Use an emotional appeal when the

advertising messages, usually based on imagery rather than information, which attempt to achieve the advertiser's objectives by evoking strong emotionsl feelings (fear, anger, passion, etc) rather than by a rational appeal.

See: Rational Appeals in Advertising

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There’s no doubt that social media has a significant impact on how we view the world. As Ad and PR professionals, we must understand how to use social media as leverage when it comes to generating brand awareness and fostering consumer loyalty. Additionally, social media can be used to create a fun, engaging atmosphere for both current and future followers. 

How do we grab the attention of someone mindlessly scrolling through social media? Two words: emotional appeal.

What’s Emotional Appeal?

Simply put, emotional appeal is a form of advertising that uses visual or written imagery to evoke specific feelings such as anger, love, joy, and so on. Rational appeal, on the other hand, encompasses the more traditional side of advertising, where bringing up emotion isn’t the primary motive.

With numerous social channels at our fingertips, it’s easy to surf these networks looking for content that will fill our emotional palette with all sorts of sensations. Similarly, businesses can use this approach to help market their brand or advertise a specific product. 

For example, in this social media advertisement from Coca-Cola, people are dancing and smiling while drinking a specific flavor of Coke for #HaveACokeDay. Not only does this ad grab the attention of Coca-Cola’s followers by using upbeat music and attractive models, but it also helps solidify the idea that people drink Coke when they’re having a good time. Coca-Cola isn’t just advertising their product; they’re promoting the enjoyable experiences someone can have while enjoying their product. Emotion is used to stimulate this connection to buy a Coke for #HaveACokeDay.   

Why This Strategy?

As explained by Curtis Newbold, emotional appeal is just one of many marketing strategies that professionals in the Ad and PR industry can use to help generate buzz about advertised content, and, most importantly, persuade their audience to do specific tasks such as buying their products. 

After all, businesses promote content via social media regularly. Today, Instagram and Facebook ads have become a driving force for all sorts of advertising strategies.

Using Emotional Appeal 

According to HubSpot, ads that do the best job in encouraging consumers to buy their product or share their content can be summarized in one word: emotional. As Ad and PR professionals, we learn to appeal to these emotions, but we also create content that highlights the four main groups of human emotion:

• Happiness

• Sadness

• Anger

• Fear

Psychology Today recognizes that advertised content evokes positive feelings towards a brand. Moreover, this content can be more influential in captivating consumer loyalty than any other judgment – this content usually helps to promote the best qualities that each brand has to offer. Likewise, emotional appeal can also be a factor in why consumers choose brand-name products over their off-brand counterparts.

Emotion is Powerful, So Use It!

Emotional appeal has been able to show us that content which evokes specific emotional responses has proven vital in attracting a particular target audience to a product. Social media has helped shape advertisements and how they are portrayed to encourage emotional appeal while changing consumer behavior. Emotion is a powerful tool; thus, it can make or break the content that consumers view, and ultimately, how the brand is perceived.

Emotional appeal is a persuasion method used to create emotional feedback or response from the target audience. Emotional appeals are often used to manipulate an audience into making an emotional decision or giving an emotional response. Emotional appeal is more prevalent in advertising but can also be used in courtrooms, churches, schools etc. Emotional appeal is used to boost the effectiveness of an argument since it’s very persuasive and this makes it a popular choice among marketing firms. Emotional appeal can be used in marketing as outlined below.

Some of the advantages of emotional marketing are that it is memorable marketing, that is, it will not be erased from the mind quickly and it brings about positive associations with your product by attaching positive emotions to it. The major disadvantage is that if you get it wrong then it might look as though you are playing on the intellectual ability of your would-be audience.

Role of Emotional Appeal

1) Emotional appeal can be used to create a fully engaged customer

Emotional appeal during advertising leads to a fully engaged base of customers. Appealing emotionally to customers makes them start taking your company more seriously and as such would even want to relate on a more personal level thereby creating a deeply loyal customer base. Customers will stop considering your products as ‘‘the other product’’ and start considering them as ‘‘my product’’. A fully engaged customer, as opposed to a customer who sees your brand as an alternative, will help your company grow to greater heights in the industry.

2) Emotional appeal can be used to create a sense of belonging among the customers

Just like your products need to be unique to attract a large number of customers, your customers also have the need to feel unique in their own way. This can be tricky but can nonetheless be achieved by producing products and marketing techniques that are different from the norm in the industry but again it’s important to not be so different lest your products are alienated. Using familiar themes and hints implying that others are using your product in their own unique ways can be of great help creating the sense of belonging to customers.

3) Emotional appeal can be used to create a sense of security among customers

When appealing to the emotions of your customers during the marketing of your product you create a bond between your company and the customers. As such customers will not hesitate to buy your products because they know that you will always play your part even in the future and that you will be available to help with any problems that they may have. Customers need to be assured that the balance of things will continue. The best way to do this is by appealing to their emotions so that they can feel a sense of security.

4) Emotional appeal can be used to create a sense of well-being

Everyone has an idea of the person he/she wants to be, whatever the idea is, it is very important to them. Depending on the brand a company is dealing in and the target audience could range from parents to newly employed youths. It is inevitable that with time the person your market is will change considerably and so will the manner in which they use your products. It is therefore imperative and of utmost importance to plan for the future even as you strive to get a hold of the present. There is no better way to maintain your customer base throughout all the changes that by being emotionally appealing to them before, during and after the change.

5) Emotional appeal can be used to create fear appeal

This might probably be the best and most efficient way to advertise. It concentrates on emotional reactions from consumers to some perceived threat. A fear appeal is effective because it is quite persuasive and efficient at capturing the attention of an audience. The downside to fear appeal is that too much fear will scare away potential customers from your advertisements while the use of less than optimal fear will lead to no one noticing your advertisements or products. Just enough fear appeal will help you gain a lot more customers.

6) Emotional appeal can be used to create humor appeal

Even though a lot of people have negative reactions to advertisements they do have a positive attitude to humor. Watching a humorous advertisement is more likely to stick in the mind of the customer than an advertisement that is simply flat. A funny advertisement is twice more likely to be remembered as opposed to a flat advertisement because humor captures attention easily. However, it is important for marketers to be culturally sensitive as what might be funny in one culture might be considered offensive in another.

7) Emotional appeal can be used as a slice-of-life technique.

This is a technique where customers are made to see advertisements that demonstrate how their lives will change for the better, be safer or lead more comfortable lives once they use the brand being advertised. Apart from fun, this technique also uses adventure and excitement to appeal to the customers. This type of emotional appeal is especially useful and more prevalent during holiday seasons where companies showcase a variety of their products to try and market them as being particularly useful in improving their holiday experience.

8) Emotional appeal in marketing is the best type of advertising or marketing a company can do to reach many consumers.

Nevertheless, if not done correctly, you run the risk of sounding or looking insincere and offensive. It is therefore very important to choose the words and images to be used carefully bearing in mind that emotions can be extremely evocative and while trying to get a certain emotional response from the audience they might respond unpredictably leaving you feeling confused.

However, the reward far outweighs the risk and it is important to know that emotions are far more superior to rational thinking or voice of reason. Therefore to create a super loyal customer base, start showing them how your product is going to make them feel rather than telling them. It is a sure way of creating loyal and fully engaged customers.