The Importance of Emotionally Connecting With Your Readers

You may remember in 2004 when Oprah gave away a car to every member of her audience.

Obviously, if you're a marketer, you're aware that this was basically one of the many marketing strategies  and PR stunts you see in the news, TV, and media.

It was a brilliant, very well-publicized stunt of product placement by a car company.

Now let me ask you a question:

What model of car was given away?

It was a Pontiac G6, and Pontiac donated $7 million worth of cars as a marketing stunt… yet all people could talk about was Oprah’s generosity, and many people think it was actually her who gave away the cars.

From a marketing PR standpoint; get your car mentioned on the most popular talk show in America, and get your product endorsed by one of the most influential women in the world.

But here’s the problem:

There Was No Message Communicated

Pontiac got their name mentioned, but they neglected to mention WHY they were doing what they were doing, so the customers, and as a result, all the media and journalists, connected the stunt with Oprah being generous… and Pontiac’s marketing stunt didn’t even communicate anything about their cars, the value of their cars, or why their cars would be a good value… so customers had nothing to remember about their product, or anything that made the product stand out in any way, even though it was publicized on national television on the most popular talk show in the entire country, and picked up by thousands of media, news outlets, and journalists.

Many of us are always trying to keep ourselves updated on the latest marketing techniques, tactics, and trying to figure out what headlines work best, how to ask to buy, the upsell, etc., and for the most part we see some success with these techniques… but sometimes it is our biggest downfall, because there’s one key factor we forget to think about:

Sometimes in thinking so hard about the “technique” side of things, we forget just “let go” of all the marketing formulas, techniques, and tactics, and just focus on what our goal itself is.

If they did, they would have thought and realized that customers don’t care about a car just because it’s mentioned; they want to know how it is going to benefit them in their lives, what it can offer that other cars can’t.

You Need To Have A Purpose

If Pontiac had said, “we aspire to create the most efficient, longest lasting, most affordable and worthwhile cars in the entire industry, and that is our focus in every car we build”, wouldn’t that have said a lot more than just giving away a $7 million worth of cars just because it gets your name on television?

But as I said a moment ago, if there’s no message being communicated, people aren’t going to remember anything about you… when you communicate to your audience, you need to be extremely clear about what YOU want them to know about you, because there’s a lot of noise around, and people aren’t going to listen or pay attention unless you’ve got something to say that’s important to them, and that can improve or benefit their lives in some way.

In this situation, the only message being communicated, the only message communicated, and the only message reporters and audiences remembered is that Oprah is generous… so that got publicized, while the car itself got completely ignored, because it didn’t have a message or communication attached to it.

Your Dealing With Other Humans

Sometimes, when we hear that marketing is a science, we make the mistake of treating customers like computers, and thinking that if you put in action A that automatically means you’ll get result B… but you also need to remember that you’re dealing with real humans.

Thinking like a marketer, while incredibly effective, can also be your biggest mistake if you don’t actually consider that you’re dealing with another human being, and you don’t figure out exactly what message you want them to about you and your company, and how it can benefit them, that people aren’t going to care or listen to what you have to say.

People look for PURPOSE and MEANING in things, 'and you want to make sure you’re communicating your purpose and meaning to people, they can connect with you and relate to you on an emotional, personal level, even if you’re the biggest business on the planet.

But if you don’t communicate a message to people, there’s nothing for them to listen to, care about, or connect with… so make sure you don’t just throw marketing AT your customers… make sure you actually are connecting WITH your customers on a one-on-one, personal level, and you’ll be amazed at the change that will take place in your success.