To play the emotional tune is the necessity of today’s marketing
Gone are the days when producers were regarded as king of the market, who would decide the product features, the size the color the feel, etc. Those were the times when customers were willing to buy what ever was available because there were no alternatives available. This was time when producers used to smile – the producers era.
Slowly the scenario changed as many producer came into the market and competition began to increase intensively. This was consumer’s time to smile. Consumers began to have wider choice and the era of marketing had begun. Customers now became the kings of the market; This gave an opportunity to customers / consumers to compare products and offerings based on which they decided which was the better product to buy.
As a result the market was bombarded with number of products. Products were launched with variation and numerous features, eventually leading to a situation where the products from different producers were almost similar. This was the time when it was difficult to make differentiation in the product. Now the products were launched with lower price. For many manufacturers this was a differentiator and still is at least in countries which are yet growing economies.
Marketers realized that to survive in this competitive world there was a need to change the marketing strategies. This was the time when there was a need to find a differentiator that could help them stand out among various competitors. This brought “Emotions” into picture. Producers realized that there was a strong emotional connect between consumers / customers and the products they use. They understood if the consumers’ emotions are addressed in the right way they could get more loyal customers. This unlashed the new approach to marketing which was termed as “Emotional Marketing”.
Need of Emotional Marketing
The fundamental premise behind emotional marketing has now been followed by marketers from fairly long time now. It was understood by the marketers that understanding Psychology of a customer / consumer was really very important for getting that share of mind (and now share of heart). They now knew that understanding the customers philosophy helps them achieve there marketing goals. This philosophy can be understood easily for instance, consumers do not buy shampoo just to clean their hair, but to get a new look, a new feel, a new fragrance that could keep them fresh all day long. A Car is purchased not just for transport but also as a status symbol. Nonetheless, customers can not be considered as bundle of emotions at one extreme, or as objective and rational analytical machines at other.
However, adding an emotional appeal helps a company sell its product more; and marketers are increasingly restoring to this measure. Just think of the last product you brought home, what was the concealed force that ha compelled you to make the purchase; it was emotion was it not? You may believe it or not but some degree of emotion is always involved in any purchase you make. Trust me for many purchases it’s more of emotion that makes you buy the product rather that all possible logics. Emotion acts as a catalyst in the engine of the purchase decision process.
Customers most often attribute logic and reasoning to the purchase and try to prove that they have made a rational purchase and emotion has not played a role in the decision making process. But the ultimate driver is emotion, which has played a major role in the final purchase decision – believe it or not. Rational only generates interest in the product the ultimate driver is emotion. Customers are not much interested in the attributes of the product; they want to know that how that product is going to suit there personality. And yes, this is not the case with some customers. All customers behave in the same manner. Customers purchase their products emotionally and rationalize their choices intellectually.
Marketers therefore follow the concept of emotional marketing. They endeavor more emotions, as emotional marketing helps in getting share of wallet. If strategically developed emotional marketing can minimize the impact of rational factors, which may otherwise take away the customer to the competitors.
My personal belief is that the products offered by any brand do get buying decisions motivated by different senses like – Touch, Feel , See, and to some extent smell. Let me explain, if the product or brand is communicated with a great emotional touch, or feel I may but the product as the time when I decide to chose the product I may recall the advertisement and decide to by that’s product spontaneously. And trust me this works. I may find the fabric of a product so good, soft that I might decide not to look into other options available which rationally may be a better choice, and may be cost me less. Emotional connect can be see more in cases of Perfumes – you may like ‘212 Sexy’ so much that you might not even be in a position to chose a other brand. True? This is emotional connect on which marketers are now concentrating. Remember, costumers get attracted to products which effect there feelings. So the question is – how actually do customers make purchase decisions? How do they evaluate products? What are the various criteria on which they chose the product while making choices?
Hence, companies which want to stand above the competition have to take emotional marketing so as to increase market share. Effective development in emotional marketing can shift a marketing challenger or market follower to position to market leader.
Also Read: SWOT / TOWS Analysis | Porter’s Generic Strategies | Marketing Mix |
