Emotional Marketing

Previous generations grew up in a world that had gone through the Depression of the 1930’s, wars and economic crises, therefore as adults they became conscientious consumers. If my parents had their way, I would still be wearing clothes and shoes that were in fashion in the 1970’s and driving a 1980’s Japanese car.

Instead of poverty and hardship, the only depression we experience these days is the one that causes us stress, unhappiness and sadness. We even have a new form of remedy known as Shopping Therapy, now we buy things because they make us feel happy, look good, important, sexy or glamorous.

To put emotional marketing into practice, Marketers must have an acute understanding of human behaviour and physiological and psychological needs. Emotional Marketing can be used as part of the integrated marketing communication process to stimulate desire and invoke positive sentiments in consumers. Clever triggers, such as words, images, and other stimuli used in advertising should elicit the emotion that will persuade consumers to buy.

Success and importance also are attributes that everyone wants to have or feel. A TV commercial for a luxury car, emphasizing its features, horsepower and quality may not be as successful as the same product being advertised with subliminal visual messages such as a person in a business suit, driving the car to their luxurious home after a hard day’s work.

Self image is also another strong emotion. Why is it that thin, pretty women are used in advertisements for diet soft drinks? Aren’t overweight people the target market? But imagine an obese person being depicted in a commercial drinking diet cola; consumers would feel negative emotions instead of positive ones.

This emphasis on emotional marketing cannot work without an integrated marketing communication strategy. It is also important for sales staff to be adequately trained in the concept of emotional marketing. What’s the point of a company that manufactures exclusive clothing for women, advertising the quality and superiority of the product, when a sales assistant tells a customer that the skirt she is trying on makes her thighs or posterior look smaller than what they really are? The sale will automatically be lost because the customer will feel upset, as the real message she is getting is that her thighs and posterior are too big!

The essence of emotional marketing should create a positive sensation in the mind of the consumer that will encourage a purchase, instead of a negative emotion that will discourage consumers from buying.