Help! How to effectively use the reader's emotional state?

[ginandtonic]

Hey all. I've never been in the copywriting forum before. I came here because I would like to write an informative article for my site, but the article is on a topic that the reader is struggling with emotionally, along the lines of "how do I ask this girl out." I've gone through all that personally, so I wrote down what was going through my head and how I felt at that time. Outcome: I'd like to direct the reader to the affiliate product that most fits their needs through this article.

This is all great to know, but now I'm at a loss for how to connect those thoughts and feelings with helpful products.

[kmesiab]

Not sure exactly what your end goal is here. Are you trying to write an article seeded w/ affiliate links related various aspects of your 'story line?'

[ginandtonic]

Yes, that's basically it

[kmesiab]

You can check out the Jounce.com Leads section, or just browse around your networks for good fits.

Matches shouldn't be too hard.

Another route, is to work backwards. Find a group of related products that appear to convert well, and reconstruct your article around these products.

In any vertical, it's useful to find commission-able products that are NOT listed in an affiliate network, to improve your chances of finding under served niches and higher payouts.

Hope this was useful. Sometimes it helps to turn an idea on its head.

[travlinguy]

In my experience, the most powerful writing comes when sharing personal experiences with the gental authoity and enthusiasm. Since you have overcome the fear of asking women out you have the perfect setup for the article.

Write about your own experience. Get in touch with the emotions you felt and let your reader know what it was like for you to actually ask, how you felt before asking, and what you actually did to finally make the move. Since you've been there it should be pretty easy.

Close the article by saying something like, once you've experienced the thrill of overcoming the fear (or whatever it was you overcame to do the deed) tell the reader that it gets easier and easier each time. Close it with something like, if you'd like further information on boosting your confidence in getting women to date you, checkout... Insert link. You'll also want to create a compelling resource box with a link there too. Good luck.

[Dano77]

Hey there bud, maybe I should PM you the 7 emotions that sell with a few short examples?

[fasteasysuccess]

One quick way...tell your story, draw the reader in with your experience and lessons learned and then lead them to your affiliate site. If you really get emotional and bond with your target market, then you can easily get them flowing through your copy and on to the solution(your product or service).

[Phill_cH]

Always speak from your place of KNOWING - they buy your leadership & of course they are not where you are/where they want to be and the more you KNOW your place to be the right place for them the more they'll feel it & follow you.
If you start connecting with all their excuses on why it's not working you don't help them - you just amplify where they are. Bring them over to where you are and let those come that are ready No hype - just Knowing

May the Force be with you !

[BartsTreasures]

Hard to be specific with the limited info but this should help... To connect your reader's emotional state to a product, you need to validate your reader's feelings.

1) Show empathy 2) Show they are not ALONE in their predicamant THEN 3) show them tha path to salvation (i.e. the product!)

Working backwards is a good approach..start with the product and work backwards to the emotional state of the prospect.

[Loren Woirhaye]

Different terms and conceptual models are in use in the
literature on written persuasion. Personally, I've found
Clayton Makepeace's concept of "dominant resident emotion"
the most useful. He wrote here and there about it in
his blog.

There's actually a process skilled copywriters use: after
the dominant emotion is identified, we use a process which
actually doesn't "build a better mousetrap" - instead we
create a perception of larger, more terrifying mice. Eugene
Shwartz called part of this process "intensification" and that's
a concept you'll see used here and there when the best
copywriters write and talk about what they do and how
it is done.

You'd be well served to just go study what these two
copywriters wrote on these topics.

Once you've achieved intensification, you can often
instruct the reader to take an action and get compliance.
Without the emotional hooks and intensifiers in place
getting compliance is harder but it may be achieved
through other means.