Feelings Matter in Marketing

When you are in the creative phase of planning your marketing message, realize this truth; feelings matter. That is, marketing that makes people feel outperforms marketing that doesn’t. As many are turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help craft advertising ideas, a glaring issue has arisen. The robots aren’t acting too much like humans; humans are acting too much like robots.

Robots (and automation) excel in execution. So far though, they’ve proven to be less adept at crafting unique ideas. After all, they still are (as this is written anyway, and by a human) programmed by humanity, and base their responses for problems that have already been solved by humans. To set yourself apart from an endless sea of robot-built marketing mediocrity, you must have the intestinal fortitude to, as Apple has said, ‘Think Different.’ The difference between you and the marketplace you compete in is that you need to be willing to take chances and be brave to get noticed.

Known marketing expert and author Jay Baer shared a story from a keynote speaker engagement he had with a Business to Business (B2B) Marketing Exchange. He reminded attendees that B2B doesn’t stand for “Boring-to-Boring.” Yet, he noted that most companies lean on marketing life preservers and risk-limiters, with predictable, disappointing results based on potential. He flat out said:

“Marketing cannot truly succeed unless the potential customer FEELS something.”

And here’s where the bravery comes in. Because what you intend for the audience to feel may not be what they end up feeling. You could be wrong. The competition may even use your messaging against you (because they can, and you likely would too, if tables were turned). We base our lives on emotions…up to and including marriages, which statistically misstep and fail 50% of the time. But this is part of the human experience. Even recent marketing blunders from master creators Apple with their ‘CRUSH’ spot for the iPad Pro, and Jaguar with their ‘Copy Nothing’ commercial, reveal marketing missteps. But as Baer explains, “In this era of disproportionate likes, shares, comments and more, dictate whether most marketing even gets seen at all, the audience IS the algorithm.”

So, how can one succeed in marketing when you’re willing to be brave and bold, to stand out amongst the crowd and competition? Here are five ways, according to Baer:

1. Generosity – Within your marketing message, give the audience way more value than they expect.
2. Usefulness – Solve more or bigger problems with your marketing than the audience expects.
3. Speed – Solve problems more quickly than the audience expects.
4. Empathy – Talking to the audience about what they REALLY care about, which isn’t your product or service. Baer gives the example of Dekalb Seed Company doing a Facebook series about great farm dogs, targeted to farmers.
5. Irreverence – This is a feisty move, for those who live outside the box and usually include humor that’s off the cuff and/or wickedly clever. While this can make the biggest splash and get people talking, it’s also the choice that requires the most bravery to give the green light to. I’d recommend some focus group trials before putting this out there.

In essence, elevate or exceed an audience’s expectations and you’ll succeed in getting an emotional response. Give them more than they expect, or not what they expect…the zig instead of zag principle.

With an ever-changing landscape of audience attention triggers and platforms, marketing is hard these days, and AI isn’t going to solve these issues for us until it can be taught how to. Competency isn’t going to create conversations or invoke emotional responses. Remember, the audience is the algorithm, and they won’t take action until you first make them FEEL. Happy, sad, glad, mad, excited and even disappointed. You choose, not the robots or machines. Turn an audience’s emotions into motion by taking risks, because playing it safe can be one of the most dangerous things you can do for your brand.

If you need help navigating creative ideation that will help your business move the needle positively, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us, we’re here to help you succeed!