Emotional Appeal Marketing
Did you notice something different about this year’s Super Bowl commercials? I did. They were decidedly less jovial. Instead of getting laughs, the majority of the commercials focused on pulling your heart strings and creating an emotional response. Even most of the male-targeted commercials appealed to the sensitive man that cared about his family and wasn’t afraid to be a nurturing part of the home life. I like to call it “Sensitivity Marketing” and the fact that this kind of advertising dominated the Super Bowl shows us the Millennials have not only arrived but are major influencers to mainstream media!
With the advent of social media and the ability for consumers to have brand information on a daily basis, the marketing messages have softened and become more emotional. Millennials seem to connect with deep emotions and feelings. They don’t want to feel like they are constantly being sold a product. They want to buy a product because it “feels” right, maybe it is green-friendly or evokes good memories from their childhood, or the company is run by good people. This emotional appeal marketing strategy is effectively influencing purchasing decisions for both men and women.
Emotional Appeal Marketing uses a variety of techniques such as tone, lighting, color scheme, and mood to appeal to consumer emotions like empathy, sympathy, and happiness. This, in contrast to Rational Appeal Marketing, which attempts to prove the product’s quality and usefulness to the consumer by performing a product demonstration or citing facts.
According to Executiveboard.com, Emotional Appeal Marketing messages are twice as effective as Rational Appeal or promotional advertising.
The chart below highlights just how effective emotional marketing can be.
According to Neuroscience Marketing, campaigns with purely emotional content performed about twice as well as the rational content approach, and those that were purely emotional did a little better those that mixed emotional and rational content.
Hiring a marketing company that understands how to make an authentic emotional campaign is key. Since the marketing firm should believe in your product and understand the emotional value, your potential customers will too. Emotional marketing increases brand loyalty and will help you build long-term relationships with your target audience.
What’s your marketing and PR strategy, and is it appealing to your target audience?
