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Karan Sharma is a digital commerce expert and the co-founder at Kinex Media Inc, a creative digital agency in Toronto.
The research discussed in the Harvard Business Review backs the impact of emotional marketing. Emotionally connected customers have a two times higher lifetime value compared to customers who are merely “highly satisfied.”
Techniques to Employ in Emotional Marketing
You can employ a wide range of techniques to stir emotions and forge powerful connections with customers.
Triggering Specific Emotions
Emotions like happiness, excitement, fear and urgency can affect how consumers behave and drive them to act. You can design your campaigns to evoke joy or a sense of belonging (like Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign) or pique curiosity through teasers and intriguing content to drive engagement.
Storytelling
Stories create deep engagement. Brands with relatable narratives inspire loyalty and action. Nike excels at this, showcasing stories of overcoming challenges and achieving greatness.
In order to craft your own compelling narratives, it’s important to understand your audience’s hopes and fears, develop relatable stories, use strong visuals and evoke emotions. Be authentic, share on social media, and encourage engagement.
Color Psychology
Color psychology is essential in branding. Colors trigger subconscious emotions, so choose hues that reflect your desired brand image. Yellow suggests warmth and optimism (like McDonald’s). Red creates excitement and urgency (think Target or KFC). Blue implies trust and reliability (like Facebook or Dell). Green represents nature and sustainability (like Whole Foods or John Deere).
🎨Related Reading: The Psychology of Colors in Content Marketing
Music
Music, a potent emotional tool, influences mood through tempo, volume and lyrics. Music also can trigger specific emotions, as it intertwines with personal memories.
You can use upbeat tunes to spark joy and excitement or slower melodies to evoke nostalgia. Softer melodies can allow you to promote calmness.
Social Proof
You can use social proof (testimonials, reviews and user-generated content), based on the principle of people being influenced by others, to foster feelings of trust. Positive experiences from others encourage action.
Sensory Marketing
Sensory marketing builds powerful emotional connections with customers by stimulating their senses. For instance, Dunkin’ Donuts experimented with using the smell of coffee in a bus ad campaign in South Korea in 2012. Here are a few tips for using sensory marketing to connect with consumers:
- Identify the senses that align with your brand’s identity. A luxury brand might focus on touch and sight, while a food brand might prioritize taste and smell.
- Use evocative language, images and sounds to create a multisensory experience. For instance, describe the texture of a fabric, the aroma of a product or the sound of a product in use.
- Offer samples, demos or in-store experiences that allow customers to interact with your products on a sensory level.
Opportunities Where Emotional Marketing Can Be Magical
Addressing Crises
During crises, brands can provide messages of support, unity and hope. This fosters a connection built on shared experience and inspires action. For example, Dove’s “Courage is Beautiful” campaign honored front-line healthcare workers during the pandemic.
🌎Related Reading: Crisis Fatigue + ESG Messaging: How to Recenter Trust in Your Brand’s Narrative
Launching Products
Excitement and anticipation are powerful tools for successful launches. Campaigns that foster buzz, exclusivity or mystery ignite consumer interest. Consider Apple’s sleek product teasers—the brand masterfully builds hype and drives demand for its latest innovations.
Cause-Based Campaigns
Companies that support meaningful causes create a sense of shared purpose with customers and stand out in a competitive market. Consider the TOMS shoe brand’s “One for One” model, where each pair of shoes purchased results in a donated pair.
Holidays And Festivities
Holidays provide a prime opportunity to connect with themes of family, tradition and joy. Brands can tap into these for powerful campaigns. Example: Coca-Cola’s classic Christmas campaigns are built around warmth and togetherness.
Building Communities
Brands that make customers feel like they belong often create an intensely loyal following. This emotional connection goes beyond products—it’s about a shared identity and lifestyle. Example: Harley-Davidson’s owners’ group fosters camaraderie through rallies and shared experiences.
How to Do Emotional Marketing the Right Way?
Understanding your target audience is vital for catering to their preferences and needs. Different demographics respond differently to emotional triggers—older individuals may prefer warm colors, while younger people are often drawn to brighter hues. For instance, if your restaurant’s patrons seek a comfortable space for meetings and good food, focusing solely on the food would be misaligned with their needs. To truly connect with your audience, ask them directly about their experiences, monitor relevant online discussions, understand their aspirations, and map their emotional journey with your product. This insight allows you to communicate in a way that resonates deeply with them.
To create effective messaging, it’s important to:
- Be genuine and transparent, which builds trust and credibility with your audience.
- Incorporate visual elements such as images and videos to enhance the emotional impact of your content.
- Ensure that your content is inclusive and accessible from stereotypes. For example, instead of making a blanket statement like “all lawyers are stuffy and conservative,” it’s better to acknowledge diversity within the profession by saying, “many lawyers value tradition, while others embrace modern approaches.” Similarly, inclusive language is essential, such as saying “person with a disability” instead of “disabled person,” to respect and emphasize the individual over their condition.
- Continuously test and refine approaches to discover what resonates best with your audience, ensuring ongoing success.
Leveraging emotional marketing practices in campaigns comes with multiple challenges. Capturing attention quickly without overwhelming your audience with overly sentimental content and ensuring that your messaging is culturally sensitive and appropriate is essential, but quantifying the impact of emotional marketing can be even more challenging.
🧠Related Reading: The Psychology of Conversions: 5 Consumer Behavior Insights for 2024
Conclusion
The key to effective emotional marketing is authenticity, relevance and a genuine connection with your audience. By focusing on these elements, you can build lasting relationships and achieve long-term success.
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This article was written by Karan Sharma from Forbes and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
