When we try to change the behavior of other people, the authors of Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard point out that our first instinct is to teach them something—give them lots of facts and figures. But the most effective change comes when we appeal to other’s emotions rather than their intellect.
Take for example Silpada Jewelry’s recent magazine advertisement, appealing to women who want to start a business and depicting that woman with her family. Large photos and the following text:
“I never run out of vacation days.” When you control your time, there is no need to ration vacation days. “I spend more time with my family, earn a great income, and grow in ways I never thought possible. I truly love my life.”
Those are powerful words that appeal to our emotions. Who doesn’t want to spend more time with their family? Who doesn’t want to control their own time? Who doesn’t want to earn a great income? Who doesn’t want to love their life?
In Boom Start: Super Laws of Successful Entrepreneurs, they state that a product (or service) is made up of three components: core, tangible, and augmented. The core of your product is its emotional essence. For example, the core of McDonalds’s restaurants is Family, Fun, and Friends. Sure they are selling great hamburgers, fries, and a drink—the tangible product—but more importantly they are appealing to us at an emotional level. And then just in case we become bored with the “same old,” they augment with upbeat advertising, Ronald McDonald and his friends, and the world famous Golden Arches.
As you think about your business, first focus on the heart of your business, the core that stirs emotions. Start there as you prepare marketing material for your business. In order to convince people to buy your product and/or service, pay more attention to the emotional appeal and less to filling the space with facts and information.
Bev McCrostie, M.Ed.
YOUR UNLIMITED POTENTIAL
Coaching Small Business Startups
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