If you told me I could only give an up and coming copywriter one piece of advice, it would be this: Always lead with emotion and back it up with facts. Don’t do the reverse.
Leading with emotion works. Opening with facts and statistics and trying to add in emotion later doesn’t. This isn’t new advice.
In her 1984 book Dear Friend, the legendary fundraising expert Kay Lautman wrote “Write with emotion and back it up with facts, not vice versa.” Back then, Lautman was operating on instinct and experience. Forty years later, we know her wisdom is firmly rooted in behavioral science evidence about how our brains work.
But knowing we should lead with emotion and doing it well are two different things. In today’s post, five roadblocks that get in the way of a lead with emotion approach – and how to get around them.
Starting in the wrong place is a common writing mistake. When we start with less significant details, the most engaging content we have to share gets obscured. Most first drafts contain what I call “warm up” language. It’s the writer trying to get a grip on the topic.
Burying the lede is never a good idea, but it’s especially costly when what gets buried is the emotional connection with your audience.
How to Get Around the Roadblock
Confusion and complexity can easily derail the emotional power of your message. Does the story you are trying to convey require you to “set the stage” with a lot of background information and context? If the answer is yes, choose another story.
All that buildup can quickly drain the emotion from your story defeating all the work you’ve done to forge an emotional connection. Simplicity and emotional engagement go hand-in-hand.
How to Get Around the Roadblock
Taken too literally, the advice to lead with emotion and back it up with facts can set up a false choice. In the right circumstances, facts have their place in the opening of your message.
Here’s an example. I once wrote a fundraising letter for Oxfam America that opened with this fact. “There is more than enough food to feed everyone on our planet. And every day 35,000 children die from hunger and malnutrition.”
The next sentence drove home the emotional element. “If that fact breaks your heart or makes your blood boil, we need to talk.” In this instance, leading with a fact didn’t drain emotion, it elevated it.
How to Get Around the Roadblock
One of my favorite Bee Gees songs is Words: “It’s only words and words are all I have to take your heart away.” But, as you try to persuade people to support your cause, words really aren’t all you have to stoke emotion.
No matter how skillful a wordsmith you are, remember this: It’s not all about words and brilliant turns of phrase. Describing a child confronting hunger is far more compelling when the reader can look into that child’s eyes. There’s no better way to convey the magic of a dog finding a forever home than seeing a video of the rescued animal jumping for joy.
Images, videos and design wield extraordinary power because they short circuit the path to emotional engagement.
How to Get Around the Roadblock
Fear. Hope. Anger. Love. These are the four emotions nonprofit communicators most frequently turn to – and for good reason. Each one, properly deployed, can help forge powerful connections and spur decisive action.
But sticking to such a limited emotional palette is way too restrictive. It makes your messages too predictable and deprives you of the opportunity to draw a more vibrant emotional portrait.
How to Get Around the Roadblock
If we stay alert to roadblocks like those we’ve outlined here, we can make sure of this: When we lead with emotion, we’re doing it in the most persuasive way possible. That’s what it’s going to take to truly get our messages across.
