Emotional Marketing in the Hard Business world

All of my life, i have considered myself a very emotional person. Anyone who knows me, knows i can cry a lot and i love to express myself. For a very long time, i considered this a weakness and thought that people would take my vulnerability as a form of weakness and take advantage of it. Some people did, while in secondary school and some people did while i was at the university but i noticed that the numbers reduced as i grew older, i became more confident in my perceived weakness and started using it as a strength.

My so-called emotional self, made me more empathetic to my fellow colleagues and helped me build strong friendships in and outside the work place. It also allowed me build a connection with my clients and internal stake holders. People began to see that my emotional self was also a passionate professional. I would cry if i did not meet or exceed my clients expectations. I wanted my clients to love me and love the organisation i represented. I turned my weakness into a strength as an account manager, brand strategist and client solutions manager. I believe that marketing should not only be about making money but also building a strong emotional connection with your customers. Emotion in the long run, builds customer loyalty and this also helps in building up profit. Does being too emotionally invested have its draw backs? Yes. Sometimes it makes it hard to take cold hard business decisions. So, i am also learning how to balance my emotion with logic. As a marketing professional you must have the soul of an artist but the brain of a mathematician. Creativity with numbers, they say.

So, would you rather run your business with your heart or with your brain or a combination of the two? Let me know your thoughts. I look forward to your comments.

Have a great weekend ahead.