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Make Them Feel
We feel first and think second. It’s emotions that drive our behaviour, no matter how logical and level-headed we might think we are. Intermarketing taps into the increasing importance of building emotional brand connections with consumers.
Adam Reynolds
Senior Copywriter IMA-HOMESpoiler alert! We are a complex bunch. At any time, we could be feeling all sorts of things. From exhilaration to exasperation, flat to furious. Our brain processes these emotional responses five times faster than cognitive thought. Or in other words, we feel first and think second. It’s emotions that drive our behaviour, no matter how logical and level-headed we might think we are.
With buying decisions based on how we feel, it’s essential for marketers to understand the impact of emotions and how to harness their power to create competitive advantage. “Emotions don’t hinder decisions. They constitute the foundation on which they’re made” says Douglas Van Praet.
Emotional marketing tells a story that connects with an audience in a human or personal way. With consumers increasingly making purchasing decisions driven by feelings rather than logic, emotional marketing creates meaningful relationships that result in brand fans, replacing the loyalty marketing of years past.
The continued emergence of new media channels, platforms and devices means consumers have greater access to a brand’s stories, and marketers have more ways to convey their brand’s values, interests, purpose and passions. Done right, emotional marketing helps marketers differentiate and compete in today’s changing environment. A study by Forrester found that marketing that arouses consumers’ emotions is twice as successful as marketing that only appeals to their intellect.
So, as more people align themselves with brands that reflect their values, the opportunity to forge more meaningful relationships has never been greater. Particularly as research shows that 70% of people who experience an emotional response to a campaign or experience are more likely to buy.
To succeed, brands can no longer just be about the product. They must define their purpose; what it means to consumers both practically and emotionally; tapping into the right feelings at the right time in the customer journey; and engaging their audience on a deeper level, one that’s primal and impossible to ignore. Because while people will forget what you say and do, they will never forget how you make them feel.
AUTHORS
Simon Long, Executive Creative Director
Adam Reynolds, Senior Copywriter
KEY TAKE OUTS
- Design to arouse feelings. Design isn’t just a case of making things beautiful. It’s far more about how it makes us feel and how it influences the way we make decisions, evaluate risks, solve problems, find things interesting and categorise information.Creating emotional brand connections with target audiences can translate into conversions and sales as well as online and offline interactions. Brands that design to look, feel, talk and behave with subtlety and nuance don’t just get attention, they sustain interest and loyalty.
- Capture emotion with neuroscience. Most marketers agree that the way consumers feel about their brand is key. But few know how to effectively measure feelings. Step forward neuroscience. It allows you to capture people’s non-conscious decision-making responses, the kind of things that determine what we’ll watch, talk about and buy. It ensures a more honest response, eliminating the uncertainty and guesswork that traditionally hamper efforts to understand consumer behaviour. And it can provide second-by-second analysis, helping to improve every aspect of a campaign or piece of communication by ensuring the creative is as emotionally engaging as possible.
- Discover what people mean, not just what they say. There are many benefits to sentiment analysis, from tracking brand perception to adding depth to performance analysis and improving relationships with your audience, to spotting and preventing potential crises. Determining the emotional tone behind online comments affords a fuller understanding of the attitudes, opinions and reactions expressed. Understanding what’s behind a reaction allows you to make an appropriate response and leave people with the feeling most likely to trigger the action you want.
- Build trust with influencers. Influencer marketing was the fastest-growing online acquisition method of the last year. Influencers can tell a brand’s story in their own voices. Aspirational yet achievable, they’re real people, often looked at as friends by an audience looking for a reality they can easily emulate. The level of trust they’ve built with their audience creates an emotional connection that accelerates the path to purchase, making influencers one of the hottest tactics in every marketer’s media mix.
MAKE THEM FEEL
Visit Intermarketing's showcase to read the full report.
About
Adam actually started out wanting to be a graphic designer. But very quickly realised he could think more creatively with words rather than pictures. Ever since, he’s been writing to touch hearts, engage minds and tickle funny bones. He takes a strategic approach to create messaging that hits the mark, and has worked on brands including KIND Snacks, MORE THAN and Red Bull.
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