How,use,Emotional,Content,Incr marketing How to use Emotional Content to Increase Visitor Response

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Did you know that many folks make "buying decisions" when theyare moved emotionally? Other traditional medias have made themost of these principles and taken advantage of them for manyyears, whether it be a TV commercial or an ad in a magazine.People are emotional beings and people make decisions (eithergood or bad) when they are emotional. If something causes acustomer to become upset, they become angry and try and solve it.If they become upset enough...they'll make a decision to perhapsdiscontinue your service and hire another service. On a positiveside, the TV media bombards us with commercials that try to makean advertisers product seem fun or cute. The "emotional content"tactic is in nearly every advertising and communication mediafrom print to radio to TV and yes, even the web. Emotionalcontent is used to sell everything from fast food to children'stoys.What every Toy Marketer knows:Toy marketers have known for years that the focus in a toycommercial is not so much on their new product, as much as it ison the facial expressions of the child. They're showing theabsolute joy and delight of playing with that toy. Often imagesin the mind of the child who is viewing the commercial mightevoke a sense wonder, adventure and excitement. Sometimes, a toymarketer may aim much deeper psychologically by showing the childin their commercial, enjoying their toy with either Mom or Dadsitting on the floor playing with him or her. The child viewingthe program may even desire that toy more simply because theythink that "if they only they had this toy", their Mom or Dadmight take more time to sit down and play with them too! Emotional Content in Traditional Marketing:In the example above, a TV commercial does not focus on theparent...they are selling to the child. However, selling a toy onthe web, in an online toy store, is different in the aspect thatyou are actually selling to the parent (a child does not have avisa card to place an order). The benefits of a toy that appealto the parent will be things like, it's safety features, the factthat it "educational". However, focus on appealing to the childmight zoom to the top again in a children's entertainment site.If you want to sell a toy, you must make it desirable to have onthe child's level. Most of us who have kids, know the impact andthe drive that a child can have towards getting something from aparent. When a child "wants" something, that child willpersistently find a way to go after that item until usually, theparent often gives in and buys it.What about the silly characters brought to life in a fast foodcommercial and various the toy giveaway promotions? Certain fastfood restaurant marketers know that children have the power todrag their parents to the local fast food place based on the factthat they can get this neat toy. All of this starts by acommercial in which that tiny little toy is made to appeal to thechild's emotions. Is this not true also with certain breakfastfood cereals and the "free prize" or "game" you get in every box?Of course as we grow from children to adults, we are notinfluenced by emotional media elements anymore....or are we.Let's look now at a few actual examples from my experiences onthe web.On The Web, Emotional Content Influences Peoples "BuyingDecision." Actually, with the web being a multimedia experience,we have lots of opportunity to work with emotional content. Afterall, your visitors are just human beings too? We're really nodifferent online than offline. We have an important emotionalside of us that can be appealed to. Here's what I have learnedfrom my client successes.--If you are trying to sell a baby crib, but nobody is buying it,...put a cute little baby in the crib and PEOPLE WILL BUY IT! --If you are relying on graphics, photos, animated gifs or any type of images, you want a combination of quality with uniqueness. Will your image make your audience smile or will it make your audience cry? Where might it be appropriate to make your audience cry? Actually, all it takes it the right scenario. Example: I know of several businesses who are utilizing messages based on the events which occurred September 11 in the US. (The Sept. 11th tragedy in the US). In these examples, the websites selling products are appealing to the visitors sense of patriotism or they may deliver messages of hope and inspiration. As important as these points are, they are also making good sales. In the case of the Sept. 11 example, some sites are selling but also contributing a portion to the cause. --This leads to another thought....be very mindful of current events and current interest topics that you hear about on the media. Sometimes the most obvious strategies can be staring us right in the face. Be mindful of all media topics and in many cases you can bring about some good out of what would otherwise be missed. --Whatever you are selling for retail online...."Lifestyle graphics" work best! Example: If your selling a piece of furniture for the living room....display a picture of the furniture being used in someone's living room. The visitor may say to themselves...."look at this comfy looking couch". "This guy looks like he is really enjoying himself". (The image might be of a person sitting comfortably on the couch, in their living room....feet up and arms relaxed). TIP: Lifestyle photos like this are much more influencing that just a product displayed in a showroom. --Create pages that are not "hard sell". Instead, focus on the product benefits in way that it appeals to the emotions. (Keep in mind that many people will buy spontaneously, but they do not want to "be sold" something). Most people come to a web page in search of information. The "loud" or "hard sell" approach does not work on the web. --If you are promoting something with emotional appeal which is already established through other medias, then also use it in your web page and tie it in. For example, what do you think of when I say the 3 words...Zoom Zoom Zoom. --Remember the web has the potential to be a powerful multimedia experience. Is there a place for the use of music to contribute to the right atmosphere? Moving your audience just takes a little thought. Let your mind think outside of what is already being done. I am not talking about traditional stuff here, like putting a flash commercial on your site. Extend your creativity and be original. li>Does your product or service offer a solution to people’s problems? Is there a way that it can be promoted with an emotional angle to it for greater impact? --I learned that the use of Humour at times is very important. It can be in the form of text, graphics, audio, and video but just make sure it is good humour. People want to feel good on your client's web page. Good humour will influence emotion and "great humour" can funnel volumes of traffic into your site just by word of mouth. Can you recall seeing humour used on a web page that made you laugh out loud? If so, just think back and see if you don't recall telling a friend to "check it out"! Then there may be sites where it might be hard to use humour (A funeral Parlour or perhaps a Divorce Lawyer). On the other hand, with a little creativity, who is to say it could not be done....with greatest of tact of course. --A good example of the power of emotional content can be seen in instance where something about a site is so moving that it makes the viewer want to tell everyone they know! Example: Interview with God (Very emotional feel good stuff) Example: Alien Song (a simple 30 second animation that is guaranteed to have you telling your friends to check it out). So what other ideas might you consider using to make emotionalimpact with your audience?Is it possible to take old ideas and put a new spin on them?What I mean by this is taking some older ideas and refresh them.There is nothing wrong with older concepts if they work, butsometimes all they need is re-thinking. One of the first things Iever experimented with was the idea of having a little fun withthe old "printable coupon" idea. You know the old "discountcoupon" which can be put on a Web page so the visitor can printit and bring it in to get a discount? At the time, I thought,what else could we do besides give folks a discount coupon toprint off? It needs to be fun and have a little emotional appealand still deliver value.I created what I called the "SAY THE MAGIC WORD" campaign for aclient.Instead of printing coupons from my client's web site (a localGarage), I introduced the following promotion, which becamesomewhat popular with the client's customers.When you visit the site, the visitor would scroll down the pageand click on the image of a speaker. Suddenly you would hear avoice say "The Magic Word Is...." and it would give you a "word".Now this was not just any word, this was quite a magic wordbecause when you take your car into the garage for a tune up,give your keys to the service manager and "say the Magic Word"you learned from the web site, they would cut your bill by 15%!Better yet, keep changing the magic word and you kept youraudience coming back to the site.People had fun with it...everyone told their friends about it, itdelivered value. Honestly though, it was just a new spin on anold idea, but both the client and customer loved the concept.I challenge you to put on your thinking cap.You see as you introduce things like "humour" or other emotionalcontent into use....you can also widen your scope of SEOpromotion. Have you checked the top KEI values around subjects ofcomedy and humour? Hmmm...Well I guess that's an idea to beexamined then isn't it?Explore your clients business, explore what's going on in theworld, but always remember the powerful impact that emotionalcontent can deliver, if tastefully done.