RightSpot Media | Digital Performance Marketing

Nest positive emotions to excite prospects

Posted on Saturday, December 20th, 2008 at 10:12 PM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

I learned a fascinating concept today that may get you excited when you feel ambitious about its application.

The concept, borrowed from neurolinguistic programming, is a form of emotional reframing called "meta-states." Developed by L. Michael Hall, it describes a process all too common to human experience.

Have you ever been angry with yourself for being jealous? Or upset with yourself for feeling anxious? When this happens, the emotions become intertwined and difficult to unravel.

So why bother?

Wrap it up

Since emotions become wrapped in other emotions, instead of trying to pull negative emotions apart, you can just wrap them all up in a positive emotion.

It sounds kind of crazy, but try it. Think about being happy about being depressed. Maybe you’re happy because it gives you time to reflect. Or because it gives you a new perspective on life. Or because you know you’ll look back on it from happier times and they’ll feel even better.

Whatever the justification, you can wrap up just about any negative emotion in a positive emotion, which provides a complete emotional reframing.

But negative emotions aren’t all you can wrap up in positive emotions.

Higher and higher

When writing copy, we often try to get prospects excited at our offer. Ideally, so excited that they follow our call to action.

Rarely, however, does copy compel readers to higher and higher states. Usually, it’s enough to suggest one. For example:

Relax knowing that our widget will take care of your problem.

But applying the principle of meta-states, we don’t have to accept just one positive emotion. We can wrap them up to increase interest and excitement:

Feel safer when you relax knowing that widget will take care of your problem.

Best yet, there’s almost no limit to how many positive emotions you can intertwine:

People will wonder why you’re so happy when you feel it’s safe to relax, knowing that widget will take care of your problem.

I’m first to admit these aren’t the best examples, but hopefully they convey the point.

And hopefully they make you at least a little curious about how much fun you can have with emotional matrioshka.

Tags: copywriting, influence, neurolinguistic programming, persuasion, psychology