In our short marketing course today, here’s a quick look at 8 simple ways to boost the persuasive power of your marketing. Mastering this will help you increase the number of people who actually buy from you or become your clients, while reducing the risks and stress of a growing your business.
As most of us taking today’s short marketing course know, generally people don’t buy from you simply because you ask them to. Usually, certain emotional triggers must be fired for someone to make the actual decision to spend money or try something or someone new.
In today’s short marketing course I’ll show you 8 marketing triggers that build credibility for products and services.
They are:
- Demonstrations
- Affiliations
- Testimonials
- Emotional Engagement
- Specifics
- Frame-of-Reference
- Statistics
- Analogies
First in our short marketing course is DEMONSTRATION.
Providing a DEMONSTRATION of how your product or service works can build tremendous credibility and go a long way to persuading someone to buy from you.
If you have a physical product, actually getting it in the hands of your prospect and letting him or her feel it or see how it works, can help the buyer to sell himself or herself in a way that simply using words and pictures often cannot. If you have a service, providing a free sample could help in the same way.
Do you have a dramatic way you could demonstrate your product or service to clients?
AFFILIATIONS are people, organizations and associations you are somehow connected with. It could be your membership in a trade association, someone who recommends your product, or simply a client on a client list.
Crest toothpaste became the industry leader in a large part because they were the first to be given permission to put the “crest” of the American Dental Association right on their packaging, showing they were approved by this prestigious organization.
Is there some person or organization you could use in promoting your product or service?
As many of us in today’s short marketing course know, TESTIMONIALS can be valuable by showing that someone else has found your product or service to be great.
Although not essential, if you could get a testimonial from someone noteworthy, a celebrity or someone respected in your industry, that could certainly add to your credibility.
Video testimonials or at least photos of the people giving the testimonials, can also build credibility for what you are offering.
And here’s an important tip not often mentioned in marketing courses.
Do be careful about putting too much contact info for the people who give the testimonials as they may get an onslaught of people contacting them to get direct feedback. We had someone famous in the dog world who eventually asked to be taken off a testimonials list because so many people were calling her.
Next in today’s short marketing course on boosting the persuasive power of your marketing is EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT.
That means, for the presentations and demonstrations you give, the ads you create and the words you use, be aware of the emotional impact on your customers.
Surprisingly, many people in my neighborhood were distressed when they learned that a Hooters restaurant was opening nearby. The name alone was enough to raise the emotions of some people. When Chevrolet introduced their Nova cars, they didn’t realize that in Spanish, NO-VA means doesn’t go. Probably not the best name for a car brand.
When President Reagan wanted the public to approve a missile defense system he was proposing, he called it the Peacemaker Missile, to make it sound friendly. If we were competing with him, we might cal it the Babykiller missile. See how certain words or names can engage or inflame people. So be sure you select words and product names that turn people on to your products or services.
Next in today’s short marketing course on boosting the persuasive power of your marketing is SPECIFICS, meaning, don’t generalize.
It’s better to say 46.2% of people love our product, than to say about half the people love it. The exactness of the number makes it more believable. Similarly, it’s better to give specific measurements, colors, and details when describing your product or service.
By the way, 94.3% of all statistics are made up on the spot… By the way, that’s a joke.
FRAME-OF-REFERENCE means, let people know how your product or service fits in with something they already know.
For example, going on a cruise is like going to a hotel where every time you open your door, you’re in a different city.
See how that works.
Connecting your product or service to something people already know, and explaining how yours is a little different, helps your customers quickly understand what you are offering, and how it might be something they want.
What could you compare your product or service to, that would make it easier to understand what it is and why it’s great?
Next in today’s short marketing course on boosting persuasive power of your marketing is STATISTICS.
For example, learning that Americans discard 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour is pretty powerful. Adding the FRAME-OF-REFERENCE to it makes it even more impactful — Americans discard 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour—enough to reach the moon every three weeks. Isn’t that powerful?
What statistics could you use for your product or service?
And lastly in today’s short marketing course on boosting persuasive power of your marketing is using an ANALOGY.
This is where, like frame-of-reference, you give people a comparison to make some complex idea easier to understand. The bible uses parables in the same way, creating a story to bring to life some important concept.
I heard someone explain, even if they go crazy and do all the oil drilling they want in Alaska, the amount of land that will be affected is equivalent to a postage stamp on a football field.
How could you describe your product or service? Using ours is like…
Although you probably wouldn’t use all of them, the point of today’s short marketing course is, these eight credibility boosters can really be valuable in helping you build more effective ads, emails, web pages and presentations.