In this article, I looked at the concept of people’s feelings and how businesses use good and bad feelings to make profits in the marketplace.
The feeling is one of the core elements that we have inside of ourselves. As humans, every aspect of our lives is directed by our feelings. Whether it is in business, social, family matters, or what we decide to buy or where we want to go, everything is based on the feelings we have in relation to our environment and the people around us.
Although it would seem that we use our logic to make a decision, the final decision is made by our feelings. We just use our logic to justify our decisions. This is a proven concept and it is used globally in the fields of marketing and selling.
Let’s look at the examples below:
– Look at her face, it is so beautiful. I wish my face was as beautiful as hers.
– Look at him. He has a well-built body. Look at his 6 pack, I wish that I could have a body like that.
– The Cancer Council is able to help many children who are suffering from cancer this year. I wish I could help to make a difference in their lives.
What is common in these examples?
Each one gives the person a different feeling. The two first examples create a bad feeling for the person by making them feel that they need something that they think they do not have. However, the last example creates a good feeling for the person and motivates him/her to take action by donating to the Cancer Council in his/her local area.
The examples above can be related to an advertisement on a social network, a TV commercial, a piece of news or advertising in a newspaper. Every single day, we are directly and indirectly bombarded by messages that try to encourage us to know about an issue and/or do something.
In the first example, the message is related to encouraging audiences to buy and use make-up for looking beautiful and lovable. This message focuses on making people feel bad or at least unsatisfied with the way they look.
In the second example, the message is related to influencing audiences who do not have a well-built body and making them feel bad about not having a body like that. This message still focuses on encouraging people to buy or use a product or service by making them feel bad about themselves.
However, in the third example, the message is related to encouraging and motivating audiences who want to make a difference in the world or their community.
Regardless of these examples, making people feel bad/upset/sorry so that they will buy or use business services or products can be regarded as an unethical approach which I do not want to talk about in this article, The fact is that this is a common tactic that is used all around the world and it makes tons of profit for businesses. These companies even use celebrities to show that famous and successful people use or have these products or services in their daily lifestyles, and if you want to be like them, you should take an action right now and…. (I am sure you know the rest of the story).
I remember that I read an article a couple of years ago related to motivating people to take action. In that article, studies showed that people above 30 will start taking action through experiencing drama, whereas people below 30 will take action by being motivated and excited.
The fact is that making people feel good or bad is an essential element to encourage them to think about your business, start buying or using your products or services and start talking about your brand. If you want to choose the “make them feel bad” strategy, then you should be careful as it can work as a double-edged sword.
Why?
Because it can either encourage people to take the actions that you want, OR they might feel bad about your brand, hate it and in the worst case, they will start sharing their negative feeling and opinions with others.
Let me give you an example. Imagine that you put your ads or even your business content (e.g. articles, posts, videos, podcasts, etc.) in front of people who do not have money and encourage them to buy expensive clothes or buy luxury houses. What will happen?
It is so important for your business to send your message and put your content (it does not matter if it’s commercial or free) in front of the right people (i.e. your ideal customers).
As I mentioned in one of my previous articles, the experiences that people have with your brand and business start from the time that they are a stranger to your company, so they do not know about you yet and have not bought or used your service or product.
