OK, in the last chapter we talked about the powerful written persuasion technique of appealing to your readers identity. And how connecting your offer to the personal story of your audience, can subtly turn your product or service into a part of their lives.
When we do it effectively we’re no longer selling, but we’re having our products welcomed into their lives without resistance.
This time we’re going to touch on another powerful persuasion technique…
2. Invoking Emotions
As professional marketers, we all know the adage “you sell something by getting people’s emotions involved.”
Positive emotions like hope and love, and negative emotions like anger and fear, spur people into action.
So for us advertisers, we need to use emotionally charged words that add impact to our writing.
If someone reads your copy and says “Oh, that sounds nice. The grammar and punctuation is perfect and the whole thing makes sense”… Then your copy is a loser, and it’s time to start over.
Because in sales copy…
We don’t want people admiring our grammar. We want them to feel our message.
So after you complete your first draft… When you go back over your copy, try to pull out bland words and left-brained expression, and head on over to a thesaurus to find words that have more emotional impact to them.
I’d love to give you a bunch of examples here, but it really comes down to “what” emotion you’re trying to invoke in your audience. And I don’t want to turn this post into a full length book. So…
Let me just give you a simple example of invoking emotions, just to show you how this powerful persuasion technique works…
Let’s say we’re selling a weight loss supplement… What emotion can we invoke to get our reader engaged, and pull them into our copy?
I can think of a bunch of different emotions we could choose from, but I’m just going to pick a couple for this example…
How about anger at a common enemy? Followed by hope for a better solution?
So our example could look something like this:
“If you’ve tried everything to lose weight, and you feel like a failure because nothing seems to work, there’s something you need to know… It’s not entirely your fault…
Big Pharma, and those corrupt officials at the FDA have been lying to you for years.
They sell you their bogus weight loss pills, (which can carry deadly side effects) and their fad diets (which rarely ever work). And when none of it works for you… those self serving Fat Cats simply come up with another LIE to sell you even more useless poison. All in the name of the almighty buck!
But I want you to know there is a better, safer and more effective way to permanently lose weight. Without all the un-natural side effects of taking potentially harmful drugs. Introducing…”
So what we did there was identify a common enemy… invoke a bit of anger at the enemy… and start to offer some hope. Which opens the path that will lead us into our main offer.
Of course the copy above is not highly polished sales copy. But can you already start to see, and feel how much more impact this can have over boring unemotional advertising?
Would like to see another example?
OK, I think we have time for one more one more before we go…
Let’s say we want to sell pet toys for dogs. What emotion can we invoke for this one?
How about joy, and love? (after all, most dog owners love their pets)
So a short example could be something like…
“When you come home from a hard days work, who’s always there to greet you with unconditional love?
Your four legged friend never judges you, never talks down to you, and knows for a fact that you’re the greatest person in the world.
Show the love for your dog that he or she shows you, by giving your best friend one of our veterinarian approved, super durable, K-9 chew toys.
As a loving pet owner you know the feeling of pure joy that can only come from watching your best friend enthusiastically play with their favorite, well loved, chew toy…”
And from there we can begin to describe the benefits of our dog toys, over other similar toys on the market. Or if it’s the same toy others are selling, then we can explain why they should buy from us, instead of buying from anyone else.
Of course, there’s a number of powerful emotions that you can use in your sales copy.
Like anger, revenge, fear, frustration, hope, love, compassion or empathy (just to name a few)
But generally speaking, it’s best if you stick with just one or two main emotions in any particular sales piece.
You can certainly use a couple more emotions in supporting roles, but if you start bouncing people around with too many powerful emotions, you run the risk of exhausting your audience before they get to the point of your sales message.
So let me just wrap this post up with a final thought…
“When you start writing your next piece of copy, ask yourself “What emotions do you want to invoke in your audience, and what words can you use invoke them?”
In my next chapter of this series on Powerful Written Persuasion Techniques, I’m going to present you with the powerful motivation technique of showing people the consequences of inaction. And I’ll explain the reasons why it works so well.
So stay tuned for that one, and I’ll meet you there…
Here’s to writing more persuasive sales copy… more often.
All the best,
SARubin
<<< Powerful Written Persuasion Techniques – Part 1 (appealing to identity)
Powerful Written Persuasion Techniques – Part 3 (consequences of inaction) >>>
