helping healthcare organizations grow

Welcome to The Healthcare Marketing Connection! This week we're looking at some specific ways you can put more emotion into your advertising. The psychology of advertising tells us that people buy based on emotion, not logic. Logic tells us we don't need to spend $4.50 on a cup of coffee, our emotions tell us we do. Logic tells us we don't need a $50,000 car to drive the kids around town. Our emotions tell us we do. This week's feature article gives you some tips to help your copy appeal to your reader's emotions.

This week was a busy one…I finished up three major projects and the kids went back to school...needless to say I am tired now. We've moved my blog, The Healthcare Marketer from typepad to word press and changed the look and feel of the site. I will be posting to both blogs for two weeks and then discontinuing the type pad subscription, so if you have been subscribed to the blog for a while I'm going to ask you to re-subscribe to the new one. We can't transfer your subscription.

On a final note, my next business building class for copywriters is coming up in September. If you have questions you can drop Rachel an email at Rachel@KellyRobbinsLLC.com or take a peak at the class info at www.KellyRobbinsLLC.com/copywriting_class.html

To your success and a super profitable fall!

Kelly

Five ways to put emotion into your marketing

Putting "emotion" into your marketing is something that most marketers don't talk about. It's not always the easiest or most natural thing to do. The natural thing to do is for you to talk and sell to your prospects logically. We usually do this by talking about our features.

Your sales messages should talk to your prospects like you would talk to a friend. One way to do that is to use your prospects name often. But in an advertisement, newsletter, or other mass communication you may not be able to call your prospect by their name -- but there are other ways to "talk" to the reader in a more personal tone.

Here are a few different ways you can put emotion into your marketing messages:

1. Don't talk in corporate speak. Use terms like "you" and "your" rather than "the". For example, "your coffee" versus "the coffee".

2. Have a clear idea of who you are talking to. Picture one specific person you are talking to, not the variety of people that will be reading it. I tell my copywriting students to actually put a photo of this person on their monitor while they're typing so they remember to talk to that one person. The picture helps you stay focused.

3. Talk to your customers and prospects like you would a friend. Be conversational. One way to check your copy is to read it out loud. Does it sound like you talk or does it sound like you write? They are different. In school we are taught to "write" scholarly, not conversationally. Throw everything you learned out the window – write like you talk for your marketing pieces.

4. Let your personality shine through. It's ok to be different – people like you for it. People "see" you because of it. If you like to travel, have three crazy kids, or love bungee jumping – share that with your readers. Your personality will make you stand out from the other 3,000 advertisements your readers are exposed to each day. A great example of this is my new friend Michelle. Check out her web site at www.mlsalater.com. Can you tell what she loves to do in her spare time?

5. People buy based on emotion, not logic. While it is important you include logical reasons in your copy to justify a purchase that, those logical reasons should be a small part of the actual selling you do. Talk to prospects emotions by addressing the benefits your product provides. Talk emotionally about how it will help them.

(c) 2007, A Marketing Connection

Want to use this article in your e-zine or web site? No problem! Just let me know at info@KellyRobbinsLLC.com. I'll send you a short bio to include at the end of the article.

This week Kelly recommends www.copywritersboard.com/. This forum is a online community for copywriters to help others in the copywriting industry and get feedback from others as well. It is a fr ee place you can go for support. Check it out!

If you have any other great resources you'd like me to share with everyone, let me know and I'll check it out. kelly@KellyRobbinsLLC.com

Annual SHSMD conference in Washington DC - October 3rd - Kelly will be presenting a 3 hour workshop, entitled It's Lonely Out Here...How to Connect with Customers When You're on a Limited Budget.

To learn more about healthcare copywriting and marketing, visit my Web site at www.KellyRobbinsLLC.com/article_archives.shtml. There are tons of fr ee articles on a variety of helpful topics.