Catfish and Connection
The Power of Emotion In Your Online Brand
I know you see this fish! If you’re a fan of catfish like I am - a fan like, if catfish is wrong, I don’t want to be right - then you know I absolutely enjoyed this meal!
This is a picture of an excellent brunch I had recently. As much as I love catfish (as well as salmon, snapper, swai… ok it’s safe to say I’m a fan of fish), I especially love catfish with collard greens, roasted potatoes & peppers. If you cannot appreciate this meal, could be that you’re not a fan of - or understand - southern cuisine.
Bless your heart.
If you do understand, you know that a meal like this goes beyond your taste buds. I bonded with this meal. It’s like this meal called my name - my entire name!
That’s what it feels like for your target audience, your ideal client. That is, when your brand and your (ideally) brand-driven content does what it’s supposed to do: resonate and ultimately make people feel something.
Here are three ways to infuse your content and brand with emotion and inspire action, aka make your people feel something. In fact, doing these things consistently can get your prospects invested even before they realize it.
1) Call them out. It can be by name, title, what they do, or even better who they are. Let them know you KNOW & UNDERSTAND who they are. Example - instead of just saying ‘working moms’ say “moms juggling a 9-5, often overstimulated kids, a mate, and being the strong friend”. Speak to their challenges and/or aspirations in a real way.
2) Use the term ‘you’ more than once. It is about personalization & psychology. ‘You’ is pretty direct. Yes, use her name as well as YOU. It gives I’m speaking to you directly - even if there are 100+ people listening.
3) Make ‘em laugh. If you have little-to-no sense of humor, either ask God for more or borrow someone else’s. Laughter is one of the best ways to connect with, disarm and charm people (I know... that was a bar 😉) If it doesn’t come naturally to you, start with not taking yourself too seriously. Typically, if you can laugh at yourself, you can get others to laugh. Trust me on this, I have personal experience.
To dive a bit deeper into this, while incorporating AI, and still centering the human experience, you should grab the 3C Blueprint: Captivate, Connect, Convert. If you’re a marketer, brand builder, coach, consultant or founder, who understands the need to get people to pay attention before you get them to pay, you’ll be glad to have this Blueprint in your digital toolkit.