A persuasion attempt becomes more powerful when we focus on feeling and transform a reward that is delayed, uncertain and rational into one which is immediate, certain and emotional
James C. Crimmins
Have a look at any advertising and you will see that advertisers are using emotion and feelings to sell products. When we see a car advert on TV, they never list all the benefits and features of the car they are selling.
Imagine an advert starting with a car in focus at a show room. As the camera zooms out we see a sales person explaining and showing the prospective customer all the features and benefits of the car (BHP, torque, airbags, sound system, fuel economy, leg room….) Camera focuses in on prospective customer whose face shows pure bliss, then screen fades to black while the price for all the features flash across the screen. Pretty terrible and wasted advert.
We don’t buy cars because of the features. We buy them because of the way they make us feel, and we use the features to justify our purchase. That is why car companies spend so much time creating adverts depicting what kind of lifestyle you could have if only you bought their car. You could soon be adventuring, city-breaking, family-holidaying or dating-the-person-of-your-dreamsing.
What emotions do you want your customers to experience when buying your products or services? I personally sell certainty and confidence (stick with me and you will be more successful at getting more customers) and motivation and inspiration (stick with me and you will realise that you can be more successful at selling your product and services than you ever imagined). If it were a lifestyle I was selling, I would have a advert of a couple walking their dog in the woods near home, sun dappling through the trees as the dog walker tells their partner what an amazingly successful day they have had and now they have the time and money to start planning their dream second honey moon together. And all because they took a chance on this Ross Hargreaves guy, aka solopreneur income hacker
What emotions do you want your clients to feel when they buy your products, and are you using that emotion in your advertising?