Marketing

What A Difference A Word Makes

what-a-difference-a-word-makesWhat makes an advertisement, brochure or website appealing? How do you attract eyeballs with great content? Creating powerful content that speaks to your target audience involves more than just stringing together random words or phrases. Naturally, it starts with using the right choice of words – words that can captivate and hold your readers’ interest.

 

Certain words do appeal to our attention more than others, carry power when they are used and most importantly, have the ability to jolt consumers into action. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

 

Words like “limited”, “sales end today” and “while stocks last” create a sense of urgency among customers, making your products or services seem more valuable and scarce. This can make people desire them more for fear of not being able to acquire it. On the other hand, words like “now” draw people in through the prospect of instant gratification.

 

Undeniably, words such as “free” and “new” have a definite appeal. Attracting consumers through complimentary offerings may entice them to find out more about your website, advertisement or brochure. Meanwhile, the novelty effect associated with the word “new” could draw curious customers to find out more about this fresh new merchandise or service.

 

Last but not least, do not forget to personalise your message to include words such as “you” to entice your consumers, because there is an unspoken power that comes from invoking their sense of self.

 

Try it the next time you craft content to market your business and reap the results of using powerful words.

 

Image source:

https://www.zazzle.co.nz/word_power_round_sticker-217562175423359680

Write Right: Getting your prospects to sit up and listen

write-rightOften, when companies write, they are very focused on what they want to say and the messages they want to put out. In the process, they forget about their audience – their clients, prospects and stakeholders whom they are targeting ─ and the copy comes across as a sales pitch. The result? The audience tunes out.

 

When it comes to products and services, whether your company is B2B or B2C, people only ask one question: “What’s in it for me?” Your ad, brochure or website has to answer this question. It needs to identify or create a pain point and explain how you can solve it for them.

 

According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, human needs can be categorised into five basic categories: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation.

 

The more needs your product or service fulfills, the more your audience will pay attention. For instance, if your business deals in home CCTV cameras, instead of talking about your product and how fantastic it is, you can focus on: 1) how people deserve a safe and secure home (safety needs), 2) how by owning such a product they can still check on their children even when at work (belongingness and love), and 3) how by knowing they and their loved ones are safe, they can sleep soundly at night (physiological).

 

Sometimes the same product can have two different needs for two different types of people. Take for example tricycles. If you’re targeting parents who already have to spend a lot on their child, you would probably want to emphasise aspects like safety and price competitiveness. If you’re targeting grandparents who love to spoil their grandkids, you’ll want to highlight the exciting features and how much fun they’ll have together.

 

The trick is to understand your customers. In knowing what makes them tick, you can spell out how your product or service can meet their needs and grab their attention.

 

Image source:

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

 

Why The Pen is Mightier

pen-is-mightier

Why should I buy your product? Why should I listen to you? These are questions that go through your customers’ minds when they see your website or marketing material. And these are issues that businesses need to address when persuading their potential clients to use their goods and services. Persuasion is not an easy skill to acquire. But if you break it down, there are three key techniques to convince your audience: using emotion, authority and logic. Advertisements, websites, brochures and blogs all use these in one form or another. Let’s take a look at what each of these persuasive strategies mean and how they work.

 

Persuasive strategies How to apply them Example
Emotion Appeal to emotions. You can play on others’ feelings of justice, sadness, anger, nostalgia and fear. This is most effective when it connects with an underlying value of the reader. There’s no price that can be placed on peace of mind. Our advanced security systems are guaranteed to protect your family so you can sleep soundly at night.
Authority Appeal to the authority of person or an organisation. It is how well you convince the reader that you or your company are qualified to comment on the subject. Our expertise in roofing contracting is evidenced not only by our 100 years in the business and our staff of qualified technicians, but in the decades of satisfied customers who have come to expect nothing but the best.
Logic Appeal to logic, rationale or reasoning. Information may be presented factually and based on statistics. Logic can also be used to enhance your authority by making your company seem knowledgeable. The data is perfectly clear: this investment has consistently turned a profit year-over-year, even in spite of market declines in other areas.

 

These persuasive strategies can be used on their own, or in combination with each other. Keep in mind the context, your target audience and objective when employing them. Check out the video below, and see if you can spot how these modes of persuasion are used. Try using them in your next brochure.

 

 

Image source:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/239113061439372391/

 

Harnessing the power of emotional marketing

emotional marketing image

Emotions. They help us to connect with one another, but they can also spur us to action. When it comes to writing marketing campaigns, studies show that emotions rather than cool-headed logic play a greater part in inspiring customers to make decisions. So what is emotional marketing? It involves harnessing emotions to influence audiences’ intent to buy. Getting consumers to feel happy, in awe, sad, afraid or angry lie at the heart of emotional marketing. 

When selling your product or service, it can be easy to get caught up in spelling out its features. Logically, we would think that is what our customers will benefit from and focus on right? However, do not overlook the critical role that emotions play in rousing customers to share with their peers and ultimately buy. Check out the commercial below and see how emotions can be used to great effect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYtMkhfQfa4