenue. The good news there is the quality of your content. Obviously your content is good and it draws people back. That is what you want when it comes to website design. The reason they are not clicking on your programs, or buying your products/services is because you have not generated the feelings they need to make the purchase. You have not compelled them to buy or click on anything.

Many new website designers and webmasters get frustrated and give up. Some go out and spend needless money for results that they could have gotten on their own. All they had to do was sit down and think about things logically, and apply some good old common sense to their problem. Many times by simply taking an objective look at your layout and content will give you the answers you need to make improvements. Ask yourself questions about the feelings you get from what you see on your own site. If you were a buyer, would you buy your products/services, or click on the affiliate links you have?

Internet marketing is getting harder. Much of that stems from ploys that webmasters before us used to get people to click on their links. Banners and text links would offer something that was not found when the link was clicked. On the other hand, before someone can get what a link offers, they have to fulfill an obligation before they can get what they were promised. Marketing "catches" like that have made people more reluctant to click links. They become even more reluctant to click links taking them away from content they already want. The big obstacle to overcome here is trust. You have to deliver on what you promise or offer your visitors. Making sure that your internal links deliver as promised, and your affiliate programs are also of high caliber will help to create a feeling of trust that most people need before they can part with their hard earned money.

Learning marketing practices and principles will help you to weather the storm and create compelling sites that bring visitors back. With the stiff competition of the internet global market, you have to find ways to set yourself apart from the rest. Think of how many sites you have visited. Did the links actually lead to the things they promised, or was there some kind of "catch" before you could get what was promised? I know when I visit a site like that and it doesn't deliver on what was promised, then I will not bookmark it or go back. Many times, I end up closing out the window. After spending hours in researching something and going to a site for it, why click on anything else or go back if they can't deliver on what they promised you? Wouldn't you be more inclined to click links or make a purchase from a site that consistently delivered what it promised? It's all about perception and what your visitors think about your site, and the messages you send them through the design, layout, and links.

Pushing the right emotional buttons to get your visitors to buy

In another article I wrote about "Affiliate Strategy: Making money from your website" I had mentioned how important it was to know your visitors, and how knowing them would help you to pick the kinds of affiliate programs that appealed most to your visitors. That fact is a major part of emotional marketing as well. You need to learn what kinds of visitors come to your site. What kind of people are they, and what kinds of emotions compel them to buy? Does keeping up with the "Jones" motivate them? Do they have a family or children? Are they middle aged and planning for retirement? Are they more motivated by competitive price or quality of merchandise? Do they prefer ease of use or features? The answers to all these questions can be simplified down into basic emotional needs.

Take for instance a person who is looking for ways to generate more income because of the financial needs of college tuition and a nest egg to pass onto their children. Now combine that person with a website that could help them cater to these needs, and help them to accomplish their goal. Think about the feelings that could be generated to compel this person to buy. Think about the feelings and reasoning this person has for the goal they are trying to achieve. Doesn't every parent want their children to have it better than they did? What can a webmaster/website designer do to convey feeling in this instance?

To begin with lets start with painting a picture. Stories are good at that. Using words to paint a picture for them about what your services can offer, and how those services can benefit their children with financial stability. Then you could chose pictures that convey the same kinds of feelings that your text did. For instance, maybe a picture where the child is young, and then the same picture where the child is older and standing in front of a college or university. You could also use a picture of a new car to imply the financial stability and wealth to own such high-ticket items directly resulting from purchasing your products/services. These are just some examples. Keep in mind that you need to keep the trust in tact. Do not make offers you cannot deliver upon.

Done correctly, you can see how compelling such a site could be. Of course, there are other factors that come into play. People like to deal with reputable companies. People also look for companies that are going to be around for a while. They fear making a purchase and then being left alone without anyone to turn to for technical information or repairs. Again, all of this boils down to feelings and basic emotional needs. Knowing which buttons to push will help you develop websites that not only draw visitors back, but also compel them to buy from you, or click through your affiliate programs.

The ten emotions that add the most force to a sales or marketing effort

1.  Achievement - How does your product/service contribute to the customer's achievement or accomplishment of something notable in life? In this example, your product/service becomes part of the customer's identity.

2.  Pride of ownership - How does your product/service contribute to the pride someone would feel from ownership? When you pit pride against features or benefits, pride usually wins in the end.

3.  Security - What kind of security does your product/service offer? This is a blanket emotion that includes money, love, acceptance, power and control. Do not emphasize it if you cannot offer it.

4.  Self-improvement - How does your product/service appeal to a person's self improvement needs? The internet was born from information relay ideas. Almost everyone uses self-improvement books, articles, or newsletters of some kind. Information is what keeps the internet moving, and content is king.

5.  Status - How does your product/service contribute to the status your visitor achieves? Everyone knows that you can fly in second class because it is cheaper and more economical, but deep inside almost everyone would rather fly in first class. What is the "first class" of your product or service?

6.  Style - How does your product/service fit your buyers style? Are your products/services the Cadillac of style, or are they the Hugo? Keep in mind that their style needs can be real or imagined.

7.  Conformity - Does your product/service fall into a conformity niche? People do not want to be alone. They flock together in groups. You have seen them throughout school, and surely have seen them in your adult life. Does your product or service command a group following? How would your product/service help to fulfill the need of community? Does peer pressure play a role in your product/service?

8.  Ambition - How does your product/service help people to get more out of life? More out of life is a broad term and can be applied to money, love, security, power, or just about anything else you can think of. What is it that people want more of that your product or service can help them get more of?

9.  Power - In what ways does your product/service offer a person more power? Power can be over something as simple as their own lives, time, or any number of other things. What ways can you come up with that will help people gain more control over things that they want more control over?

