Humans are emotional creatures. As much as we like to think we make decisions based on information and logic, feelings play a significant role in our day-to-day lives. A big part of what marketers do is evoke certain feelings.
Some brands aim to be daring or exciting, others safe and sensible. Emotional intelligence is understanding and managing your emotions, empathizing with others, and communicating effectively.
Let’s explore how we can use those EI skills to create compelling content.
What Is Emotional IQ?
Emotional IQ describes several key emotional skills, including the ability to understand and channel one’s own emotions, overcome challenges, de-escalate conflict, and empathize with others.
People with a high emotional IQ are effective communicators, which helps them build stronger relationships and influence others in the workplace and in their personal lives.
The Importance of Emotional IQ in Content Creation
Marketing is all about communication. To be an effective marketer, you must understand your target audience and be able to deliver your message to them in a way they appreciate.
People with high emotional intelligence are more likely to be able to run successful marketing campaigns because they can achieve three key goals:
- They can empathize with the wants and needs of their audience.
- They communicate in a way that’s honest and relatable.
- They can persuade their target audience that their product or service fulfills the customer’s needs.
Emotional intelligence can make the difference between a marketing campaign that falls flat with your intended audience and one that wins people over.
Assessing Your Emotional IQ
Unlike traditional IQ, quantifying emotional IQ can be difficult. Some self-tests are available online, but assessing your emotional awareness is always going to be a challenge.
Fortunately, you don’t need to take an exam to work on your emotional IQ. If you’re motivated and interested in self-improvement, you can improve your emotional intelligence. Try to practice self-reflection and think critically about how you handle stress. Study effective communication strategies and practice empathy when dealing with others.
Applying Emotional IQ in Content Creation
Emotion is a powerful marketing tool; learning how to harness high EQ can help you create content that people have an emotional reaction to and engage with instead of just scrolling past. Consider these tips during the editorial process:
Write Content that Resonates With Your Audience
Emotionally resonant content speaks to your audience on higher levels. To achieve this, you need to understand your audience and what they relate to. If you don’t have a good idea of who your audience is, now’s a good time to do some market research and create buyer personas so you can tailor your content to them.
Once you have those buyer personas in mind, you can write your content marketing plan. Each piece of content should fulfill a goal, such as informing or entertaining your target audience. Use long-form content to address common pain points for each buyer persona and make them feel understood.
Remember, the same product may serve more than one target audience, but each demographic needs to be targeted individually. For example, if you build computers, you might be able to sell the same machine to a gamer and a software developer, but you’d focus on different specifications and features in your marketing materials, depending on who you target.
Storytelling and Emotional Connection
Fiction authors are taught to “show, don’t tell” because this creative technique gives the reader a more vivid and ‘real’ experience. The same concept can be applied to marketing. Storytelling helps brands connect with their customers on higher levels.
Sharing your brand’s mission, vision, and values through stories makes them more concrete. For example, almost any brand can claim to be ethical or to care about the environment.
If you have a story about what inspired your founders or some recent work you’ve been doing, using that to explain your values gives them legitimacy and means your customers are more likely to remember them.
Practical Tips for Enhancing Emotional IQ in Your Content
One common issue business owners have when writing their own content is that it comes across as dry. They’re experts in their fields and write “for other experts” rather than for their customers. Try these tips to produce content that resonates with your customers:
Understanding Your Audience’s Emotions
Think about what your customers are looking for when they come to you. For example, if you’re a personal trainer, you might think you’re selling workouts, but is that really what your customer wants? Talk to your current customers, do some market research, and identify what your clients are getting from your services. That could be:
- Your clients feel nervous working out alone and want someone in the gym with them.
- They want to work with someone so they’re held accountable and are less likely to skip workouts.
- Having you cheer them on makes them push themselves while at the gym.
Once you understand what your customers value, you can tailor your marketing to those needs rather than focus on the “I sell workout programs” aspect of your business.
Words Have Power
Choosing the right language and tone makes all the difference to the success of your marketing campaigns. Compare the credit union or longstanding bank your parents or grandparents use with the more youthful challenger banks that have launched in the last couple of years.
The older institutions are formal and “safe” in their marketing, while those targeting younger users are casual and even make jokes in their marketing materials.
Find your brand’s voice and use it consistently so that your customers feel like they “know” who you are.
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Don’t forget the power of images and video. Establish a presence on social media and create content tailored to each platform. Images are a good way of evoking an emotional response and can make your content marketing strategy even more impactful.
Create Content That People Connect With
Whether you’re marketing to consumers or businesses, empathy and understanding are essential. Using your emotional IQ, you can understand your customer’s goals and needs and talk to them on their level. If your target audience feels seen and understood, they’ll be more likely to trust you with their time and money.
Learn more about how to implement emotional IQ strategies as part of your marketing. Contact us today to book a free consultation.
