Combining marketing with human psychology can bring many benefits for marketers. In particular, understanding emotional intelligence (EI) can improve how you engage with your audience, build trust and loyalty, and also improve conversions. By understanding audience emotions effectively, you can make your content not only more relatable but also more impactful, leading to deeper engagement.
What is Emotional Intelligence in Marketing?
Emotional intelligence (EI) in marketing refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions while also identifying and influencing the emotions of others, particularly consumers. In marketing, this understanding enhances the marketer’s ability to create personalized content and capitalize on those emotions to achieve results.
However, EI isn’t just about understanding what content will draw on certain emotional responses, you have to create your message to reflect this and connect deeply with your audience’s values, needs, and emotional states.
Factors of Emotional Intelligence in Marketing
Self-awareness
This is the marketer’s ability to understand their own emotions and how they affect their work. For marketers, self-awareness helps in assessing which of their emotional strengths can best be leveraged to connect with the audience. This will often stem down to the core values of the brand, brand voice, and audience feedback. While self-awareness focuses on one’s own emotions – in this context, it also considers the audience’s emotions toward the brand and how both can be aligned for successful marketing campaigns.
Self-regulation
As defined by Korniienko, I., Aleksandrovich, M., & Barchi, B. (2023):
“Self-regulation is the ability to manage emotions without giving in to impulses. It involves the conscious regulation of emotions to ensure effective functioning in various aspects of life. This component of emotional intelligence is crucial for maintaining emotional balance while pursuing personal goals, and it plays a significant role in personal and professional environments.”
Marketers who regulate their emotions can maintain control over their emotional impulses and reactions, preventing them from clouding strategic decisions or creative outputs. In marketing, this means staying calm under pressure and being thoughtful about responses to customer feedback, market changes, or social media interactions.
Motivation
Intrinsic motivation in marketers drives them to go beyond basic performance and strive for innovative and engaging marketing campaigns that stand out. However, it’s not about achieving goals by any means necessary, campaigns that are driven by motivation and emotional intelligence consider the audience’s needs and help to build trusting relationships.
Empathy
Perhaps the most crucial EI component for marketers, empathy involves understanding and sharing the feelings of others. Using empathy in marketing involves stepping into customers’ shoes, understanding pain points and triggers, learning the audience’s emotions, and tweaking your campaigns to align with those findings. This could mean framing content that speaks directly to a customer’s struggles, aspirations, or values.
Social Skills
These are the skills needed to manage relationships and build networks effectively. For marketers, strong social skills mean better collaborations within teams, more effective management of customer/audience interactions, and the ability to build and maintain strong relationships.
A brand should establish a personality and remain consistent with that personality with its marketing efforts. Even more important now AI is flooding content and even interactions with audiences. According to a report from Braze and Forrester, 57% of consumers indicated that human-like communication would increase their brand loyalty, and 58% said it would make them more likely to spend money with a brand.
Why Emotional Intelligence is Important in Marketing
In the current state of marketing and business, AI and automation are dominating. The technology is not only being implemented for repetitive background tasks, but also for interactions with audiences (chatbots, content, video, and audio). This can lead to more distant connections with audiences – ultimately causing harm to brand-customer relationships. Hence the need for stronger emotional connections.
Although consumer psychology is not a new concept in marketing, emotional intelligence can take this a step further and enhance customer experiences while building brand loyalty at the same time. One of the ways this can be achieved is through hyper-personalization, making the customer feel valued and appealing directly to them on an emotional level.
According to Psychology Today, emotions are a key factor in driving consumer purchase decisions, as they often outweigh logical evaluations in influencing buyer behavior. Research suggests that emotional connections can significantly affect consumer loyalty more than other factors like trust or brand attributes. Specifically, positive emotions toward a brand are more impactful on consumer loyalty than the brand’s functional attributes.
Without going too in-depth into every area of marketing, If I take the 5 stages of the consumer decision-making process – which are the stages consumers go through before making a purchase – emotions and emotional intelligence can have a significant impact: For example:
- Need recognition: Emotional responses can trigger the realization of a need or desire, influenced by feelings of dissatisfaction or aspiration.
- Information search: Emotions guide the focus and extent of the search, with positive or negative feelings influencing the perceived relevance of information.
