Targeting an audience based on their feelings is nothing new. Marketing has long been a cross between business and psychology. To be a good marketer, it’s important to understand human psychology and the place feelings play in a person making a choice to buy. While sometimes logic plays into a customer’s choice to buy, many times it’s feelings that feel like logic.
Understanding the emotional triggers that can encourage buying will help you convert more leads into buyers. The feelings consumers have about any issue can be complicated but they are often based on just a few emotions such as fear, guilt and trust. People fear missing out and not belonging, and they feel guilty if they don’t contribute to helping others. Finally, consumers need to trust the people they are buying from.
Learning to market to your audience based on their feelings and/or pain points, requires you to truly know who your audience is. You may need to take some time to study your audience more closely. You might consider sending out a survey to get a better grasp on your audience. It will help you learn what words and actions to use to elicit the feelings you want your audience to feel.
As humans we are wired to want to feel connected to others, but we are also wired to compete. The main emotion here is fear but it manifests itself in wanting to belong, and to do so we have to “keep up with the Joneses”. This elicits our competitive nature.
Related: Remain Competitive by Delivering These Personal Benefits in Your Marketing
Here are some trigger words you can incorporate into your marketing content that will help:
Limited Time Offer – By creating a limited time offer you create a fear of missing out on something good. This can trigger the person who truly wants to have your product or service to realize that they have to act now or lose out.
Get Personal – Using the word “You” in your marketing copy will feel more personal to your audience, as if you’re talking directly to the person who is going to buy your product or service instead of someone unknown and general.
Make Promises – You want your audience to trust you, and therefore it’s important to make promises to them about the product or service. For example, “If you’re not 100 percent satisfied, I’ll refund your money no questions asked.” This puts them in charge of whether or not they liked the product, and makes them feel like there is no risk.
It’s important to understand human nature as you write advertising copy. You want to develop trust, while eliciting their emotional response to your words so that they choose to do the right thing – which is to buy what you’re selling. Don’t worry; you can do all of this without lying or exaggerating. There is nothing sinister about it. You have a good product or service and you don’t want even one person to miss out on it.
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