James Doan - Just Minding My Own Business

You might have heard marketing experts recommending that you ramp up the emotionality of your headlines and blog posts. This can include casting overheated blame on villains, for example, or indulging in an angry, get-it-all-off-your-chest rant. It's true that emotional content is more likely shared. But does that mean it would benefit your business?   After all, a rant is a tirade. Do you want your potential customers to view you as someone who runs your mouth, gripes and accuses? It is preferable to present yourself as eloquent, empathetic, or controversial yet reasonable.

Too often, businesses will write their home pages as if readers arrive there with endless amounts of attention, good will and time. In fact, readers show up with two paramount questions in mind: “What’s this about?” and “Is this relevant to me?” Hence, enigmatic headlines and storytelling that only slowly gets to the point drive people away instead of enticing them. Give your ideal customers multiple quick signals that they should stick around and explore, including:

“I've stopped reading business blogs that don't align 100% with my beliefs and values.  We all succeed more quickly by learning from like-minded folks, catering to them and ignoring everyone else.” The person who wrote the blog comment above seemed proud of having limited the scope of his world. That's a sad and self-defeating way to live. It also sets up your business for disaster. You should never shelter yourself from different points of view. This will make you less capable of understanding clients whose backgrounds differ from yours. You will become blind to pains, needs, concerns, and pleasures that you don't share.  You will constrict opportunities for curiosity and innovation. Not only that, but you will become less flexible when things don't go your way.

What’s the value of capturing excitement in customer testimonials? Often this is an ineffective exercise. The people interviewed rarely say why the event was remarkable, only that that’s how they felt. Many people hold a misconception about how emotion persuades. For the most part, it’s not contagious on its own. You can’t count on delight to spread from someone to others. Enthusiasm is not like a forest fire that jumps the gap from one dry treetop to another. To persuade, excitement has to be informative as well as emotional. Suppose I tell you in a voice overflowing with admiration that my favourite restaurant is fabulous. How can you know whether you’d love it too?