The shift in control from marketers to prospects has created a strong need for content marketers to figure out what a prospect needs at every stage of the buyer's journey. One of the things that is central to your investigation of buyer personas is how your customers feel when they buy and use your products. It's imperative to use emotional language in your content — that is, language that evokes feelings.
You all know that your moods and emotions impact your buying habits. People joke about shopping — dubbed retail therapy — as a way to soothe themselves. That's proof that customers are influenced by their feelings. Both B2B customers and B2C customers are influenced by emotions even though business buyers would like to think otherwise. An awareness of emotions that affect your buyers can help you seek them out in your customers.
Here are some common emotions that influence buyers:
Fear: You want to know what concerns and fears your customer may have so that when you write your content, you can show how your product would impact that fear. Will it help alleviate it? That's a great motivator to buy.
Guilt: Customers don't always buy your product for positive reasons. Sometimes it will be bought to assuage someone or make up for the lack of something. Your content could highlight that emotion.
Concerns about status: Of course, this is a big motivator. If you are selling a luxury product, you want to make sure that you tap into the notion that the purchase of your product will elevate a buyer's status. Conversely, if you are aiming at a frugal buyer, you want to ensure that your content targets that mentality.
Desire to mitigate risk: Whenever someone makes a purchase, they worry about taking a bad risk. If the product cost is small, the concern is lower, but it's always there. If you can mitigate that risk in some way, such as by adding a money-back guarantee to your content, you can help your customer say yes.
Desire for instant gratification: If this motivation is present, your content should focus on it. Every marketer loves an impulse buyer.
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): This is a relatively new addition (or addiction). People who are plugged into their devices have a fear that if they are not paying attention to online activity 24/7, they are missing out on what's happening. They want to know about the latest products, trends, events, and gossip. They want to know what their friends are doing and how they themselves compare. To capitalize on this phenomenon, your marketing can provoke users to feel that they have to have your product or risk being left behind.