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NEWS AND INSIGHTS

HUMAN CONNECTION IN MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA

So much business is done digitally, from email to Zoom meetings, we are increasingly reliant on our technology to connect us. However, it is essential to remember that we are connecting to human beings when it comes to our marketing. We need to embrace our humanity to create that human connection. We need to act as though the person behind the screen is sitting right in front of you. Effective marketing focuses on appealing to the individual and not creating messaging just for the masses.

Connecting with your audience and knowing their desires and wants is essential for any business to be successful. As the technology age is growing, people often forget or do not realize that marketing and social media, when strategized properly, can rely heavily on the studies of psychology to understand to whom they are appealing.

Many of you might remember a lesson from high school English class on Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Let’s walk through the three modes of persuasion used to connect to an audience and then delve into how you can apply them to your marketing strategy to increase sales and overall ROI.

TIP! Getting to know your consumer takes knowledge and research. One of the best tips to create a better provider and customer relationship is through appealing to the customer’s senses and emotions.
01 ETHOS

Ethos is the appeal to someone’s ethics. You can leverage this effectively if you have the right credentials for your brand to do so. Does your brand use all-natural products? Is your business animal testing free? Vegan? GMO-free? Are you considered ethical, and why? Appeal to your audience’s ethics by talking about why your product is better for them, others, or the environment rather than your competitors. The other way to appeal to ethos is to offer a donation to charity for every purchase. Charitable donations boost your standing as ethical in the eyes of other human beings that value helping the community.

Creating credibility for your brand should be a priority, as well. You can apply ethos by being a reliable brand with stellar reviews and a positive reputation. Get creative with how you play on your clientele’s ethical sense using different vocabulary, facts and creating a conversation between your customers themselves, not just between you and the customer. With the proper wording, you can drive your customer straight into your waiting arms and away from your competitors.

02 PATHOS

Next comes pathos, very similarly applied to marketing as the ethos is, but this appeals to your customer’s emotions instead of ethics, which are separate in human beings’ minds. With pathos, you are less trying to boost your credibility as a brand but instead play on your consumer’s feelings towards your brand and products. Those feelings could be sympathy if you have an excellent ethos appeal, but for the ones who do not have the strongest appeal to ethos, there are other emotions to play on.

For example, let’s say you are a technology software company attempting to sell your consumer protective technology to prevent data hacks and breaches. You might use pathos to instill fear into your customer. This emotional trigger will then, in turn, motivate them to buy from your company out of the fear of potential hacks looming around the corner. Fear and wanting are great motivators.

Scarcity is another powerful emotional motivator. Highlighting an almost SOLD OUT product hits on customer’s FOMO, fear of missing out. FOMO is an incredibly effective driver, especially amongst the millennial generation. Everyone wants to be a part of what everyone else is doing, so utilize that when creating your marketing materials to appeal to that sense of desire and the feelings of being left out.

03 LOGOS

The last one to consider is logos. Logos is the appeal to logic or reason. Logos is the ideal tactic to utilize when you are appealing to the logical thinker. Have your audience asking themselves:
do I need this? Is this practical? Is this a good deal? If they ask all those questions and the answer is yes, you appeal to their logos. Offer exclusive deals, explain to your customer why they NEED this product. How can it benefit them, do not leave any stone unturned when explaining the benefits of what you have to offer for your client in the present and the long run. These customers who respond to logos need the maximum amount of information you can provide them, so do not be afraid to overshare. Draw on history, statistics, or client reviews to convince your buyer because knowledge is vital for compelling logos marketing.

As marketers and business owners, we must not forget that we are selling to human beings, not phones or computers in a world full of technology. It is time to bring back the human touch of marketing and advertisement; Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are just one example of ways to ensure that our marketing materials will possess the human touch.

Psychology plays an invaluable role in the marketing world because it truly is just studying human behavior. Trend tracking is also a meaningful way to determine how well your consumers might react to the marketing materials you are putting out on the internet and via social media. There are so many different ways to track the results, so it is imperative that your brands try out multiple avenues of appealing to your customer before settling on one strategy. Test different ideas out and see which warrants the best results for you before pushing a full-scale marketing plan with the entirety of your budget.

Watching human behavior and tracking consumers’ trends can help you increase sales and stay on top of your brand’s next big move. Try out Ethos, Pathos, and Logos this quarter and see if you see any difference in your brand’s growth and ROI!

Human connection in marketing is huge! We’re here to answer your questions!
Power On Marketing