Emotive marketing: How love languages help you connect with audiences

By Grace Brennan

Oh, love.

It’s a chemical reaction in the brain that creates feelings of pleasure, attraction, and attachment. The process is different for every person of course, and knowing how someone falls in love and shows love can help bring you closer to them.

The love languages theory offers five ways that people express and receive love. It states that when people share or understand one another’s love language, the relationship is of higher quality. 

For brands, the theory carries the same value. Beyond romance, using love languages to build emotive marketing strategies can shape sentimental, stronger, and longer-lasting relationships with audiences. After all, we’re all human and we all make emotionally-driven decisions.

You don’t need to buy your customers roses. Instead, follow these steps to tap into your audience’s psyche and really connect with them.

Words of affirmation

This love language is for people who are affectionate through words, mostly as praise.

For brands, words of affirmation can mean paying attention to your ‘thank you’ messaging. For example, after someone buys your product or leaves you a review, you could choose to send them a personalised response showing your gratitude.

It might be a comment on social media or a fully fleshed-out email. Whatever the format, it has to be tailored to the person based on what you know about them.

For instance, Rumpl, a hiking blanket company, sent out ‘thank you’ notes to some of its customers. In the tech era, the handwritten message is a particularly special treat. 

Words of affirmation in marketing requires skilled copywriters – people who know how to convey sincerity in language. The tone should be genuine and consistent with the content you’ve sent or shown them before. You can be complimentary towards people (e.g. “great decision”, “you’re a smart saver”) but be careful not to overdo affirmations. Being clear and authentic is the way to these people’s hearts. 

Quality time

A love language for people who enjoy undivided attention, meaningful interactions, and making memories. This category is rooted in active listening, which your brand should already be practicing but can extend even further. 

Give customers direct channels to your brand. That could be more customer service contact details so people can speak with you, or greater activity on social media – starting conversations and inviting people’s thoughts and opinions. Make repeat moments for users to spend time with your brand, both at in-person events and virtually at webinars and podcasts.

User-generated content can be a great display of quality time, because you work with customers to create content and make them feel part of the brand. Testimonials, reviews, and competitions all give people different touchpoints to be at your side. 

A great example of quality time in emotive marketing is when Vagabond Beauty asked a customer if it could use their photo for its social media, ads, and website. The customer was honoured to have been seen, and got a link back to their personal Instagram account any time the image was used.

Physical touch

Physical closeness with your audience is understandably difficult. However, in the remote era, this love language is a good reminder that offline marketing still matters.

This love language is about proximity to people, so consider hosting events in your customer communities. You could organise events that align with your business values or get involved with non-profit organisations there. You could also invest in projects that are physically building things in the area. You’ll not only be giving back, but being present with your audience base in a more tangible manner. 

Alternatively – and budget-permitting – you might send surprise communication to people through the post. It could be updates about the business, fun facts or prizes. The emphasis is on sharing a physical representation of your brand – giving people a part of your brand to hold in their hands!

During the Euros football championship, UK-based bakery Greggs and Just Eat delivery platform teamed up for the ‘Rolls for Goals’ campaign.

As fans arrived at a London or Glasgow train station, they could try scoring a goal against a goalkeeper. If successful, they were rewarded with a sausage roll. Truly putting a tasty treat in front of people.

As emotive marketing tactics go, we think this one’s a winner.

Acts of service

Acts of service is the love language for those who give/receive love by completing tasks that make them/their partner feel seen. This language is perhaps the most effective for brands to speak, as it’s essentially going the extra mile for your users.

Start by recognising your customers’ pain points. More precisely, take into account the ones they don’t obviously share with you.

Your data should be able to guide you, but you can also conduct in-depth user interviews with top engagers. Try to be as granular as possible and pinpoint the exact areas where people want to change or need support.

The more you dive into issues, the more impactful your act of service will be in response. The idea is that you’re demonstrating that you’re taking action to better serve your users.

Personalisation is a big part of this love language, too.

Pizza Hut once called a loyal client after they hadn’t ordered for over two weeks. The estranged, frequent eater was offered a free ‘welcome back’ pizza, and didn’t hesitate to share their story on social media singing the restaurant’s praises. 

Gift-giving

In this love language, gifts symbolise love and care. The sentiment is in the gift itself and the thought and time put into choosing the gift.

From an emotive marketing and brand perspective, gifts to users can be packaged as:

• Upgrades
• Free trials
• Early access to new tools
• Invitations to special events

The most important element here is giving a gift that makes sense to the person receiving it. The gift should be personalised, and you can make a big deal of it (with the user’s permission). For example, you could showcase the user and their gift on your marketing channels, explaining why they deserve it. That way, you let other people know that you celebrate the individuals in your audience.

Pet food company Chewy sent a baby onesie, book, and handwritten note to a customer after a representative heard a crying baby in the background of a customer service call. The rep asked if the caller had a newborn and they confirmed. The brand then sent the gifts without notice, and reaped a loyal advocate in response.

Emotive marketing and the language(s) of love

The ‘L’ word applies to marketing more than you may think. Interpreting how people give and get love puts you in a position to more deeply connect with a broader range of people. It can also spur greater empathy throughout your brand and marketing efforts, which again, lets you construct powerful ties with users.

Ready to adopt the language(s) of love yet?