How do your customers feel?
Jonathan Alder
Brand specialist | Author: Brand in the Boardroom | Helping ambitious organisations make an impact | Brand strategy | Brand identity | Brand management | Trustee at CoLab
What’s your favourite Christmas advert this year? John Lewis? Marks & Spencer? Lidl? McDonalds? Winning the hearts - and wallets - of customers is crucial for many businesses at this time of year. But putting some emotion into your marketing isn’t something that should just be reserved for Christmas.
It’s a widely held view that there is no room for emotion in business. It’s seen as a weakness. But the most effective communication in business - whether it’s with colleagues or customers - is built on emotion. This is especially true when it comes to marketing.
The first step is to understand how your customers feel. There are range of emotions they could be feeling, both positive and negative: happy, anxious, bored, confused, excited, scared, calm, nostalgic. When you understand how your customers feel, and - importantly - how they WANT to feel, you can begin to consider your role in that process.
If?it’s a negative emotion that customers are struggling with - fear, confusion, disappointment - your marketing should talk about how you can remove it. If it’s a positive emotion - happiness, excitement, peace - your marketing should talk about how you can maintain or enhance it.
The power of your brand is built upon emotion. It’s the ability to understand the emotional connection between your customers and your products or services, and what you can do to strengthen it. It’s this connection that builds customer loyalty.
There is a perception that it’s easier (or more appropriate) for consumer brands to use emotion in their communication. It’s not. Your customers will feel anxious, excited, uncertain or satisfied, whether they are a company or a family. Your customers are people, and people have feelings. All the time. They don’t switch them off when they’re at work.
So don’t shy away from emotion in your marketing. Embrace it - all year round. It will give you a competitive advantage.
At a time when customers - whether they are businesses or consumers - are under increasing pressure, emotion plays an even greater role in their decision making process. Understanding how your customers feel, and how they want to feel, is an opportunity to build long-term relationships - relationships that will last far longer than?your Christmas tree. And the recession.
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