Why is Emotional Selling Pivotal to Brand Success?

Whenever I sit down with a new customer and prepare them for their ‘brand creation’ journey, the first thing I assess is whether or not they have ever considered how pivotal creative processes are to their organizational success and not just their marketing success.

I find that even the mention of “right-brained thinking” conjures up visions of couches and graying men with beards who ask about your childhood. While I have them with their jaws gaping I also ask them if they realize that every member of their team will need to embrace a collective, emotional idea in order to deliver on the brand promise.

Most often I meet with resistance. “Just design a great logo and collateral. Sales can handle the rest. We don’t need to worry about that side of our business.” Here’s why that answer spells disaster.

Our phobias toward intuitive strategies in a world where an emotional, impulsive and informed consumer rules, need to be dealt with. Understanding why people buy requires an aptitude geared toward the emotions that link marketing to the actual act of buying. It requires that company owners agree on and create a consistent language. Owners must instill a common vision so that each person feels personally connected to the emotional value the buying experience gives to the consumer. And to really succeed with brand marketing, you need to have the courage to be innovative and not follow the pack.

Don’t panic yet. Even if your company is more ‘engineer’ and than 'imagineer’, you can still create solid branding solutions. First, think simple. We tend to over complicate what should be a very natural relationship between buyer and seller by either using or creating strategies that separate us emotionally from our buyer. Strategies that cut off the very blood supply that will make sales happen.

What are those bad habits? Things like making our customers stand behind the counter, take a number, or telling them, “We can’t open up that section because our waitress is overloaded”, “Returns not allowed after 7 days without a receipt”, “Park only in designated spaces”, and my personal favorite, “That’s just our policy”. Real grease for the wheel, eh? Oh, and by the way, will you please fill out this little card and tell us all about yourself? You know the answer to that one.

Are you beginning to see why learning how to sell with emotion can offer hope instead of hype? In short, people have to believe that you will meet their expectations. If you’re doing it right you’ll be more aware of your customer’s needs and remove barriers to your success. In fact, when these things begin to happen in sync you’ll begin to save money on advertising, become more efficient when developing new product lines, and you may even discover you’re creating a trend instead of following one. Approaching marketing with this angle will also make it easier to attract and retain talent because everyone has an emotional stake in your success.

Now, don’t stop reading early, here’s when the real fun starts. When your customer becomes the vehicle in which the message you tell is carried to other potential customers, you have the ultimate brand success. She tells others about you, and she says it with a believability that you could never achieve even if you had Proctor and Gamble’s marketing budget. Right brains are on the right track after all.

(c) 2008 Brand Creation by Camine Pappas


Camine Pappas
C and Company, Marketing Strategy and Branding Experts
Charlotte, NC

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