Create An Emotional Compelling Reason to Buy
I have had a fun experiment over the past few years and it has proven to be a great trip. As you’ll find out, it’s kinda cheesy in more ways than one, but the lesson I learned was very clear and applies to pretty much anything we’re selling. Emotions sell!
That’s it! Emotions sell. Maybe it’s warm, fuzzy emotions, maybe it’s fear, or maybe it’s something else. Whatever it is, meaning has to be attached to the buyer. In the case I’m about to explain, it has most definitely been warm fuzzies.
This is what happened. About 6 or 7 years ago, I had put together a tutorial for some friends on how to make Finnish Squeaky Cheese. Several had asked me how to make it, so instead of spending a whole day now and then to teach the different people I decided to just make a video. I sold that video to a few people and there it sat. A couple years later, I was talking about this, and a friend suggested I upload it to YouTube.
Their feedback told me they were emotionally connected!
If you look at it, you’ll see the video is by no means professional, and maybe even kind of unprofessional. But it doesn’t matter. It follows the marketing rule: Good is good enough. After maybe 2 years on YouTube, I had gotten a lot of feedback and thousands of viewers from countries around the world. This is something people are very passionate about because it is a connection to their roots and many childhood memories of mom or grandma. I know this for sure because I have received many, many emails to that effect. (I never would’ve dreamed to email to thank someone for a YouTube video until I started getting them myself.)
Then one weekend, I attended a Dave Ramsey-sponsored Christy Wright Business Boutique seminar in Phoenix, and one of the speakers talked of writing books about hobbies or topics that really excite the reader. Thanks to my marketing class and the Arizona Marketing Association, I had already written an Amazon Bestseller book, Track It To Crack It, a description of a process for tracking sales and marketing to increase revenues. This cheese book, however, was a light bulb moment! Up until this point, I had only been amused and pleased at the number of viewers on YouTube, but I didn’t really think of it as being more than that. I had been so focused on my other business that it hadn’t even dawned on me that something fun like this could really pay off, too.
Opportunities may be setting right in front of you!
By the time I realized that this may be an opportunity for selling, I already knew that people were interested in making this ethnic cheese because of the huge response to my video. Knowing this and being familiar with the book publishing process already, I knew I could get a book out quite quickly, and decided that by the following Friday, 6 days away, I’d have it published and on Amazon, as well as get published and printed copies to sell on my own.
Long story short, all of that happened. Since then many hundreds of Finnish Squeaky Cheese book have sold! And the thousands of views continue on YouTube. By now, people in 83 countries have watched it.
People will buy when they are emotionally compelled to buy.
This has been an interesting study in the power of the internet and Social Media, especially when the subject at hand is something that creates an emotional response. People will buy when they are emotionally compelled to buy what you’re offering, and they’re happy to share about their experiences with others.
How can you make what you’re selling in your business create an emotional response?
Emotions Sell!