Speak to the heart and then the head

If you are writing with the purpose of motivating your reader to take some sort of action, you need to aim your message two different ways. First the heart, then the head.

Aiming for the heart

Figuratively, the heart is understood to be the seat of our emotions.  This is why you associate love with the heart.

So when I use the phrase, ”Aim for the Heart”, I mean speak to the reader’s emotions. It’s interesting that most, if not all of our choices and decisions are first created emotionally.

Now, that doesn’t make the decisions poor choices.  They can be very good decisions.  But they first come from an emotional source.  Afterword  the brain will rationalize your decision with logic.  We do such a good job of our logical rationalization that we may think our choice was made based on logic.

The “Why” Test…

To explain, let’s imagine you bought a car.  You may say, you bought it based solely on logic.  You didn’t care about the color, the heated seats, the air conditioning o the smooth ride. All you wanted was an economy car that gets good gas mileage.

On the surface that would seem like a non-emotional decision.  But, not if you give it the “why test”.

Ask the question, “why did you want an economy car?”  The answer: “To save on gas, of course”.

Now ask the question, “Why do you want to save on gas?”  The answer, “So I can put more of my paycheck into savings”.  Now ask the question, “Why do you want to put more into your savings?”.  The answer, “I’m insecure about the economy and how this will affect my family’s future.”

So in this particular case, the root of the decision is emotional, based on fear and insecurity.   If you keep asking the question “why” you eventually come to the real root of a decision which is almost always emotional.  This is what you must speak to first.

You must also use logical reasoning

However, our brain will not accept any action which will require some type of payment on our part, without rationalizing with logic.  Our brains are so proficient at rationalizing that we may actually believe our decisions were created from logic only. But you can be sure that the sales person who sold that economy car knows better.

Well, what does that have to do with blogging?  Nothing, if we are just blogging for fun.  But if you are blogging for business, you need to persuade your readers to eventually take some sort of action.  Whether that’s to sign up with your affiliate membership site, purchase your product, download your e-book, or sign up for your newsletter.

To do this, you must first speak to the heart.  If you know your reader, you’ll know their core motivations.  Are they near retirement? Do they have the fear of running out of savings? Are they looking for an additional income source?

Then, speak to that emotional fear first, “Did you know 45% of Baby Boomers have no retirement savings?  Then show the benefits of taking action.  Relief – peace of mind knowing you’ll always have a reliable income source to fall back on.

Give Logical reasons

However, most people will still not take action until you give them logical reasons so they can rationalize their decision. For example a logical statement like, “My Newsletter has interviews and advice from the top experts on our economy — which alone is worth thousands of dollars, but I’m offering it to you –totally free.

With a statement like this, you’re giving their brain the reasoning it needs to validate an emotionally based decision.  Logic is necessary.  Even though it is only to validate the emotionally based decision.  It is still necessary.  Without it, the customer will have “buyers remorse” or even worse, may not take any action at all.

So, in summary–

If you want your readers to take action, you must first speak to the heart and then you need to follow up with the head.

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