Even Mr. Spock would agree. Ads that use a purely emotional appeal are more effective than those using a factual appeal or a mix emotion & factual appeal.

An effective emotion ad is, however, trickier to create.

Terrific article in the Neuromarketing Blog gives left-brainers the logic; right-brainers the validation.

http://xrl.us/be6pwf

The last couple days I’ve been stressing out over whether I should be teaching business owners stuff that I, myself, am still trying to master.

Feels more than a little like laying down tracks in front of an accelerating locomotive.

Along comes a well-timed article from marketing expert, Sean de Souza reminding me that none of us ever “know it all” but the desire to teach what we most want to learn is still a worthwhile goal.

Read Sean’s article at:

http://www.psychotactics.com/artimposter

Received this email today. 

White+Warren Election Day Ad

Now keep in mind initially all I saw was the subject line when I checked my email this morning.

For a bit of context, White+Warren is a design label for luxury cashmere. I like White+Warren’s products and have bought a couple sweaters from them. And I opted in to receive their promotions.

So this email message is, in effect, “preaching to the choir.”

At least I think it is.

What pissed me off about the ad and made me mutter “You’ve got to be kidding…” is the stretch White+Warren made to link buying their products to my duty as an American citizen.

There is no link. I don’t care how hard you try.

Sorry folks, my brain just rebels at this rather stupid, vapid ad that tells me I should reward myself with an expensive sweater for doing what I consider an important responsibility. 

To me, it undermines the importance of voting and turns it into one more excuse to engage in shallow, mindless consumption.

There are a lot of people out there who talk a lot about helping their clients find “their real voice,” or “market authentically.”

The intention behind the words is sincere. I’ve no doubt. But I still feel like barfing everytime I read the word “authentic” on some website’s homepage. I should add that I feel the same way about a lot of words that are overused.

One issue is that “authentic” is a word that has turned into a cliche due to overuse by coaches, therapists, motivational speaker types, and so on.

I think that there is a real need at the center. I certainly understand. It’s not as much as an issue for me now in comparison to the past. But from time to time I find myself saying things or doing things that I really don’t want to do. I do things out of a sense of obligation or I do things because I want the other people to like me or think highly of me.

We all want to feel like we’ll be loved by others no matter what. If “love” seems too touchy feely just substitute a word or phrase like “accepted,” “appreciated,” “valued,”  ”a valued employee,” whatever.

It’s possible, and I’m just thinking out loud here, that the people offering services to teach others how to “market authentically,” or “speak from an authentic place,” are, themselves struggling to be authentic. Which makes them then come across as “fakey.”

Or maybe it’s because the idea of teaching or coaching someone on being authentic just seems like a stupid idea. Do we have to be taught or coached to be ourselves? Or is there something else we need to help us feel safe enough to be ourselves?

I don’t have a specific answer to this question but I am curious what might be behind my annoyance.