- Evaluation of alternatives: Heavily affected by emotions, as consumers often rely on emotional responses to different options to make a choice, where emotional intelligence helps in assessing how these choices align with personal values and emotional needs.
- Purchase decision: Can be swayed by immediate emotional states; a consumer in a positive mood is more likely to make a purchase.
- Post-purchase behavior: Emotions determine the level of satisfaction or regret, impacting future loyalty and decision-making.
Understanding and Connecting with the Audience
Emotional intelligence allows marketers to identify the underlying feelings and emotional states of their audience. This understanding is vital as emotions significantly influence consumer behavior. According to research published by the University of Glasgow, emotions shape the entirety of a consumer’s decision-making process, not just the final buying decision. By engaging with their audience on an emotional level, marketers can craft campaigns that are not only seen but felt, enhancing the connection between the consumer and the brand.
For instance, Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign (covered further down) leveraged emotional intelligence by tapping into real women’s self-image concerns and aspirations, leading to widespread acclaim and a strong emotional bond with their audience. This campaign not only increased sales but also boosted Dove’s brand image as supportive and relatable.
Enhancing Communication and Marketing Strategies
When brands understand and use EI, their strategies become more empathetic and effective. Emotional intelligence helps marketers choose the right tone, timing, and channel for their messages, making their communications more likely to be well-received.
For example, Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign which personalized bottles with common names, tapped into feelings of happiness and sharing, driving significant consumer engagement and increased sales across various markets.
Additionally, research by the Tempkin Group found that when companies apply emotional intelligence to their marketing strategies, customers are 8.4 times more likely to trust the company, 7.1 times more likely to buy more from them, and 6.6 times more likely to forgive a company’s mistake.
Incorporating EI into marketing strategies allows for more subtle and persuasive messaging that can lead to better customer retention and acquisition rates. For instance, a study by the Journal of Consumer Research indicated that advertisements focusing on emotional content performed better in terms of consumer recall and intent to purchase compared to those that simply highlighted product features.
Successful Uses of Emotional Intelligence in Marketing
Here are some examples where emotional intelligence has been used effectively by brands:
Always – #LikeAGirl Campaign
Overview: Always aimed to redefine the phrase “like a girl” into a positive affirmation that showcases strength and confidence.
Impact on Marketing: The campaign resonated globally, significantly boosting Always’ brand perception by aligning with gender equality and empowerment. It successfully used emotional intelligence to connect with young women and redefine cultural stereotypes, resulting in increased brand loyalty.
Find out more about the campaign: Always #LikeAGirl
Apple – “Shot on iPhone”
Overview: Apple showcased user-generated content to highlight the quality of the iPhone camera.
Impact on Marketing: This campaign effectively tapped into users’ pride and creativity, enhancing consumer engagement and promoting community building around the brand. It demonstrated Apple’s commitment to user experience and showcased the practical and emotional capabilities of their technology.
Find out more about the campaign: Apple Shot on iPhone
Dove – “Real Beauty”
Overview: Dove featured real women with diverse body types and backgrounds to challenge traditional beauty standards.
Impact on Marketing: By promoting body positivity and challenging beauty stereotypes, Dove established a strong emotional connection, enhancing brand trust and loyalty. The campaign’s authentic approach made it highly effective in resonating with a broad audience. This campaign has been going on for 20+ years and still emphasizes the strong emotional message:
Find out more about the campaign: Dove Real Beauty
Unsuccessful Uses of Emotional Intelligence in Marketing
Just because brands understand and implement emotional intelligence within campaigns – it doesn’t mean it’s done correctly. Take a look at these examples where emotional intelligence has been used in the wrong way:
McDonald’s – “Dead Dad” Ad
Overview: An advert (commercial) in the UK featured a boy bonding with his mother over memories of his deceased father, connected through a McDonald’s sandwich.
Impact on Marketing: This campaign was criticized for exploiting a child’s grief to sell products, showing a significant lack of emotional sensitivity and understanding, which damaged McDonald’s brand reputation in the public eye.
Pepsi – Kendall Jenner Ad
Overview: The ad depicted Kendall Jenner joining a protest and handing a Pepsi to a police officer, which was seen as resolving the tension.
Impact on Marketing: Criticized for trivializing important social movements, the ad was perceived as tone-deaf. This misuse of emotional intelligence resulted in a negative backlash against Pepsi, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding and respect for the emotional landscape of their audience – this ad was pulled.
