To Make Higher Performing Ads, Know What Your Customers REALLY Want (With Sarah Levinger)
Aug 23, 2024
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In this engaging conversation, Sarah Levinger, a Consumer Behavior Strategist, reveals how understanding what customers truly want can elevate advertising performance. She discusses the power of emotional targeting, emphasizing the need for deeper consumer insights over surface-level tactics. Sarah also highlights the importance of data analysis and language tools in crafting compelling messages. With practical strategies for connecting with audiences, she showcases how effective branding can transform products into lifestyle statements, as exemplified by brands like Liquid Death.
Understanding that effective advertising focuses on the emotions driving consumer purchases is essential for crafting compelling marketing narratives.
Brands must tap into diverse emotional motivations to create messaging that resonates deeply with different consumer demographics and product categories.
Utilizing data analytics to uncover consumer emotional patterns allows marketers to refine strategies, ensuring messages align with evolving customer preferences.
Deep dives
Understanding Consumer Desires
Effective advertising hinges on addressing the deep-seated desires of customers rather than simply promoting a product's features. Brands often misinterpret what they sell; for instance, selling a watch is more about selling the emotion or experience associated with the watch, such as status or self-expression. A real understanding of consumer behavior reveals that purchases are largely driven by emotion, with logical justification serving as a post-purchase rationalization. By focusing on these emotional triggers, businesses can create compelling narratives that resonate with their audience, leading to more successful marketing strategies.
The Power of Emotion in Marketing
Consumers make decisions based on emotions, which are often not immediately apparent. Emotion acts as the underlying motivator, influencing purchases across various demographics and product categories. For example, a brand that offers watches crafted from whiskey barrels can appeal to both whiskey aficionados and gift buyers by tapping into sentiments of nostalgia and esteem. Engaging with diverse emotional motivations allows brands to create multifaceted messaging that connects with consumers on a deeper level.
Blended Emotional Messaging
Effective advertising requires message designers to identify and blend the various emotions consumers experience when making purchases. In the case of gifting, a message must appeal to both nurturance and esteem in order to resonate with buyers who want to convey love while also feeling a sense of social validation. The dynamics of such messaging ask marketers to create narratives that reflect these intertwined emotions rather than presenting them in isolation. This strategic combination can elevate a brand’s appeal and increase the likelihood of purchase among targeted consumers.
Data-Driven Emotional Insights
Utilizing data analytics can uncover significant insights into consumer emotions and preferences that drive purchasing behavior. Marketers can leverage AI tools to analyze customer feedback and identify emotional patterns in the data, allowing for more tailored messaging. For example, if data shows that consumers resonate with messages around self-care during specific seasons, brands can adjust their marketing strategies accordingly. By connecting with the emotional triggers demonstrated through data, brands can refine their marketing efforts for more impactful communication.
Brand Consistency and Emotional Identity
Creating a brand that consistently aligns with a defined emotional identity is crucial for long-term success. Brands that stray from their core emotional message risk losing consumer trust and market positioning. Notably, successful brands like Liquid Death capitalize on a unique emotional narrative that is maintained across all marketing channels. By focusing on one strong, consistent message that resonates universally, brands can foster loyalty and engage consumers effectively, turning them into advocates for the brand.
Sarah Levinger spends most of her time thinking about what people REALLY want.
Then she makes ads that talk about that.
Sarah is a Consumer Behavior Strategist, working with DTC brands to think more about what's really motivating their customers, then build their brand and advertising to communicate about those things effectively.
Learn that, she says, and your creative will reach whole new levels of performance.
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