Chip and Dan Heath’s book Made to Stick talks about The Curse of Knowledge, making our writing sticky, simple, unexpected, concrete, and credible. Now, we’re going to dig into emotions and how they attract your ideal peeps.

Focus on the One

The fifth principle we’ll discuss is emotion. Cue up, Whitney. Although many people get squirmy when the word ’emotion’ is mentioned, this may be my favorite of all the principles. Why? Because it starts with the heart and connects it to the head rather than the other way around.

Mother Teresa once said, “If I focus on the whole, I do nothing. But if I focus on the one, I’m compelled to do something.”

In my video on emotion, I shared the story of Save the Children using two different fundraising campaign letters to split-test their message. One letter spouted statistics while the other told a story of one little girl who needed help. Can you guess which resulted in higher donations? (Spoiler alert: if you guess the second letter, you’d be right on the money.)

Now You Try

Pull up your last warm letter. Did you focus on one person’s story or did you provide general outcomes? How did your letter work in terms of attracting your ideal clients? Rewrite your letter using the principle of emotion. Compare the two letters. Which would compel you to action?

I’d love to connect with you to chat about how to make your words attract your ideal clients. Schedule a FREE 60-minute breakthrough session with me.