The Honest-to-Goodness Nuts and Bolts of Persuading
Customers, Prospects, Bosses, Lovers, and Politicians To See Things YOUR Way!
A Special Report
America's Small Business Marketing Expert
R9 copyright 1997
Let me just say from the start, that this special report is about more than just how to sell more of what you do. It also includes some how-to details on how to influence social and political ideas. You see, the two--marketing and ideas--are virtually inseparable. If you know how to convince someone of an idea, you're going to be ten times better as a marketer.
If you know me personally, you know that I don't really call this "beating them with their own arguments." I call it:
Beating them with their own stick.
It's always easier to persuade someone who already agrees with you. If you tell me something that sounds exactly like something I would say, I'm going to agree with you. I'll nod my head up and down and say, "That's right! I hear ya! That's what I'm always saying!" At that point, you've got me in the palm of your hand.
Go back and read that short little paragraph again. It contains the magic bullet of persuasion.
Let's continue.
Next, you bring up a point that I may not exactly agree with. You cleverly attach it to the ideas I just enthusiastically confirmed. Why, this new idea sounds pretty close to the things I've been saying. In fact, I've probably been supporting that without having known it.
Is this sounding familiar yet? Politicians do this to us all the time.
You've just beaten me with my own stick. You've taken my beliefs that I often use to support my own arguments, and turned it back to convince me of an alien proposition.
The Case of the Widget 2250
Let's consider the wording of an ad. I may want to jump out and immediately tell you all about my new Widget 2250. Why it runs twelve times faster and purrs like a kitten. Everyone in my industry is marveling over it. I might be tempted to buy a full-page ad in the newspaper just so I can list all the specs.
Would people care? Not at all. To get their attention and to get the general public to care about my Widget 2250, I've got to relate it to something they already believe in. What do people believe? They want to save time. They may think that all Widgets are over-priced and hard to use. People want more recognition for their work. They want to feel important.
I can start to persuade people that the Widget 220 is THE thing for them by first agreeing with these general points that they believe.
"Yes!," I say. "All Widgets are expensive and hard to use." That rings a bell with prospects. I'm saying something that many of them agree with.
"But not this Widget," I continue. "I was turned into a believer after only 15 minutes with it."
As ridiculous as this example sounds, Blue Bell Ice Cream is running a successful radio ad campaign nationwide right now that uses this exact formula. Betty the Blue Bell lady says she always hated diet desserts. When they first told her about diet Blue Bell ice cream bars she winced. It was only after she tried them that her mind was changed.
You persuade people by showing how your product, service, or idea follows what they already think. If your message is trying to persuade them of something different, you need to show them that the new idea is a logical step from where their heads are already.
For years, researchers have told us that this is really the only kind of persuasion that works in the media. They say if you want to go head to head with someone who emphatically disagrees with you, forget it. Once they've made up their minds, there's not much you can do to change them.
This is where a lot of media persuaders foul up. The old curmudgeon only comes over to the good side in the movies. In real life he just goes on opposing you. Don't waste your time on him.
There are plenty of people out there who will support you when they hear your message. There are also a great many people who haven't been paying attention and haven't made up their minds. These are the two groups that we will concentrate on.
The Believers
Getting out the word will always get you in contact with those who support your message. The day after your letter or article appears in the paper, or you've been interviewed on the radio, or your ad was seen on TV, you will get a call from an involved person who is delighted with your product, service, or message. You're fighting their fight.
Your best new customers will usually be people who are already believers in a business like yours. If you're selling IBM computers, your easiest sale will be the people who have owned IBMs, liked them, and want to buy more.
Even if your business is extremely original, there are probably active others who have gone down on record supporting something similar to you. Support their enthusiasm. Find out who else they know who would support your business or idea. This is the start of finding those who already agree with you. As you fire more salvos through the media, your goal will be to expand this ring of believers. Those who like people like you and like businesses like yours will always form your most loyal customers. No matter how hard you try to win over those who don't like your product or service, it will be a tiresome up-hill battle compared to the easy task of harvesting those who are already in your camp.
The Undecided
I know from many years working in radio, that when radio DJs make a personal appearance at a store, they are constantly approached by people who like their station. People will walk up and tell them how funny they are, how much they love the music, and how they need to do last month's contest again this month. DJs often foolishly think that everyone is like these people. What they don't notice are the scores of other people who are passing by who haven't the foggiest notion who they are. Even when the general public is told that this is Joe Blow, the famous radio personality from station WXXX, they respond with puzzled looks and indifference.
Our radio friends have just met the undecided. This group doesn't know about you, isn't aware of your products or services, and doesn't care.
During every political campaign we always hear great concern about the undecided. Political parties toss out millions of dollars in advertising to try to sway the undecided to one side or another.
It can be a little tough. These are the great masses of people who don't really pay much attention to advertising or issues. When asked, they usually say that the details of various products and services have very little to do with their lives. It's true. They are concerned with getting to work, doing their jobs, taking care of their kids, and maybe catching a rerun of "Cheers" before bed.
"They aren't stupid, they just aren't hip." Those words were given to me by a great radio programmer who now manages CBS Radio, one of the biggest broadcast chains in the country. His words sum up the general perception that broadcasters have about the mass audience. They aren't stupid, but neither will they pick up on specialized topics.
