I absolutely love Lady Gaga, which is a great achievement on her part to lure a hardened rocker like myself out of his Heavy Metal home turf. Clearly I am not alone, lots of other people like this phenomenon which has burst upon the the scene out of nowhere in the last two years.

However, whereas most fans want to know more about the Lady herself, I'm not really interested in the arist per se, but much more in the products - the music and videos, and particularly why they are so appealing. My motive is a blatantly business-orientated one - if you can figure out exactly what is so appealing, maybe you can employ it in marketing your own products!

Since I really like her stuff myself, I need look no further than within myself for many of the answers. The secret is EMPATHY - the ability to identify with the emotions of another.

The music, lyrics and visual images all appeal to primal emotions we all experience - love, desire, and heartache. In any form of communication, the ability to arouse empathy is a powerful advantage. If you are attempting to sell anything, be it an idea or product, your communication must connect with your market on an emotional level. The bottom line message, as well-encapsulated in BUPA's media campaign, must be YOU WILL FEEL BETTER.

We all want to be understood. When we encounter someone who seems to, we are much more predisposed to listen to what they have to offer. This is why the success of any communication depends on the orientation being toward the listener's passion rather than your own.

I have long been aware of having gifts of communication, but for most of my life this potential has been self-sabotaged by my own unresolved issues and feelings. The message "I am wrapped up in me" boomed out louder than any other. Apparently I was not alone, I see other business people do this now on a regular basis.

Only since training as a hypnotherapist, and having begun to study the discipline of Emotional Intelligence, and then in the process learning to manage my own powerful emotions has my potential started to work for me. My communication is now much less about me and more about YOU.

As a simple example, my Twitter account for some time bumped along at around 400 followers, and when I started tweeting useful stuff it rose gradually to around 500. I was concerned that many of my competitors who joined later or around the same time were growing followers much faster than I was, already up at 700 - 1000. Then recently, inspired by Lady Gaga, I switched tactic again and issued regular tweets that predominantly dealt with human emotion. I shot up from 500 to over 600 followers in two weeks without any other proactive action, and new tweeters follow me every day.

Artists can afford to be very emotional themselves providing that emotion connects with others in their work. Business people and therapists even more so do not have this luxury - we must learn the management of our own emotions whilst at the same time being able to understand and appeal to the emotions of others. Master this skill, and the world is at your feet!