How to Build an Emotional Brand – 8 Foundations to More Human Brand Connections

Every smart and savvy marketing and business leader knows the power of branding. They also know that a brand is much deeper than a logo, pretty colors or a tagline.

The best marketers know that emotional branding is the secret sauce to igniting customers to loyal advocates, followers and fans!

Emotional branding helps connect you in the most human ways to your audience, customers and fans. It helps you build a foundation built on human feelings, emotions, understanding and desire that drives action that engages the customer or audience member even deeper with your brand.

Emotional branding is not just about finding a funny or sad photo, video or quote to tap into the emotions as a one night Facebook gone viral approach. Instead emotional branding is about igniting emotions at the core of everything you say and do. It's about understanding your audience, humanizing your brand, using language that connects you with your brand and the list goes on.

Most important, building an emotional brand requires doing these things consistently. Emotional branding requires knowledge of your audience, knowledge of your own brand and the value you offer in the most human way to your audience and customers. It must be more than words, more than broken promises. Your words must not only connect but your brand must deliver on those promises or the words will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes.

Wikipedia defines emotional branding as follows:

“Emotional branding is a term used within marketing communication that refers to the practice of building brands that appeal directly to a consumer's emotional state, needs and aspirations. Emotional branding is successful when it triggers an emotional response in the consumer, that is, a desire for the advertised brand (or product) that cannot fully be rationalized. Emotional brands have a significant impact when the consumer experiences a strong and lasting attachment to the brand comparable to a feeling of bonding, companionship or love.”  Source

Take a listen to the 207th episode of the Social Zoom Factor Podcast to learn how you can tap into the power of emotional branding to ignite your audience, business and brand! I share with you 8 foundations for integrating emotion into your branding strategies.

Be sure to subscribe to this entire brand new series, “Welcome to The Inspiration Age. Are You Ready?” on iTunes, Stitcher or SoundCloud!

• Foundations of emotional branding.
• Why you must know what excites, motivates, empowers and enlightens your audience.
• Why it's NOT all about you!
• How to strike an emotional chord with your audience.
• Learning how to surprise and delight your customers and audience every chance you get.
• Importance of being human in your communication, language and engagement with your community, customers and audience.
• Understanding the difference between authenticity and transparency.
• Storytelling with audio, visuals and text.
• How to plan your content and why you should not “wing it”.
• How to plan content yet save time for dynamic, real-time content marketing.
• Building something bigger than yourself and engaging your audience and customers in it as well.

Supporting Resources:

• Audience Analysis Worksheet (worksheet to help you prioritize your niche and social marketing strategy)
• Your Logo is Not Your Brand – Brand Strategy in a Nut Shell 
• Welcome to the Inspiration Age (episode 170)
• Welcome to the Participation Age
• You Are the Media!
• Social Brand Humanization: Authenticity vs Transparency
• 50 Ways to Inspire Your Audience (white paper)
• Brand Humanization in a Nutshell
• 20 Tips to Humanize Your Brand
• 10 Tips to Focus on Needs of Your Customer
• 8 Steps to Develop a Social Business Plan (white paper)

Free webinars: We are also launching a series of webinars and training opportunities to dig even deeper. Sign up here-> You are the Media – Building Your Media Foundation

How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast 

•  iTunes
• Stitcher
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