If a picture were worth a thousand words, a motion picture would be worth billions.
In last week's guide we looked at the declining readership, lack of cost effectiveness, and the passive nature of print advertising relative to electronic advertising on radio and TV.
The debate between passive print and intrusive electronic really comes down to emotion. The most important advantage you'll gain from using electronic advertising is its ability to connect and evoke emotion on an intrusive basis. Yes, print can conjure up emotions, but it's just too easy to flip the page and never see it altogether. TV and Radio allow the possibility of providing an emotional wake up call to its viewers and listeners because of its intrusiveness. That's how to accomplish top of mind and engage audiences on a much deeper level. Music, the human voice, color, motion and theatrics are what give advertising a voice through emotion. This is absolutely the first step in getting on your customer's radar through advertising. The next step is making it stick.
In the 11/26 Climber's Guide entitled "Cheating the Public" we stated, "the truth that we come to realize on our own is the truth that we'll come to accept." No one wants to be lectured. Emotional connections help people to realize the truth, especially when you speak to people in a language the represents the way people really talk – without the ad speak.
Recently, I was struggling to help a prospective client fully understand and accept the fact that emotion is almost always more effective than intellect – as is the case with most clients who are caught up trying to drive traffic with event-based advertising (mostly in print.) He couldn't completely wrap his head around the power of emotional advertising. As we were taking a tour of his business, he told me the story of how he was able to convince the zoning board to allow him to erect his new clearance center on the property of his existing retail store that had been in operation for over 40 years. He described the scene at the zoning meeting as being an emotional plea without even realizing that he was making my point for me. He said that he passionately appealed to the hearts of the zoning board and in the end, they stood up and applauded his emotional speech and approved his project. Thank God he told me that story because it instantly allowed me to demonstrate the power of emotion over intellect. The zoning board didn't want to hear about numbers because they hear that speech all day long, over and over again. My client's emotional plea woke them up and allowed them to realize the benefits of approving his request on their own instead of being bored to death with more numbers and lists. The lecture is easy to ignore but the heart can stop you dead in your tracks.
People make decisions based on emotions. Once we've decided in our hearts, we will then justify in our minds with intellect.
Our strongest desire to shop is fueled by dissatisfaction. When we become dissatisfied, we act in order to correct the problem. It could be that you don't like the way your clothes fit, your hair looks, your car drives or your time is spent - but it's that dissatisfaction that initiates action. Dissatisfaction is an emotional state of mind and when you speak directly to that emotion, you make a deeper connection. When you connect deeply with a true need on a regular, intrusive basis, you become the first business that people think of and feel the best about when that need arises through dissatisfaction.
In the case of our automotive account, we've produced spots that have cemented their place within our community, respected the intelligence of their customers, and communicated that it's ok to love the process of buying a car – from a dealer that recognizes and eliminates the things that we hate about that experience.
That emotional based campaign has resulted in a 25% increase over last year and has helped them to become the number one dealer in the Boston region for year over year growth for the first time ever.
Use emotion and step out of the day-to-day doldrums of business-as-usual and wake your customers up with a passionate approach to running, and advertising, your business. Actually, take that one step further and get passionate about life in general. You may just find that you wake up and come to realize dreams that have been dormant for years, and maybe you'll begin achieving a few goals that are long overdue.
Keep climbing,
Jake
PS – There are many different ways to use emotionally based advertising – and there are times when intellect is necessary. The link below is an example of a spot that delivers an intellectually based message through metaphors and emotion. We tried to entertain you, surprise you, and as a bonus, let you finally meet "Old Macdonald".
The point is that far more people will pay attention and the message will stick. In this case, emotion didn't trump intellect, it saved it.
Contact- "Chicken"
