Emotions of ad copy
In this post, I like to talk about the emotion of your ad copy and how it can affect sales. It is basic human nature to respond to emotions before logic. You will see how it is widely being used in advertising. Because there is a spectrum of emotions, I feel that it is a worthy topic to discuss its potential effects on advertising.
The best way to explain this is to imagine a ladder. The most positive emotion sits on the top rung and the most negative sit at the bottom rung.
a ladder of varying emotions
The ladder of emotions
Let’s say that every step on the ladder is a different human emotion. The bottom-most step represents hate and the top-most represents love. The rungs in between the 2 are the varying intensity between love and hate. Each emotion tends to draw upon other similar emotions, and they all sit on the same rung. Emotions are attractive in nature. By assuming an emotion and holding to it, you attract similar emotions that are of the likeness of yours.
On competition
You can see what happens when we write an ad copy to disparage our competitors, to say that their product is substandard compared to ours. What kind of emotions are we conveying to the public? It can be felt by the customer behind the screen. It does not have to be in a video form for your customer to know it, they can see through your ad copy and induce such feelings. The viewer can sense your emotion, and react according to it.
When we write to disparage, to discourage, or to promote adversity toward our competition. In hopes of driving consumers to our side, we inevitably hurt ourselves. Because we are selling (or advertising) on the lowest level of the rung, which is hate. We let out feelings of unworthiness, envy, disagreement in our products, and your customers sense it and react accordingly.
On the purpose of advertising
An efficient ad man never writes to tear down, because he knows there are consequences to it. Even in the stiffest markets, where competition is at the peak, if we can’t promote our competition, we can ignore them. Give no attention to them. Remember that the purpose of writing advertising is to convince the customer to make a sale with you. When you write to disparage others, you are surely not going to gain more customers than you would if you advertised normally. So hold no thought of losing your customer to somebody else or you will surely experience it.
The highest level of emotions
On top of the ladders, lives the 3 highest level of emotions. The most harmonious and beneficial ones for the company. Therefore, operating on it gives the business the greatest and most harmonious effects. The 3 I would name them to be in this order: love, gratitude, and joy. When we write ad copy with these emotions residing on the highest rungs of the ladder, we induce harmonious cooperation with our customers. We attract only the best of the customers to us which are also operating in such emotions.
When we promote ourselves with such feelings of love, gratitude, and joy, we inevitably create this mountain of success in terms of sales, leads, appointments, or general recognition of your brand. The result will be that you will find customers loving the outlook (or vibes) of your business and will continue to support it time and time again. You may even enjoy a resistless sale from your customers.
How are such emotions portrayed in advertising? First; love. Love can be portrayed by the intense desire of your own product/service. Before you want your customer to desire your product you must first desire your own product and truly mean it. When a customer senses that a business loves and takes pride in its own creation, he naturally gravitates toward their business. Sales become resistless.
Gratitude can be portrayed by the recognition of your existing customers. Always keep them in mind and increasing the value than you ask for. You should always be thankful for them, no matter how long ago was the purchase. When customers sense your gratitude for their business, because gratitude bring more gratitude, they continually come back for more. Sales become repeatable.
Joy can be portrayed by the air of excitement you give to your products and the future plans for your business. When customers feel the joy they naturally gravitate towards your business. Joy is a natural attraction for customers, nobody is attracted to a business that is moody and antagonistic (unless the customer also holds such a state of mind). It always pays to advertise joyfully and maintain a joyful business outlook. In this sense, sales become attractive.
Conclusion
There are many varying degrees of emotions in between the ladder, thankfully it is not important for you to know all of them. I have just explained the top 3. Operating on the top 3 rungs overrides the rest and is sure to bring you about the best results. We must carefully avoid and not pay attention to the bottom rung as it will surely bring disaster and discord. (although it may not look so now, it inevitably will.) The customers reflect the mood we give our business, so only give the best, and you will also receive the best from them.