10.  Love - This one is the grand daddy of them all. As mentioned earlier in this article where the person was looking for ways to expand their financial stability and offer more to their children. That would be an example of a feeling of love.

The more of these feelings you can incorporate into your design and information, the better chance you have of generating the emotions needed to compel a person to buy. These are the top ten emotions according to the book titled "The Way of the Guerrilla" - by Jay Conrad Levison, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston New York, 1997. Incorporating these 10 emotions into your design will help you produce more sales. Just remember, in keeping with the trust factor, that you are able to deliver on your promises and statements.

The top emotional response words

Marketing firms have an inside secret that helps them to write compelling content and advertisements. They know there are certain words with the english language that, when read, create an emotional response. The big names in marketing use those words every day to write compelling print that increases the potential for higher sales volume. Those words are words that conjure a specific positive thought, or pull on the emotional senses that each of us have. They make certain implications that give us warm fuzzies about the products or services we review, and the security needed to trust the company involved. Those words also add a time constraint, another secret in marketing, that compel people to act before they "miss out" on something.

abracadabra absolutely accurate advantage aggressive already amazing annihilate approved attractive authentic bargain beautiful better big bonus celebrate challenge colorful colossal commanding complete confidential convenient crammed delivered dependable direct discount easily effective electrify enchanting endorsed enormous essential everlasting excellent exciting exclusive expand experienced expert exquisite extraordinary extravagant famous fantastic fascinating foolproof force foremost fortune full gallant gargantuan genuine gift gigantic golden greatest guaranteed helpful highest honor huge hypnotize immaculate immediately impressive improved incredible indescribable informative inspect instructive interesting invincible largest latest lavishly liberal lifetime limited limitless lowest magic magnificent magnify mammoth matchless maximum miracle noble noted odd outperforms outstanding overpower personalized pioneer popular powerful practical preferred private professional profitable profusely prosper proven quality quickly radiant rare recommended reduced refundable reliable remarkable revealing revolutionary scarce scorecard seasoned secrets security selected sensational simplified sizable skilled solid sparkle special spirit startling stimulate strange strong sturdy substantial successful superior surprise tantalize tempting terrific tested timeless trailblazer tremendous turbocharged ultimate unconditional unearth unique unlimited unparalleled unprecedented unsurpassed unusual urgent useful valuable wealth weird whopper wonderful wondrous you.

Incorporating these words into your content will also help generate the emotions needed to move potential customers from potential to customers. You need to inform your visitors while also giving them adequate reasons to act upon your information. By adding some of the words from above, you can add a time constraint to your offering that compels people to take advantage of it. Failure to add a time constraint can allow someone to bookmark your proposal and then forget about it. By adding a time constraint, you compel them to act now, not later. Why would you want to spend all that time in design to generate the emotions needed to compel a visitor to buy only to allow them to bookmark the site and forget about it? Implementing the emotional marketing strategies in this article will set you well on your way to higher profits through increased sales volume.

Summary

Emotional marketing is the act of taking into consideration the feelings and needs of the visitors coming to your site, and finding ways to capitalize on those feelings and needs to bring them back, and create higher volume sales through meeting their needs. By getting to know the visitor and their needs you are better equipped to add value to your website, offerings, and the ability to chose affiliate programs that also satisfy your visitor's needs. Choosing the right affiliate program to match your visitors' needs will help generate better revenue from the affiliate programs you make available on your site.

Most new webmasters/website designers fail to consider such things when they design their website. Although it isn't really their fault, they have failed to educate themselves about the added possibility emotion can add to their site. When they fail to generate the needed emotions to convert visitors, they usually get frustrated and give up. Many times, they simply run out of finances to keep the site going which ultimately causes website failure

By learning more about your visitors and what emotional buttons you need to push, you can tailor your site to fit visitor needs, increase both your product/service sales, and affiliate program revenue. Learning what your visitors need also expands your ability to offer other products/services you do not offer through affiliate programs that do. I can not stress enough the importance of knowing your visitors. It is the key to a successful marketing campaign and continued revenue and growth.

There are at least ten emotions that you can capitalize on to increase your sales volume. The more of those that you can incorporate into your content and design, the better results you will get from your design and promotional efforts. You must be careful though because failure to deliver on promises will only have a negative effect on your site. Make sure that the emotions you are incorporating and the claims that you make about your products/services are truthful. Word of mouth advertising also plays a part in marketing. The old saying goes that even one happy customer will complain to at least 10 other people about their plight, and those 10 will complain to 10 more, and it all snowballs.

There are words in the english language that generates an emotional response when read. The more of those words you can incorporate into your content and offerings, the higher your potential for sales. You also need to keep in mind industry specific information that applies to your products/services, and make sure that your offerings fall in line with your industry. Failure to do that will destroy your credibility and reduce the trust you are trying to build. It's that trust and rapport that will fuel study growth.

As with all of my articles, this one is also based on knowledge, experience, surfer experience, and common sense. I do not want my readers to simply take my word for things. I invite you to think about my words. Apply them and see if they sound true. I am sure that when you apply common sense and think about the article that you will wonder why you had to read the article in the first place. You already had the answers. All you needed was some guidance and questions to help direct your thought process.

James R. Sanders

About the Author
James R. Sanders is the owner of Sanders Consultation Group Plus. He has also been involved in self employment ventures since 1992. He is presently a contributing author of NewbieHangout.com. His writing is targeted to webmasters, would be webmasters, website designers, would be website designers, self employed, or those researching information looking for solutions to questions associated with design, business operations, and promotion today. His goal is to provide practical information based upon his years of experience to help webmasters, website designers, and self employed people achieve their goals in today's competitive global market. You can subscribe to his free newsletters at SCGP - Newsletter.