More Clients Memorandum
The most powerful emotion in marketing?
People talk a lot about getting emotion into your marketing. People buy based on emotion we're told, so you've got to use that somehow.
So marketers try to harness fear, envy, joy, desire. All to get you to part with your hard earned cash.
But I think there's a more useful and perhaps more powerful emotion than any of these. Particularly when it comes to the type of marketing you and I do.
It's surprise.
Surprise is the power behind much great art and entertainment. The punchline in comedy gets its bite by subverting the setup. And nobody pays much attention to dramas they can guess the ending of. It's the expectation of surprise: the revelation, the twist and the end, the whodunnit that keeps us watching.
Surprise grabs your attention. Surprise releases dopamine and enhances your senses. Surprise is memorable.
It's the expectation of new and surprising information that causes us to read something. And it's the payoff from that surprise that makes us feel good and remember it.
Most of us do some form of content marketing. Our goal is to share our expertise to build credibility and trust with potential clients.
But no matter how great your content or expertise, if you only say things that people already know, you won't stand out and you won't be remembered.
You've got to focus on the areas of your expertise that are different and unusual. That your audience won't expect.
You've got to surprise them, or frankly, you'll lose them.
Now you don't necessarily have to shock them every time. The kind of surprise I'm talking about often shows up as a raised eyebrow or a knowing nod.
It happens when a little lightbulb goes off in the head of your reader. Or their perception shifts just that little bit. Or they see things that bit more clearly than before.
Whenever you're thinking of writing an article or blog post or making a video, podcast or other piece of content, ask yourself what new and surprising information you have to share and focus on that.
You'll get a lot more interest as a result.
Ian Brodie
https://www.ianbrodie.comIan Brodie is the best-selling author of Email Persuasion and the creator of Unsnooze Your Inbox - *the* guide to crafting engaging emails and newsletters that captivate your audience, build authority and generate more sales.