Stop Talking About Your Product. Tell Me Why I Should Care.

Let me hit you with something you don’t want to hear:
People don’t buy features. People buy feelings. I don’t care where you are from or what you do; nobody wakes up needing a $400 tumbler. All they really want is an ice-cold beer on a hot day or for their coffee to stay warm longer than it takes to make it.

Nobody just wants “AI-powered automation.” Most people still think automation is that “ Set it and forget it” Rotissorie machine.
All they want are their evenings back...and maybe some extra PTO.

Nobody wants a meditation app.
They just want to be able to stop spiral thinking at 3 AM about a text they sent in 2016 to their old boss when they were drunk.

And that is because people don’t just buy things, they buy the emotional outcome. It doesn’t matter if it’s a car, app, or piece of clothing; people aren’t just buying the item, they are buying the emotion it evokes.

The Product-First Trap

Most brands lead with the product because it’s easy.
It’s factual.
It’s safe.
It’s measurable.... It’s on a sell sheet.

But safe doesn’t sell.
Safe gets ignored faster than your “bestie,” who you put in the friendzone.

If your ad sounds like a bullet-point list, then congratulations — you just wrote a brochure, not a marketing message. And no one reads a brochure unless you’re at a timeshare pitch. And even then, they only do it to avoid eye contact with the sales rep, so they can get the free dinner they promised.  

The Emotional Economy

Every product lives in one of five emotional buckets:

• Freedom

• Confidence

• Relief

• Identity

• Escape

If your marketing doesn’t tap into one of these, then you just created white noise.

Example:
Apple doesn’t sell phones. They sell identity.
Nike doesn’t sell shoes. They sell possibility.
Liquid Death doesn’t sell water. They sell rebellion.

Which means you need to find the emotional truth behind what you sell. Otherwise, you are going to be throwing money at ads and missing the mark like you’re Josh Allen.  

How to Translate Features → Feelings

Here’s the cheat code:

• Feature: Stainless steel body

• Benefit: Keeps drinks cold

• Feeling: “Cold beer even when life is falling apart.”

See the difference?
One is information.
The other is persuasion.

The Fix

Stop telling people what your product is. We have eyes and hands. We can Google that.
Start telling them why their life is better with it.

Because here’s the truth:
Products don’t sell themselves.
Feelings do.