In order to reach them, you will have to simplify your message to the length of a bumper sticker. You will also have to closely connect it to a basic value that you know the great undecided posses. Bring it down to kids, or honesty, or lower taxes, saving money, having more time for themselves, or the values of the common worker. Keep it short and simple.
The most often read portions of the newspaper are the comics and the coupons. Don't expect many undecideds to read the editorial section. They don't watch the network television news, and when they watch local news, it's usually for the weather.
Your best bet is to reach the unconcerned masses through the radio. The guy who doesn't watch the news and never reads the paper will most certainly spend at least two hours a day listening to a variety of stations. Get your phone call on the morning show and she'll hear your message on her way to work.
Find a radio personality who agrees with you, and you've got the added persuasion of a media voice the listener feels comfortable with. If he says your message is a good thing, the listener will usually agree. If the DJ has a confrontational style and opposes your message, the listener will understand that this opposition is part of the act.
Be nice to the DJ and your message may be accepted by the listener anyway. You will come off as a fair minded type, someone who likes the show the same as the listener, and just got caught in the DJs standard wrath. The audience understands that this is part of the act.
If your undecided is a home owner, reach them with a door hanger (a flyer that attaches to the knob on their door). You can be pretty out of touch with the world, but you'll have a hard time ignoring something that is attached to your front door. Keep in mind local laws and customs to that you don't litter or offend.
Remember, the undecideds aren't stupid. They are concerned about other things. This isn't to say they never get into issues or the details of products and services, they do. Put your message where they can find it, clothed in a value they support, and your message will have a decent shot of getting on their agenda.
Finding The Stick
Some of the audience's basic values are universal. Everyone is concerned about children and death. That's why politicians used to love to talk about the Soviet threat. Absolutely everyone had a strong opinion about it. When politicians attached an idea to war, it got immediate and calculable attention.
Great business marketing efforts do the same thing. Lower prices, friendlier service, trustworthy products, and clear benefits are always winners. As much as advertising and marketing have to do with the success of a business, the value that the business can bring to customers is just as important. You can have the greatest advertising in the world, but if your products and services aren't a good buy, you won't sell them.
American's everywhere support wholesome schools and low crime. For decades, the number one concern of citizens in every city was potholes. When we asked people to list the top three community problems, they would always come back: (1) roads, (2) schools, and (3) crime. This varied not at all for years.
Today, crime often tops the list and roads have slipped down a few notches.
Your community may place other problems at the top. If your audience is a minority group in a big city, they may be concerned about fairness, equal opportunity and jobs. Keep in mind that fairness, opportunity and jobs may be code for keeping those things away from other segments of the community. This has been observed with majority audiences in several parts the country.
Do a little research to find out what people believe. Find out what their most pressing problems in life are. Learn what they think might be used to solve those problems. When you uncover your target prospects' beliefs, you are finding the stick that you will use to persuade them.
Talk to friends and co-workers. Without tipping your hand, ask them about an issue that would illuminate their basic values. Bring up the message you intend to use in the media. Without telling them it's yours, find out what they think about it. Maybe they hate it, but will like it with a little revision.
This is exactly the kind of study that big movie companies do before releasing a multi-million dollar project. You will be far better off if you run your message past a few people, especially those like the ones you hope to reach through the media, before you launch your idea and spend your hard earned marketing budget.
One more time: Let's Hit The High Points
Convince your audience with ideas they are already familiar with. It's best if you can tie your message into their most deeply held beliefs. You will have the easy task of convincing them by saying much the same thing they would say.
Tell your story from the customer or prospect's standpoint. Feel their pain. Tell them that their pain is worse than they think..and will get worse in the future. Then show them how your product or service is the solution. It's not only the solution to their problems, but it seems logical to the way they already think.
The bottom line is, most people are not going to change their view of the world for your message. Wrap your message in their reality, and it will be an easier pill for the audience to swallow.
Let's Get Started
Right now, while these principles of persuasion are fresh in your mind, jot down some of the things your target audience believes. Write down five things that are central to the way they see the world. Try to write it in the same words they would use.
Next, write down the problems in their life that your product or service would solve. Leave no stone unturned! Think of every possible use for what you sell. Remember Arm and Hammer whose baking soda sales had remained flat for decades. Then one day someone thought of the idea of urging everyone to put a box of Arm and Hammer in the refrigerator to absorb all those musky smells. Bingo! The message connected with the audience in a big way. Instead of buying one box for the pantry, millions and millions of households bought an extra box for the refrigerator.
Sales boomed. New factories had to be built. Incredible expansion was achieved just by looking at the problems of the audience, then finding a new pressing problem for the product to solve.
Congratulations! You now know more about media persuasion than most of the people in media. You deserve to be commended for taking an interest in such a "theoretical" topic. But as you see, these deep ideas have very valuable applications. Get to it..and USE THAT STICK!
Kevin Nunley helps small and mid-sized businesses build effective
marketing. Reach him at DrNunley@aol.com or at (801)203-4536. Ask for his free marketing
report and list of Special Reports and
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