Branding is an influential tactic for getting clients to know what you stand for and creating a loyal bond. However, brands that present themselves as aspirational can backfire because of factors we don’t consider.

Aspirational marketing is a form of messaging that presents information in a way that consumers want to aspire to.

For example, in a campaign for beauty products, it could be a role model or a celebrity that a consumer wishes to be. Yet some brands often choose relatable people instead. A person a consumer can relate themselves to based on characteristics or emotions.

Imagine your campaign is selling the dream: hearing aids give someone complete sound clarity and the ability to hear, without fail, in times that are important to them. Hearing aids can completely restore their hearing.

We need to ask ourselves whether selling the dream of a wonderful life with hearing aids is working to drive conversion. When would it not convert?

Idealized images can reduce self-esteem.

As social human beings, we judge ourselves based on what others think of us and how we view ourselves.

In an aspirational marketing campaign, the gap between the consumer and the role model is often too wide. The consumer notices how hard it is to close the gap and reach their idealized version.

When someone isn’t getting close to their goal, they experience an increase in low self-esteem, and the opposite effect occurs. Instead of improving their self-esteem, they view themselves as less successful or less worthy because their aspiration feels obtainable.

When we show aspirational images of the future self to our customers when they cannot achieve the dream effect that hearing aids promise to achieve, their self-esteem and self-view will be dampened.

Choose messaging close to reach for the customer rather than a far-fetched dream.

An aspirational message can’t work well with certain products.

There are two types of products usually in the market. One is a functional type of product. People are concerned about the utility of functional products.

The second type is a symbolic product. Symbolic products are more about self-expression. The product is a descriptive message about who the person is and about. Symbolic products can be luxury watches or other high-end products.

Functional products can be high-end, but only if the product doesn’t communicate with the owner. It’s not ego-driven.

Hearing aids can be a negative symbolic product. Wearing a hearing aid can express the negative stigma one associates with hearing aids.

However, hearing aids should, for the most part, be functional products that help people hear.

Aspirational campaigns work well for symbolic products, and functional products benefit from campaigns that show the messaging and ideas in a relatable manner.

Marketing messages need to more attainable

If we realize that marketing messages which speaks to a future state that is too far off what one can invision can backfire and cause someone to think negatively about themselves.

We want to be a few steps behind others.

People buy the product to represent or reinforce their social identity as a form of self-expression.

This implication is important for the images we are choosing to display on our website, the messaging of the future state one will achieve and the experience of using hearing aids should all be relatable and achievable