Did you know that Mark Twain once said that the difference between using the right and the almost right word is “the difference between a lighting and a lightning bug”? Twain knew how to make things stand out, didn’t he?
What ultimately counts is the emotional value of your content (and your sales offer). The words you use, create this emotional value that builds the desire of your customers to make a specific action.
You’ll have to attract loyal customers by offering the best product. BUT, that’s not going to be enough. You need to compete by connecting your offer to specific emotions that motivate your audience into becoming clients.
And here lies the problem. As a business owner, how do you fight on all fronts? How do you make sure your product or service is really excellent while trying to weave in emotional triggers that motivate bystanders into becoming your loyal customers?
1. Build Loyalty
It goes without saying that loyalty should be high on your list. But loyalty is something you need to be intentional about. You build your loyalty by giving the feeling that your customers are vital to you. You can achieve this by your actions in face-to-face communication, and in the online world by:
- showing honor and appreciation for them on social media
- speaking their language on your website
We naturally build rapport with people when we’re talking to them face to face. But when online, we should be mindful of the other. You write a blog post or a social update in such a way that it will connect to an actual person, and speak value to them.
2. Meet Their Needs
Every piece of content you publish online will need to address a problem your audience is struggling with. To address their needs, you first need to know your audience of course.
Once you know your audience and their needs, make a content plan that will also speak to them on an emotional level. Listen what your customers are saying on social media channels, and meet their needs with an engaging piece of content, whether that is a one-sentence-long social update, or a blog post, or even a video.
3. Be Unique
You know that company that does great stuff on social media? Learn from them, but don’t imitate them.
The most efficient marketing efforts are focused on creating a unique human connection and build relationships with the audience. Once you find your voice, your marketing strategies are more likely to succeed.
4. Be A Good Listener
If you want to have an emotional relationship with your customers, you need to listen. Listening sends a strong message to your clients that the relationship will be more about their needs than yours.
When you listen to what the customers are saying in their words, you can easily use their language when you address their needs. Using your customers’ language tells people that you listened, you heard and you are now responding. People love talking to people who actually listen.
5. Make It Personal
Teddy Rosevelt once said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” You can’t make your customers get excited about your business without letting them know that you as a business are excited about helping them. This means that you need to treat each touchpoint with them as a face-to-face conversation. When you create online content, always be thinking of these things:
- How would you talk about your products?
- What information would you share?
- Would you be smiling?
Customers have a lot of alternatives. And most of the time your online audience will be looking for a reason to close your website and move off to another page. As a marketer, it’s your job is to give them solid reasons to stay on your site and continue engaging your brand. The only way to make this happen is to keep things personal.
6. Be Intentional About Strategies
Now that you know the importance of making an emotional connection with your audience, you need to make it a content creation habit.
You must have strategies of building emotional connections in every online activity you make:
- Engaging your audience on Facebook/Linkedin/Twitter etc.
- Sending promotional email messages
- Posting regular social updates
- Creating cool infographics
- Writing blog posts
When you are intentional, you will be better at whatever it is you are doing with your marketing. Systems and strategies, they are your tools to get you places with your business.
Conclusion
In listening to Mark Twain’s advice, we do need to make a distinction between good-enough and just-right wording of our marketing efforts.
Making texts personal, using the language of your audience, addressing their needs, making sure they know you care for them, and doing this consistently, is very important.
Why settle for the lighting bugs when you could be shooting the stars?
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