Emotional Marketing

Making an Emotional Connection with Your Customers

Brands that don't make emotional connections with their prospects and customers will eventually lose out to those that do. The practice of emotional marketing is all about getting your target audience to connect with your product, service, and brand at a very basic and fundamental level - the level of emotions.

In a recent article, Spence Kramer, VP of Marketing and Communications for Virgin America in the United States spoke about emotional marketing. He said, "Emotional marketing doesn't mean much if the company's people, products and services don't back it up. Nike doesn't succeed because Wieden and Kennedy make great commercials. Rather, Nike succeeds because its core belief-its brand promise, its love of the potential for the athlete inside everyone lives inside the people in Beaverton. When that love is manifested in their gear, consumers manifest it in their own lives." The result is not only an emotional connection but an individual one. Having a one-to-one relationship in today's marketplace is essential for market dominence.

Other examples can be seem with other top brands such as Starbucks, Porsche, and so on. These products and services make an emotional connection with the people they serve. Your challenge is to identify how your products/services can connect emotionally. What is the larger purpose? What type of experience can you offer your customers?

Emotional marketing can only take place once you deliver a user experience that embodies your purpose. Once you are able to deliver on that promise, you can market the experience to your prospects. Be sure to leverage:

• Customer testimonials
  
• Word-of-mouth
  
• Discussion forums
  
• Trials

When your product or service delivers an experience, get prospects to participate and have the experience themselves. Emotional marketing is a powerful strategy if you can deliver a strong customer experience.