Are you killing them with blandness?

Murder.

What a great word. Already your mind is conjuring up images of blood and lifeless bodies. You’re wondering if the deed took place in a dark alley in the shadows of night, or in the boldness of broad daylight. Curious to know why and who…and how long its going to take to clean the blood out of the carpet.

If you flinch at the sight of blood, you’re likely feeling a little queasy. If you have a taste for the macabre, a little thrill of excitement is jolting through your nerves.

Murder.

Visceral, powerful, rarely boring. Yet everyday we commit murder in the blandest of ways. Yes, you included. Combining email, web pages, texting, billboards, flyers and television, we are sending out, and our brains receiving, thousands of messages everyday.

Most of them are taxing your brain. Bland, boring messages that fail to excite, are just another tax on your thinking capacity…another message to be assessed and ignored.

We get lazy, we think of the message we want to send rather than our receiver. When you skip thinking about your audience, and how you want them to act after receiving your message, you are simply missing an opportunity to create impact and action.

This week alone I have received at least 5 emails from one of my favourite brands about this massive sale they are having online. I love these guys but seriously, this is getting ridiculous. All these emails are making me feel they are a little less cool and a bit more desperate than I thought. Is that the kind of brand I want to be wearing? 

Imagine this instead. 

You receive an anonymous text “Meet me on the corner of Park and 9th in 5 minutes”. Your brain goes into overdrive. Who is it from? Should you go? You’re curious though…very curious. What the hell, you think, its time for a coffee break and what could possibly happen in broad daylight? When you arrive at the corner, you discover a pop-up shop from your favourite brand. Your favourite celeb hugs you and hands you a coffee. Feeling special, you buy that item you have been coveting for the past month, smiling all the way back to the office. 

That’s messaging with impact, driving the behaviour you want by tapping into fundamental human emotions, the ones that drive us to learn, desire and covet.

You might pay little attention to the email you sent to your boss about Friday’s project meeting. Gave little thought to the behaviour you want from customers before pressing send on the weekly newsletter. Designed a new service with scant regard as to how it will make people feel.

If that’s you, you are missing a huge opportunity.

We like to believe we are rational beings. Yet the reality is that every decision we make is driven by an underlying emotion. Every behaviour, every action, is first made through feeling and then we find a way to rationalise it. Ever noticed how unrational your rationalisations are? Pay attention the next time you buy something you’ve been coveting.

Tapping into emotions in your communications is very powerful. It will get projects moving, people buying and earn you respect, relationships and promotions.

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Ready to take your communications to the next level?  Join me next week for a rare opportunity to learn about how to trigger the emotions that make your messages stick! I am only running one of these, so don't miss out on this opportunity! Register now.