Emotional Messages Work

People often make decisions based on emotion and then try to rationalize why they made the decision. People may buy a car because they like how it looks. Then after making a few payments, they ask themselves, “what was I thinking?”

We want the latest fashion jeans even though there are 10 pairs in our closet that we could wear. For me it’s Cole Haan shoes. I like the edgy styles they have, however, the truth is I have two pairs that I don’t wear because the edgy style came and went faster than I could wear them out. I’ve made some emotional decisions that no matter how hard I tried, I could not rationalize.

In my early years of employment I did my share of complaining. I remember one particular time when I was complaining about all kinds of things that seemed unfair or that I would change to someone at the company I worked for. The recipient of this sermon gave me some great advice. They said, “before you waste time complaining about your job or make a decision to change jobs, take time to gather some real data.” This person encouraged me to write down everything that bothered me about my job and everything I enjoyed about my job over a period of two weeks, two months, whatever length of time it took to make a decision based on data — not emotion. Once the time period ended, I would have rational data to make a good decision rather than making an emotional decision that might take me in the wrong career direction.

The advisor said, “it’s like buying a home; you’ll never find one that is perfect – even if you design and build it yourself. After a while you will want to change something.” I took the advice and after four weeks looked at my list. I realized that everything I was complaining about was pretty small and insignificant. This system can also work when you are complaining about your significant other. You’ll never find one that is perfect, and changing a person is near impossible.

It’s human nature to make emotional decisions. We need to continue to think about the emotional when we are writing copy and creating messages to communicate. The emotional is what grabs the attention of target groups. Then, we need to follow with the rational features and benefits that will justify that they made the best buying decision.

Marketing is an amazing business to be part of. What we create with our ideas and skills can affect a whole bunch of people – even change lives. Each day is different, bringing with it a new opportunity to be creative. Enjoy!