Your prospects are emotional
by: Joe Swatek
Financial services marketers often focus so much on their financial institution and their product they forget to appeal to what the prospect, customer, or member really wants from the banking product or service.
Here’s a great example you should put in your idea file or pin on your bulletin board to remind you that the people you’re trying to convince care more about what your products and services do for them than they do about the product or service alone.
This ad has appeared in the local newspaper for a few months, both color and black and white versions. It’s hard to convince people they’re vulnerable to illnesses and diseases. That always happens to the other guy. You and I are invincible. If the ad talked about “caring for your heart health” or some similar angle, most of the target audience would skim over it and forget it. The ad would generate only a short attention span.
So this ad appeals to another part of the brain. Not the logical side that tells the reader he or she needs to follow healthy practices and get regular checkups. Instead, the ad appeals to the emotional part of the brain.
In effect, the ad says, if you want more fun, more nights out with friends and loved ones, you’d better take care of yourself and your heart. There’s a subliminal connection between dating and the heart.
The headline isn’t the type I’d usually recommend, but the purpose of a headline is to get people to read the copy. In this case, the headline works. It has emotional appeal. There’s also a curiosity factor.
If you can’t read the small reversed type on red background (a tactic I don’t recommend), it says:
“One of the great joys of life is celebrating special moments with someone you love. Saint Elizabeth Medical Center, St. Mary’s Community Hospital, and the Nebraska Heart Institution and Heart Hospital want to make sure you can celebrate for many years to come — that’s why we continually push the boundaries of heart care to bring you the latest procedures and technologies. Because pulling out all the stops isn’t just for romance.”
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