My wife and I were discussing some finance options the other day and as I explained to her the boring depths of investing and how we can get good returns by doing this and that, her eyes began to glaze over.

I realised I wasn't reaching her the way I planned to. At this point it became obvious I was making the same mistake that many people make when trying to market their products. I was getting too involved in the details, facts and figures. I was trying to appeal to her logic.

I changed tack; “so with these figures we can go on a holiday and even buy those shoes you were checking out the other day.” Immediately, her eyes lit up and she laughed, “see you should have started with that!” Now I got her attention!

With marketing you aren't trying to sell your product or service, you are drawing your customers in by creating interest or desire in what you have to sell. The words “interest” and “desire” are words that invoke emotion.

In my real life example I started out with trying to appeal to my wife's logic when I should have been appealing to her emotions.

By using emotion you reach the heart of the person. Brain scans show that when a customer views a product, its the emotional centres that light up, basing decisions on personal feelings and experiences rather than the facts and figures about a product. It's not about the “what” of a product, its about the “how does it relate to me”.

It's also been shown that an emotional reaction to an advertisement creates a need for the customer to take action much greater than the actual content, which is great news when you want a better response to your own “call to action”.

The single best way to add emotion to your marketing is to create a story or narrative around your product or service, or even the company itself. A story creates an emotional connection with the customer and provides the added benefit of locking it into their memory.

In creating your next marketing plan make sure you ask yourself the following questions; how do my ads make me feel? What emotions do they evoke? Are the emotions the ones I am looking for or want attached to my product or company?

And remember: tell it in a story.