“Most of the human experience is felt through our darker emotions”
This is what my coach, Brent, said to me a few weeks ago.
He was explaining to me that what we feel on a daily basis isn’t all roses and sunshine.
It’s usually things like pain…
Anger…
Fear…
Shame…
And some guilt as well.
Which is kind of a hard pill to swallow.
Cause it seems so bleak.
But I think he’s right.
Most people spend more time experiencing the darker emotions than they do the lighter ones.
And being the copywriter that I am…
I immediately thought about how this applied to marketing.
Because most of the best copy out there, digs into these darker feelings.
And it makes people uncomfortable.
For example…
If you’re selling a “male performance” product, one of the main things you would want to target is a man’s shame.
So maybe you talk about him feeling like he’s “half of a man” cause he can’t please his wife…
Or maybe you paint the picture of his wife thinking of her boss (the one you always see flirting with her at the company happy hours)…
Or you dig into him not being a “real man” like his buddies are…
Think that would make a guy squirm?
Yup.
It cuts to the core of who he is.
Which is the power of tapping into dark emotions.
If our day-to-day life is felt through these darker emotions, it makes all the sense in the world to dig into ’em.
And agitate ’em.
Cause here’s the truth…
Everything I just talked about, the guy has felt already.
It’s crossed his mind.
It might even keep him up at night.
So all you’re doing is twisting the knife into that.
And making him feel it again.
Which you have to do if you want to sell him a solution to his problems at the end of the copy.
Cause you can’t just talk about how great things are going to be…
You can’t just harp on the new dream life he’s gonna have if he buys your thing (although that has to be a part of it).
First you have to agitate all the dark feelings he’s feeling right now.
The ones he doesn’t want to admit…
The ones that he just stuffs down and tries to ignore.
That’s what gets him emotional.
And that’s what gets him to buy.
Point being…
Don’t be afraid to tap into the darker emotions that people are feeling.
Cause this is what connects with people…
And pushes them to buy.
Keep that in mind…
– Justin
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