The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Marketing

Savvy marketers of today seek to tap into human emotions in order to make that ‘connect’ with their audience and develop long-lasting relationships. For it is an established fact that emotions play an important role in consumer decision making. Often the reason why marketing campaigns fail to hit the mark is that many customers feel the disconnect between their favorite brands and their true needs. 

Be it the famous ‘mother-and-child bond’ advertisement of Horlicks that we all remember or the humorous Naukri ad (Remember HARI SADU?)

We are sure most of us are able to recall these emotionally stirring ads even today on account of the immediate sense of connection the ad concept established in all of us. 

It was the award-winning journalist, Daniel Goleman who introduced the idea of emotional intelligence. In his book, Emotional Intelligence, he identifies five areas that contribute to emotional intelligence:

1. Self Awareness
2. Motivation
3. Empathy 
4. Self-regulation
5. Social Skills

Applying these 5 pillars of emotional intelligence to your marketing strategy can help you communicate your brand message in a way that is thoughtful, authentic, and human.

Did you know?

According to a study by IBM and Econsultancy, only 1 in 3 consumers believe their favourite brands truly understand them. Yet another study found that consumers are not as impressed with the relevance of the content they receive. Only 35% of respondents said their favorite companies sent ‘usually relevant’ emails or messages. 

Brands today have been increasingly taking the emotional route to touch the hearts of their consumers. 

Taking the Emotional Route

The power of emotional intelligence can help in coming up with marketing strategies that can reach out and strike a chord with your target audience to produce beneficial business outcomes. Marketers today need to really understand client moods, behaviours, impulses, and apply them in order to reach out to their client base.

Most of the insurance ads provoke the inner feelings in you, be it with humour or with a sense of fear to take an action whereas the soap ads will give you a soothing feel. Applying emotional cues in marketing campaigns can help your brand speak to the target audience at the right place, right time, and get to know them meaningfully on a deeper level. 

While applying emotional intelligence to develop marketing campaigns it’s good to consider the following questions:

• What are the triggers that cause a customer to look for your product or service? 
• What emotional triggers influence the requirement? 
• How will your product or service solve their problems?
• Trace the buyer’s emotional journey to create your buyer persona 

Figuring out the answers to these questions can help marketers empathize with their audience and bridge the gap between what they want and what their audience wants.

Fact Check

• Backed by research by Valay Lakdavala, brand experts believe that an advertisement that was partially focused on ‘emotional content’ with regard to ‘rational content’ was twice as effective (31% to 16%) and content which was fully focused on emotions with regard to a partially focused advert did even better (31% to 26%). The reason being, the human brain processes emotions in a powerful way and remembers them longer than mere facts alone.

• According to a 2016 Nielson report, “Emotions are central to advertising effectiveness,” and ads that generated the best emotional response generated a 23% lift in sales volume.

•  Also, as per Psychology Today, fMRI neuro-imagery has shown that consumers use emotions rather than information to evaluate a brand.
  
  
• Ads that convey strong emotions often go viral. A study from HubSpot revealed that the most-shared ads relied on emotional content, including happiness, friendship, and inspiration. 

Brand building strategies driven by emotional connect builds brand reliability in the long term. It is a human tendency to choose products and services that have effective emotional advertising.

Demographic Research 

Quantitative as well as qualitative studies on the targeted user base not only helps in gathering insights but also helps in building and planning campaigns and offerings. 

Concept is Key

We know effective marketing solves a pain point or fulfills a need. When you bring empathy in marketing means, you’re basically putting yourself in your audience’s situation. By being empathetic, you will tweak your motives, your message, and how you deliver that message. This can result in great marketing concepts and ideas that resonate with the customer.

Driven by Great Content

Your concept needs to be driven by strong content with the goal of driving ROI. Content that inspires at every touchpoint in the buyer’s journey is the only way to make sure to address your audience at an emotional level.

Using EI in your Digital Marketing Strategy

Using emotions in your ads greatly influences the buying process of your customers. No matter what emotional aspect you pick – happiness, fear, belonging, or trust – the emotional triggers should resonate with and motivate your customers into taking action. 

We, at lessburn, have proven expertise in building results-oriented brand strategies and continually refine your campaigns for the greatest outcome. From full-scale digital marketing and advertising strategy, right through to precise execution and reporting backed by performance insights, we’ve got you fully covered with our 5C model to drive the real campaigns that result. Reach us here, let’s talk with a virtual drink!

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