How to Ignite Feeling in Your Audience

Why You’re Not Seeing Conversions on Your Website:

Each person is a potential client or customer. How many ads or products do you encounter every day? Hundreds? Thousands?

According to the President of Marketing at Yankelovich, Jay Walker-Smith, a consumer has gone from encountering 500 ads a day back in the 1970’s to 5,000 a day or more depending on a person’s location and lifestyle.

5,000 ads a day!

But how many of us actually go out and buy 5,000 products or services a day?

None.

That is because with the countless products we encounter every week, we don’t think twice about them. Instead, we move on through life as though we had never encountered them in the first place.

Resonate with Your Audience

But for those few and far between products and services that we do purchase, at the end of the day, it is because it resonated with us.

Each of us.

Individually.

Photo by Carissa Rogers

You, for example, may not need a Chrysler mini-van. Perhaps it is because your children are all grown or because your family can all comfortably fit into a sedan. Perhaps you prefer the look of an SUV.

Either way, no matter what I do to try and convince you of the benefits of purchasing a Chrysler–the inclusion of a television to make it the ultimate family-friendly, road-tripping vehicle; how it’s so comfortable, you’ll never have to hear “are we there yet,” again–you will not connect with the message.

Instead, you must speak to the reader, for the reader. You must allow your message to get through to your audience, to resonate through his life.

Those with kids would love to drive to mom and dad’s without the fighting of their kids in the backseat as they’re entertained with the movie Frozen.

Learn Your Audience, Learn The Emotions

Every target audience is different.

Different age range, gender, salary range, interests, family, location, political views, habits…

And each of them will feel differently about different things.

But there is always a driving force in each person and thus, each audience.

Imagine your one ideal client. One person.

What does that person look like? What do they care about? What’s the one thing in their life they could never do without?

Now, are they worried that thing will be taken away? What are the threats of that happening? Picture those scenarios in your mind.

When you ignite feeling, you ignite action.

Does your product or service help to alleviate that fear? How so?

Use these questions to build an emotion-centered site that allows your target reader to understand his or her own problem and how your product or service is the perfect solution.

You’re not gimmicky or sells-y, but rather matching up of a pair that go great together.

Build a Relationship with Your Audience

McDonald’s is hurting.

Photo by Mike V

Honestly. I know we thought we would never see the day for this international giant. But it is.

Why?

Some may say it’s the food: horrible tasting with better competitors nearby. But the real reason–

they hurt the relationship they had with their audience.

Sure, the food is terrible for you. I mean, have you seen the video of what it does in stomach acid?

But that isn’t what hurt them.

After all, humans around the globe eat sweets all the time knowing that it isn’t going to lead them to a modeling career.

So, what was it?

What hurt them is this:

They lied.

They never once mentioned that what they were advertising as 100% white meat chicken was cartilage and waste in cute cutouts. They never said anything about mold never once growing on their products. Or what about the formaldehyde the meat was once tampered with? Nope, not a word.

Nothing until sales declined.

They lost their reputation. They lost the trust their customers had in them.

And sure, there will be those who forget the legacy a variety of establishments have left and continue to buy, but for many, their McDonald’s days are over.

This is why trust and reputation must always be on the top of your mind.

Be transparent with your audience, care about their wellbeing, and help them gain the knowledge they’re looking for not because you want their business, but because you want them to be happy.

Give away what you do best, and your audience will keep coming back for more.

Call to Actions

Whether it’s to go to another page on your website, signing up for an e-newsletter, or downloading an awesome guide to your business niche, audiences get lost as to what to do next on your website unless you tell them.

This is commonly referred to as a call-to-action.

For many, this may come in a pop-up ad (which works far better, it seems, with older people than it does for the Gen Y’ers), a sidebar, or a small banner somewhere on the page.

But before you begin throwing ads all over your page to buy something, consider this:

Do you like a bombardment of ads?

No one likes to spend a lot of time x’ing out of windows they didn’t ask for.

So, before asking your audience to do 3 things at once, consider who you’re talking to, what they could benefit best from–another blog post, a newsletter, a guide–and decide, again based on your audience, which method of CTA would be best.

And then implement one.

Only one.

Keep that trust building. You’re not “selling,” you’re educating.

When they’re ready to buy, they will. And they’ll be far more satisfied then.

Light Their Fire

Once your audience has been around a while, listening to what you have to say, and setting into practice your advice, they’re going to realize something–

That product, that service–it worked. It helped solve my problem. It was the solution I’ve been looking for all these years! And it was right here all along.

They will begin telling their friends, family, loved ones, becoming advocates and referrals for you.

Photo by Marcel André Briefs

They will become more engaged, wanting to keep the path you had lead them to rolling. In turn, your audience will bring in others and this is when your readership begins.

And all because you started planting a few good, hearty seeds of information you knew that your audience needed.

It isn’t a short road by any means, but rather a long one of dedication and perseverance.

You must love your audience, love your target market, and believe that what you’re sharing is what they need (and want) to hear.

So, don’t get flustered if your blog isn’t doing what you want it to do yet. It takes time, sometimes years, to build up that reputation of credibility.

Don’t give up now. It could happen tomorrow or next week.

Time will pass anyway. Spend it investing in yourself and your business.

And if you are blogging for years and haven’t seen much results yet, make sure you’re not blogging your business into ruins.

Now It’s Your Turn

What are some techniques you use to fire up your audience? A good call-to-action is essential in getting an audience engaged. What has been your most successful CTA?

Let us know in the comments below!

And as always, thank you for reading!