Nivea – “White is Purity” Ad
Overview: Nivea released an ad with the slogan “White is Purity” to promote a deodorant.
Impact on Marketing: The ad was quickly pulled after significant backlash for its racial insensitivity, showing a profound misunderstanding of cultural and social contexts. This failure demonstrated the importance of cultural competence in global marketing strategies.
Benefits of Using Emotional Intelligence in Content Marketing
Enhanced Audience Messaging
Emotional intelligence (EI) enables marketers to create content that relates on a deeper emotional level with the audience. By understanding the emotional dynamics of their target market, marketers can create messages that are more aligned with the audience’s values, concerns, and aspirations. This helps content become more memorable and impactful.
Increased Engagement and Interaction
Content combined with emotional intelligence is more likely to engage users and encourage interaction. When consumers see their feelings and experiences reflected in marketing messages, they are more inclined to engage with the content through likes, shares, and comments. This increased engagement boosts the visibility of the content across platforms, enhancing the overall reach and effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Improved Customer Loyalty
By consistently addressing and relating to the emotional needs of audiences, brands can build stronger relationships with customers. Emotional intelligence in content marketing helps create a level of trust and loyalty as customers feel understood and valued by the brand. This emotional bond can nudge casual consumers into loyal brand advocates who are more likely to repeat purchases and recommend the brand to others.
Better Brand Differentiation
Brands that effectively utilize emotional intelligence can distinguish themselves from competitors. Emotional resonance can be a unique selling proposition, differentiating a brand in the minds of consumers not just for what it sells, but for how it connects emotionally. This differentiation is key for brands aiming to establish a strong and lasting market presence.
Increased Conversion Rates
Emotionally intelligent content has the power to move consumers along the buyer’s journey more effectively. By tapping into the right emotions at the right time, marketers can subtly guide consumers from awareness to consideration and decision stages. Emotional triggers embedded in content can motivate consumers to take action, such as subscribing to a service, making a purchase, or reaching out for more information, resulting in a boost in conversion rates.
How to Use Emotional Intelligence in Content Marketing
Incorporating emotional intelligence into content marketing can involve several approaches that improve the connection with the audience through empathy, understanding, and genuine interaction. Here are my recommendations for incorporating EI into content creation and distribution:
Audience Sentiment Analysis
Use tools that analyze audience sentiment, such as social listening tools, customer feedback platforms, and AI-driven analytics. These tools help understand the emotions, concerns, and attitudes of audiences in relation to different topics. These insights can inform content to better match the emotional state and needs of the audience.
Emotionally Driven Storytelling
Create stories that resonate emotionally with your audience. Use narratives to tell relatable stories about your brand, customers, or products that focus on specific emotions such as joy, trust, or inspiration. Stories are more memorable and can create stronger emotional bonds between the brand and the consumer.
Empathetic Content Customization
Customize content based on the emotional insights gathered from your audience. This might involve adjusting the tone, style, and delivery of content to align with the emotional states and preferences identified through data analysis. For instance, creating positive content during challenging times or supportive, informative content in response to customer struggles.
Engaging and Interactive Content
Develop content that needs interaction, such as quizzes, polls, or interactive videos, which can emotionally engage the audience. This type of content not only increases engagement rates but also strengthens emotional connections by involving the audience directly in the narrative or activity.
Feedback Incorporation
Regularly gather and act on feedback to improve and adapt your content strategies. Show that you value customer input by making visible changes based on their suggestions, which can enhance trust and loyalty.
Use of Emotionally Conducive Visuals and Media
Integrate visuals, music, and media that encourage the desired emotional response. The choice of colors, images, and sounds can significantly affect how content is viewed and the emotions it evokes.
Personalization at Scale
Use data-driven insights to personalize content at scale. Addressing your audience segments with personalized messages that cater to their emotional needs and preferences can improve the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Conclusion
By incorporating emotional intelligence into marketing, brands can create more meaningful connections with their audience, differentiate from the competition, and ultimately drive better business outcomes. It’s important to remember that emotional intelligence is not a quick win for getting sales and driving revenue, it’s sensitive psychology – that if used responsibly, can contribute to building a successful, trusted, and well-respected brand – which results in increased conversions.
