PERSUASIVE MESSAGES NADEEM AHMED PERSUASIVE MESSAGES Successful businesses
PERSUASIVE MESSAGES NADEEM AHMED
PERSUASIVE MESSAGES • Successful businesses rely on persuasive messages in both internal and external communication. • • To convince your authorities for some action To encourage customers to try your product or service promoting an idea persuasive claim • “Persuasion = The attempt to change an audience’s attitudes, beliefs, or actions. ” Bovee & Thill. • Persuasion techniques are a cornerstone of marketing and selling. • Necessary skill for advancement in your career.
PERSUASIVE MESSAGES • The best persuasive messages are closely connected to your audience’s desires and interests. • To persuade successfully, you need to consider both the positive and the negative aspects of your proposed solution. • To understand categorize audience’s needs you refer to specific information such as, demographics (the age, gender, occupation, income, education, & quantifiable characteristics) Psychographics (personality, attitudes, lifestyle, & other psychological characteristics) other
PERSUASIVE MESSAGES Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Those who have satisfied lower level needs People with low self-esteem Self-actualization Creativity – self-realization – wisdom - vocation Teens and adolescents People with high social needs Esteem & Status Self-worth – uniqueness – respect - community Parents Women Children of dysfunctional parents Unemployed Homeless Environmentalists Safety & Security Personal confidence – stability – protection from enemies Survival Air – food – water – sleep - shelter
Persuasion in Sales Letters • Concentrate on a few features of product or service • Providing convincing evidence of excellence • Use believable or convincing language • Introduce price in middle of letter • Offer something special when possible • Include envelopes, telephone numbers.
Central Idea of Persuasion People accept what seems to fit their existing values, wishes, and attitudes.
Two Studies • Product Study – Product knowledge about the product. Also comparison to other products. • Prospect Study – Knowledge of people • Emotional Appeals relate to ego, status, and selfsatisfaction and arouse feelings. • Rational/Logical Appeals relate to logic and intellect and provide tangible information.
Rational Appeal • Effective with wholesalers and retailers • Physical or factual description of product in terms of its makeup and appearance: composition, dimensions, and shape • What it will do for them!
Emotional Appeal • Spontaneous desires appeals to senses, social instincts, and elements of human nature--satisfies a desire. Sells People Not Products!
Sales Formulas • The most basic structure for persuasive letters usually has four parts, commonly known as the AIDA formula for sales presentations: • • AIDA- Attract the reader’s favorable attention Arouse the reader’s interest Create desire and convince the reader Make clear the action the reader needs to take.
AIDA Formula A Gains favorable attention by drawing the receiver into the “conversation” of the message with a topic-relevant opening. Encourages further reading or listening. I Introduces information to create and maintain receiver interest using an emotional, logical, or combination appeal. D Offers details focusing on receiver benefits to stimulate the desire to respond favorably. A Motivates receiver action by providing an easy, dated response or some other incentive.
Sales Formulas • Gain the reader’s attention. • Rhetorical question • Thought-provoking statement • Unusual fact • Current event • Anecdote • Direct challenge
Examples of Faulty Communication Here actual classified advertisements that have appeared in newspapers. • For Sale: 1988 Cadillac hearse, body in good condition. • For Sale: Large great Dane. Registered pedigree. Will eat anything. Especially fond of children.
More Sales Bloopers • Auto manufacturer: “Buy a (model) and You’ll never buy another. • Laundry/cleaners: “Don’t kill your wife let us do your dirty work for you. ” • Launderette: “When you finish washing, remove all your clothes. ” • Classified Ad: “WANTED: used car for an elderly man in good condition. ”
Attention (promise; start) • Begin with a relevant statement or a challenging question that entices the recipients to read on because they want to know. • The starting point begins with the envelope--color, enticing words, fonts, handwritten addresses, announcements.
Interest (picture; chain) • Build upon theme in the attention getting opening. Begin to tell what your project, product, service, or idea is and what it will do for the reader. • Describe it in two ways: – Physical description – Value or benefits to the reader (appeals)
Desire and Conviction (prove; chain) • Readers will desire to do as you request and be convinced if you present proof. • Give evidence your statements are true • Include needed facts, pictures, figures, testimonials, tests, samples, guarantees, etc. • Be aware of your legal responsibilities for truth.
Action (push; hook) • Clearly state what the reader should do to comply with your request and gain benefits. • Make action easy – reply form, envelope, phone number, location • Induce reader to act now or within a certain time • End on reader plug which may tie in with your opening attention statement.
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