10 Core Emotions So People Understand Your Message at the Gut Level

Last Friday, while I was brainstorming over a marketing message with some other writers, I shared with them a technique I use whenever I’m trying to understand the psyche/heart of a prospect/partner/client…and what will get them to respond positvely to my message.

I filter everything about the person through ten core emotions to see which emotion or combination of emotions will best help a person understand a message.

This is something I learned from the American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI), where I completed both their Accelerated Copywriting Program and Master’s Program.

Here, according to AWAI, is a list of the ten most powerful and common core buying emotions:

1. Curiosity. For some reason, we just can’t stand to turn aside from new, fascinating information. This is why the “news” industry is a multi-billion-dollar business.

2. Vanity. Most people have a strong, almost uncontrollable, desire to be better than everyone else in some way – physically, socially, mentally, spiritually, etc. And not just to be better, but to make sure everyone knows it.

3. Fear. Decades before I was concerned about things that really pose a threat to health and security, I worried about what was hiding in the pitch-black abyss under my bed. Fear makes us feel that danger is imminent, and we will do almost anything to avoid it.

4. Benevolence. The negative emotion of fear is countered by a drive for the positive emotion of happiness, even euphoria. And the quickest way to achieve that feeling is by doing good for someone else.

5. Insecurity. Are you good enough to be a top-notch wage earner? Parent? Lover? Are you good enough to live in the prestigious neighborhoods? I bet you’ve wondered. (We all have.)

6. Power. Think politicians, here. Corporate CEOs. Generals. Dictators. The Brain. Wave the fact the fact they’ll be the top dog, control large masses of people, conquer their enemies… and they’ll eat out of your hands.

7. Wealth and Abundance. This applies to everyone on the planet: the desire to have the jet set life, luxury and leisure…the boat, the house on the beach, the friends in Paris.

8. Security. Life insurance ads do this really well. Or Onstar. It’s rooted in fear, because when this hits a person in the gut, it is usually from fear that something bad will happen to them or their loved ones.

9. Belonging. This one is huge. In every single person God has planted a need to connect with other humans. That’s why the family is foundational to God’s plan. Show someone how they can be part of something important or exclusive gives them a good incentive to do what you ask.

10. Guilt. Not to many appeals come straight out and condemn you. What happens usually in a guilt appeal is you are allowed to connect the dots. And when you do this, there’s that quite ache in your soul that says, “If I turn my back, Fluffy the ferret is going to die!”

You’ve probably recognized that a lot of these emotions overlap. Some are stronger than others. The point is to understand your prospect so well, that you know which emotion—or combination of emotions—will appeal to him or her.

And by understanding these and other core buying emotions, you command the power to help other people understand your message at a “gut” level.

They won’t just read or listen to it—they’ll feel it.