Create an Emotional Appeal for Community Health
By Katherine Warren Let’s do an exercise in mindfulness. Take a deep breath. Notice your breath and the way it feels as you exhale. Now, think about your community health organization’s message. What is it? Is it about mental health? Substance abuse? Whatever your cause, let your message sink in and then try your best to become a member of your audience. What is the impact of your message and how does it make you feel? Successful messaging revolves around appealing to the audience’s emotions, also known as an emotional appeal. In most cases, to really take in your message, the audience needs to see themselves reflected in your marketing materials. Think about who benefits from your message and then visualize who this person is. Put yourself in their shoes. For example, if you need to reach all of Nebraska, the likelihood of a farmer resonating with someone who lives in Omaha is pretty low. That’s a hyper specific example that only speaks to sliver ...