Currently a lot of businesses are struggling on a global scale due to the COVID-19 impact. Many have shut down completely, while others are still trying to adapt. From my personal observation and research, few of those businesses are putting their focus in the right direction.
The majority of affected companies and freelancers are not thinking about marketing. And this is a mistake. Now is the right time to put a serious push on marketing strategies and campaigns. Having said that, if you relied on salesy posts and aggressive advertisement techniques so far, that will have to change completely!
Emotional marketing and thoughtful content are the only way forward. But what does that really mean? What exactly is emotional marketing?
Emotional marketing is a type of content marketing that aims to evoke specific emotions in consumers and at the same shows the personality of the business. In other words, this is content that expresses feelings and makes you feel.
Why is Emotional Marketing Important
In the midst of a global economic crisis and uncertainty people want 3 main things - information, help and to know that they are not alone in this, i.e. something to relate to.
The good news is all 3 are high value content, which you can create and use to strengthen your position on the market.
Information is a commodity today and receiving it evokes positive emotions - relief, satisfaction, confidence.
How can you help your audience cope with a certain problem they may be facing? First, you need to know them really well. If you haven't spent enough time studying and understanding the behaviour and likes of your ideal client, you must do it now.
It's also a perfect time to start thinking of freebies you can offer to your audience. Use your specific knowledge and create a solution to your potential client's problem. This is how you provide help, which they will remember and value. You can ask for their email in return and build a thoughtful email marketing campaign from there. It goes a long way if you craft it properly.
Be honest, open, real. We are all tired of reading the same old ad posts that tell us to buy something because it's great. Quite frankly, no one really cares what product you have unless it solves their problem or they can relate to you and your brand.
Share your personal story. Open the door to your world. Why did you start doing what you are doing?
Show your face.
Don't be afraid to share the challenges you are facing with your audience. This doesn't make you weak, it makes you real and relatable.
It's the type of emotional marketing that builds trust and strengthens the consumer-brand relationship.
Types of Emotions for Viral Posts
There are 5 emotions, which you can aim to evoke in your audience to make your content go viral and build a strong community.
Awe / Amazement
We love that warm feeling of watching things that inspire us, motivate us or simply put a smile on our faces. Ever wondered why cat videos have the most views on YouTube? Well, most people find them cute, many can relate because they probably also have a cat and a whole bunch just find them funny. That brings us to the next emotion.
Laughter
Entertain people and they will come back for more. We are swamped with tragic news, disturbing information and deadlines, which we sometimes struggle to meet. In times like these, a good dose of laughter is essential and much appreciated. Fun content will never grow old. It also shows you take life seriously only when you have to. The rest of the time, you can look at things from their less stressful side.
Anger
Not all emotions have to be positive to make your posts viral. Controversial content often attracts a lot of angry reactions on social media, but it doesn't make it any less valuable. It shows your authenticity at the very least. However, whenever you create content be careful how you manage the negative reactions. Such content will help you sieve through the people who really believe in your brand and what you have to offer. The circle may be smaller, but it will be highly convertible.
Anxiety
High anticipation is often turned into anxiety. This may not be a much positive emotion, but is indeed very powerful and makes people take action. Content that is built around evoking anxiety stimulates people to act - subscribe, interact, buy.
Excitement
Let's get excited! We love that. Inspirational and motivational content does exactly that. It gives us a confidence boost and lifts up our mood in times when we feel flat. It is a relatable content, therefore we want more of it and we come back to get it.
Bonus Tip
Your brand colours play a key role in the emotions you evoke in your audience. Every colour has its specific meaning in consumer psychology and also different cultural relevance. My strongest recommendation to you is to research colour psychology and build your emotional marketing campaigns including the right colours for maximum influence.
What type of content do you respond most to?
Learn how to use emotional marketing in your campaigns by signing up for the Emotional Marketing and Content Creation short online course.
