Marketing is all about one thing. Persuasion. Whether you’re trying to get people to buy a product, or you’re simply trying to increase awareness of it, marketing needs to be convincing. While many people interpret this to mean that marketing should be aggressive, the most successful marketers are ones who know how to be tactful. Persuasion is actually thwarted by intrusiveness.
Persuasion is the Whole Point of Marketing:
Marketing Specialist Laura Entis suggests that, “persuasion requires the ability to alter not just action, but attitude. The difference is subtle, but important: a cereal brand that slashes its prices may gain new customers, but it hasn’t fundamentally changed how it is perceived. For brands looking to make, improve, or reconfigure their image with consumers, there are few tools more valuable.” Here are a few quick tips on how to enhance persuasiveness through marketing strategies:
1. Understand your audience: The first step to being persuasive is understanding who you’re talking to. What are their needs? What do they value? What motivates them? When you know the answers to these questions, you can craft messaging that resonates with them on a deep level.
2. Appeal to people’s logic: People are more likely to be persuaded if they feel that an argument is rational. When making a case for why someone should buy a product, be sure to back it up with a value-proposition.
3. Be credible: Along with being authentic, agendas conveyed through marketing need to be credible. This means having a strong track record, and demonstrating expertise. When you can show that you know what you’re talking about, people are more likely to trust you.
4. Use social proof: Social proof is a powerful persuasion tactic that relies on the idea that people are more likely to do something, if they see others doing it. If you can show that lots of other individuals have already bought into your product, or that it’s been endorsed by a trusted authority-figure, contagious persuasion will follow.
5. Use strong visuals: As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. And this is especially true when it comes to persuasion. Strong visuals can be very effective at getting a point across.
Conclusion:
There’s no question that persuasion is a valuable skill to have in marketing. After all, if you can’t convince potential customers of the value of your product/service, then you’re not going to make any sales. However, persuasion isn’t just about getting people to buy what you’re selling; it’s also about getting them to see things your way, and support your ideas. In other words, it’s about building consensus.