How to Implement Emotional Marketing

Successful emotional marketing is one of the most valuable tools in the advertising world. When done correctly, emotional marketing can sway the most challenging consumers and create lasting customer loyalty. Emotional marketing should connect with customers in a way that goes far beyond necessity or desire. Yes, it is a strategy, but it cannot feel like a strategy to the consumer. Emotional marketing only works when it is honest and authentic. Here are a few ways to implement and achieve effective, relevant emotional marketing.

Make your customer fall in love.

One of the most common channels for emotional marketing is love. Some brands that come to mind are JARED®, Lindt’s LINDOR chocolate brand, and ZALES®, The Diamond Store. Those are excellent examples of capitalizing on human feelings of love, but emotional marketing can be impactful in many forms. Consider what your customers care about and value most.

For example, a compelling approach is to explore consumers’ love for feeling safe and secure. Volvo used emotional marketing to create its branding strategy, “Designed Around You,” which focused on human-centric luxury cars that are safe and dependable. For generations, customers think of their families and children when they buy a Volvo because its “safe and sound” brand personality appeals to parental love. There are many ways you can incorporate love in your messaging, depending on what type of love resonates with your target audience.

Inspire your customer.

Inspiration is one of the most effective ways to get a customer to do something. Whether buying a subscription to your cooking services, starting a workout program with your equipment, or any other action, the emotion of inspiration can often spark a fire in a person that encourages them to get out of their comfort zone. For you, that can mean new customers. A few great examples of brands that implement inspirational marketing are PepsiCo’s Gatorade brand, Nike, Inc., and the United States Army National Guard. These brands use marketing to create a sense of pride and motivation. They tell a story about perseverance, struggle, and victory and create a relatable picture that consumers want to join.

Create a sense of nostalgia.

Do you remember being a kid, running inside to grab an ice-cold glass bottle of Coca-Cola to drink? Even if you don’t, Coca-Cola Co.’s brilliant “TASTE THE FEELING” nostalgic emotional marketing focus will make you think you do! Nostalgic messaging that promises a better time with (fill in the blank) product works well for companies that have been around for a long time. Sometimes, it can be successful for companies that are recreating an old product. However, it is incredibly effective no matter the case. Another way to incorporate nostalgia is by pairing your product with important milestones of the past. If you can develop an emotional connection between life’s most memorable moments and your product or service, you will likely experience nostalgia-influenced profits.

Create a small-town feel.

The adage says, “home is where the heart is,” because we are encouraged to carry a sense of “home” wherever we go in life. However, in the case of connecting your brand to a small-town feel, your goal is to make people’s hearts focus on feelings of literally being at home. People have great pride and love for they live. The last emotional marketing strategy is about connecting locally — an especially helpful tactic for small and new businesses.

Just as most American consumers prefer to buy American-made products, hometown-minded people are more likely to buy locally. By merely including “support local businesses” or “keep it local” into a campaign, you can increase your sales opportunity with everyone who lives within a town’s radius. Consumers like to put a face on a company. If that face happens to be someone they recognize, it can benefit your business and your community.

The key to an excellent emotional marketing strategy is authenticity. If your brand truly represents what you are selling, it cannot go wrong. Emotions can make people do crazy things, from crying in the rain to screaming at the top of their lungs. This applies to everyday life and everyday purchases as well. If you can find a way to incorporate emotion into your brand in a positive way, it will bring profit, new customers, and loyal friends to your business. In other words, passion equals profit.