As a challenge to advertising that puts products before people, brands are abandoning the coercive, interruptive format in favor of content that appeals to the emotional motivators of their customers. Emotional motivators are described as the feelings that drive a customer’s behavior and hint at the greater emotional needs that all humans possess.
This article in Harvard Business Review; An Emotional Connection Matters More Than Customer Satisfaction, asserts:
‘Emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as highly satisfied customers'
Brands can gain advantage in appealing to desires that include the need to succeed, feel a sense of belonging or to stand out from the crowd. It’s a fast track to the shift in the customer’s mind that says, “this brand really gets me.”
Video storytelling is the most effective way to make these emotional appeals because it puts your brand in the context of human experience like no other medium. The reason for this is the ability to elicit empathy by inviting the viewer into the story. When viewers witness emotional desires being addressed on screen, they connect on a deeper level because the film becomes about them. The story becomes their story.
For instance, if the product is productivity software, the emotional motivator it solves is the desire for continual self improvement, helping the customer become who she’s always wanted to be. If the product is education, the desire is to enjoy a sense of personal freedom through career and finance. The following video, for Kwikset lock company, features a husband/wife design team whose emotional desire is to create beautiful interior spaces that "people will love to come home to."
For brands, the opportunity to invite your customer into your story through emotionally driven video content is a powerful way to increase customer value, maximize ROI and minimize risk. It has never been a better time to make emotional motivators the ‘North Star’ of branded content.
Would like to know more about how video storytelling can create love and affinity for your brand? Contact us hello@shinecreative.tv