Emotional appeals in marketing have historically been associated with consumer-oriented sales. It’s easy to see why the emotional approach makes sense for selling luxury cars or perfumes, but emotion also plays a part in B2B marketing, albeit not in quite the same way. Psychologists talk about emotional intelligence, or EQ, as a kind of social IQ. People with a high EQ empathize well with others and show a deep understanding of their needs while maintaining their own priorities. Cultivating a higher EQ is useful in the professional sphere for everything from business meetings to collaborations to mentorship – and yes, it’s also a critical aspect of marketing interactions.
Your company’s EQ also factors into its email lead generation activities. Successful email marketing inspires leads to pay attention and take action. To motivate leads and encourage them to convert, you need to understand more about what drives their decisions not only logically, but emotionally. Here’s how to harness the power of emotion for your email lead gen.
Empathize with Your Audience
To truly connect with your audience, you first need to know who they are. Your audience isn’t an undifferentiated mass of leads but a collection of individuals, many of whom have certain traits in common that let you group them into segments. Marketing automation tools that observe behavioral data as well as collecting demographic and firmographic knowledge about your audience can help you define segments more precisely and meet them where they are. When you know more about their professional lives, what motivates them, and what problems they need solved, you’re better able to offer them solutions.
Follow the Golden Rule
One trait your entire audience almost certainly has in common is the value they place on their time. Time is at a premium for decision-makers in every industry and field, including yours. Treat their valuable time and attention with the same respect you give your own, and you’re well on the way to earning leads’ trust, which in turn translates into more conversions. Designing more streamlined newsletter subscription forms, personalizing content, and placing key information in subject lines are more than just sound email marketing practices; they’re a way of expressing your respect for your audience, one they’ll remember when it’s time to buy.
Become a Trusted Resource
Decision-making in the B2B sphere is complex. There are few impulse buys, and most purchasing decisions move through multiple layers of authority and approval. When your lead gen activities position you as an ally in that process, you’re in far better shape to lend a hand. Your leads aren’t taking their buying journeys alone; they have you there with useful content and open lines of email communication to help them find their way. While you hope that eventually leads to a buying decision, it’s worth investing in building trust as an industry authority even if leads aren’t ready to buy. They can still provide valuable referrals or enter the market later, so your efforts here are rarely wasted.
Motivate Your Audience
Think about history’s greatest leaders, and chances are you’ll recall some of their most moving words. Inspiring action, not demanding or forcing it, is a sign of a genius EQ at work. Motivate your leads with customized content, personalized email marketing, and clear respect for their time, and you inspire them to action without the hard sell. Keep your call to action clean and direct while supporting it with relevant content. Make responses simple with easy access to quotes, product information, and order forms.
Emotional intelligence is universal. You don’t have to be selling the excitement of driving a new car or the pleasure of a new perfume to make an impact; you just need to know how to identify with your audience.
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