Advertising Appeals: How To Use Emotional And Rational Appeals

You can improve your advertising by emphasizing emotional advertising appeals and supporting them with rational ones.

Although people buy more for emotional reasons than for rational ones, the best advertising provides both.

Emotional advertising appeals tap into basic human needs like the need for safety, for social interaction, for love, and beauty. But for all except low-priced products, rational advertising appeals have to justify the purchase decision.

For instance, a small toy car requires only an emotional decision. The child wants the car, and the parent wants the child to be happy. So a $5 car doesn't get much rational thought.

But when parents buy a family car, most will gather information before making a purchase. They'll askfor friends' recommendations, read consumer reports and sales literature, and read reviews online. Rationality needs to support emotional decisions. It's just too expensive and long term a decision to rely totally on emotion.

Once when I was in the market for a car, I emotionally wanted a Nissan Maxima. When I went car shopping, the salesman asked, "Don't you just love it?" I was offended and told him that I wasn't going to buy just because I liked the car. And I did not buy then.

I did my research and shopped around until I convinced myself rationally that the Nissan Maxima was the best car for my needs, and I knew what price I should pay for it. Then I bought from another salesman.

Although I emotionally wanted a Nissan Maxima, I had to prove to myself that it would meet my needs, provide me with good service, provide good value, and retain its value well. To have purchased on emotion without this rational justification would have seemed irresponsible to me.

If you sell a product that is not vital or that your customers consider expensive, you have to advertise the emotion, but provide reason to justify their emotional decisions.

You can do this though detailed sales literature or by sending your customer to a Web site with this detail. You can also provide testimonials or references to help your customers justify their emotional need to purchase your product.

But don't fill your advertising with rational reasons to buy. That will leave your customers cold. Instead advertise to your customers' emotional needs and support their desire with reason.

Emotional advertising appeals more effectively create a desire for your product. But you need to provide access for information to provide needed rational advertising appeals.

Linda P. Morton, Ed.D, APR is Professor Emeritus, The University of Oklahoma. She writes on marketing and other topics of interest to Small Business Owners on her blog at market segmentation.

http://goarticles.com/article/Advertising-Appeals-How-To-Use-Emotional-And-Rational-Appeals/1113181/