The Power of Emotional Marketing: Connecting with Consumers on a Deeper Level

Brands are always desperately seeking effective ways to connect with consumers. Whether it’s by word of mouth, good reviews, or traditional or digital advertising, they need consumers to have a connection with their products or services to keep themselves in business and drive up sales. The problem that many brands face today is that the marketing landscape can often feel oversaturated, especially during the holiday season, when it may be most important. How can a company stand out in a sea of similar brands who are all advertising the same thing on the same platforms?

The answer is not always that they have a better product or service. Many great businesses don’t succeed, and many mediocre ones do. But why? The answer lies in emotional marketing.

In order for a brand to be successful, especially during the time of year when it seems like every brand is fighting for the consumer’s attention, it has to impact in some way. It needs to cut through all the noise and say’ “Hey, we understand you. We can help.” In the current marketing landscape, the best way to do this is with emotional marketing. Emotional marketing doesn’t mean that the ads are overly sentimental or make statements intended to cause a strong reaction. It simply means that they have to speak to people on a deeper, more genuine level. It is the business honestly communicating its worth to a customer.

The days when your “best product on the market” spiel would produce sales are long gone. Too many companies have already been doing that for decades. Not only has the average consumer become totally numb to that type of communication, but in many cases, it’s just simply not true and consumers can often see right through that. Emotional marketing strips away the overly branded and somewhat pretentious language and gets to the actual, core pain points of the audience to make a real connection with them.

Take this ad from a Patagonia Christmas campaign for example:

Photo Source: MarketingWeek, 2013

It is not so much an ad for a new jacket as it is an ad for establishing brand values. The slogan “Don’t buy this jacket” is centered around the idea of overconsumption. It is meant to bring awareness to the fact that people all too often buy and discard things to the great detriment of the environment - a problem even more relevant during the Christmas season.

Patagonia has strong values as a high-quality, low-waste company and knew that the customers they wanted to attract would have the same values. Instead of trying to target every possible customer they could, they stayed true to their demographic and focused on the things that really mattered to them, even if it meant turning down sales. Their advertising would continue to align with company values rather than sales, building a strong, trusting community around their brand and purpose.

Recently, Coca-Cola knocked it out of the park with their Christmas ad, “The World Needs More Santas.”

The World Needs More Santas | Coca-Cola

The ad begins with a town full of Santa Clauses going about their daily lives, exhibiting the traits that make up the essence of Santa – helpful, kind, giving, etc. The camera then takes us to the next town over, full of regular individuals, no Santa uniform on, displaying those same holiday gestures and Santa traits to their neighbors. The ad is a sweet reminder that the spirit of Christmas really comes from within, and anyone can pass it along with a little kindness. While it does depict Coca-Cola products, the ad is not centered around selling Coke. Rather, it takes us on a heartwarming journey that people can relate to. It makes people want to like Coke, simply because they put out something people could emotionally connect to.

In the end, there's really no special magic trick to gaining customers. It’s simpler than that, actually. The key to good advertising often boils down to honest and effective communication of company values, and this could not be more true than during the most sentimental time of year. Customers like to feel emotionally connected to the things they spend money on, and that emotion can also propel spending decisions in ways they didn’t even consider. So if you’re finding yourself struggling to market your business, ask yourself: How can you connect to your consumer? What value can you bring that would truly benefit the people you want to reach, and how is it different from the value that similar companies provide? Answer this and you will be on the path to building a stronger, more successful brand.