Heart & Sold

Win the hearts of consumers, and their minds will follow.

Marketing success starts with the heart. The supreme challenge is not merely to market a better product but to build into your marketing plan a message that speaks to consumers on a personal, emotional level.

You're not sure how strong the pull of emotion is? Then flash back to a memory you have of an important moment in your past. You're probably flashing back to an emotional moment. You might have laughed. You might have cried. But you remember that moment because it triggered an emotion.

The pull of emotion. The power of the heart. It's a power that we as marketers can harness.

Consumers won't admit it, and most often they don't even realize it, but the heart overrules the head in almost every purchase decision almost every time.

This article was originally published in the May 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Heart & Sold.