As fundraisers, we often witness how successful campaigns bring a tear to the eyes of donors and prospects. In How Emotional Marketing Can Save the World, author Nick Thomas explores the world of emotions that trigger donors to give. A fundraising and marketing expert in the U.K., Nick describes and shares graphics from dozens of successful campaigns he created, which he sorts by the emotions they elicit.
SADNESS
Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart.
~ José N. Harris
Sadness is a transient emotional state characterized by feelings of disappointment, grief, hopelessness, and a dampened mood. Feeling sad is an essential feature of our emotional mind; it lets us know we need to grieve and seek out those who love and support us. We all occasionally seek ways to experience sadness—by listening to sad songs, watching sad movies, or reading sad books.
Why is sadness important?
Research suggests that sadness can help people improve attention, reduce judgmental bias, and promote generosity. Sadness can increase motivation, operating like a mild alarm signal that triggers efforts to change the unpleasant state.
When I told a colleague I was writing a book on emotional marketing, he asked me a question:
“Of all the emotions, which would I choose to perform best for a charity?”
Easy, I replied. Sadness. People give most when their heart is grieving.
In one sense, the third sector itself presides over a great unspoken sadness. Sadness that so much suffering, injustice, and poverty exists in the world and that it is largely down to the goodwill of individuals and charities to make it better. Sadness is the base emotional currency every fundraiser has to work with; its proven power to move should always make it the first emotion to be considered.
For fundraising, I have always believed the strongest way to transmit sadness is in the most direct way—straight from beneficiary in need to potential donor. Throw in a great image, a clear call to action, and you have the ingredients for fundraising magic. For creatives, achieving this perfection is often easier than we care to believe; we just have to allow the focus of the appeal to do the heavy lifting.
The example shown here (that we produced for Wood Green Welfare) used this elementary formula and ran successfully for years. In fact, if the image is powerful enough, this approach could work for virtually any cause from overseas aid to elderly and homeless charities.
It is asking for support at its most authentic and human. No charity, no brand, no witty headlines. Just beneficiary and benefactor. While hardly sophisticated, it can move people to action, simply because it makes them sad.
Dive into the emotions that drive generosity. Click here or go to Amazon to order Nick's book today.
Nick Thomas’ “How Emotional Marketing Can Save the World” is a treasure for nonprofit marketing, communications and fundraising professionals who seek to inspire donors to give, and then give more by triggering their deep feelings about your organization's work. A fundraising and marketing expert in the U.K., Nick describes and shares graphics from dozens of campaigns he crafted for charities that raised millions of pounds.
