1 of 6 | Six Key Factors for a Successful Launch

The truth is, the reason someone buys your product or service is usually not why you (logically) think they would. That’s because human beings are emotional creatures—and they buy that way—even in B2B. It’s important to really, truly understand your audience. Get beyond logic to motivations, aspirations, emotional needs, beliefs and behaviors. From product concept through launch, it can make all the difference.

Further Thoughts:

It’s a three-brainer. In his book Emotionomics: Leveraging Emotions for Business Success, Dan Hill explains how human beings actually have three brains: the sensory, the emotional and the rational. In terms of evolution, the sensory brain is the oldest, followed by the emotional brain. The rational brain is a more recent development. According to Hill, the emotional brain sends ten times the information to the rational brain than the rational brain sends to the emotional brain—a “trade imbalance” that results in the emotions having 10 times more influence in decision-making. It’s no wonder, then, that people feel before they think and that 95% of all decisions are made intuitively—with the gut—and then justified rationally.

Emotion = Motivation = Action. According to Jack Trout and Al Ries, “The value of a position is that it gives people a reason to buy: in a word, it is motivating. It provides instant recognition of the brand and instantly communicates the benefits of the brand. The best positions are those that have a powerful right brain component—establishing a link between the brand and emotional need.”

Ten emotional needs. Neuroscientists have gained tremendous understanding of how the human mind works over the past decade with specific illumination on how decisions are made. The breakthrough discovery is that emotions are the key to what motivates people. So, what the heck are emotional needs? Behaviorists have identified ten of them, expressed as feelings:

1. A sense of status within a social grouping
2. Meaning and purpose
3. Part of a wider community
4. Friendship and intimacy
5. Privacy
6. Attention (to give and receive it)
7. Security
8. Competence and achievement
9. Emotionally connected to others
10. Sense of autonomy and control