HOW TO CREATE PERSUASIVE MESSAGES (PART 1)
Audience Analysis
The first rule of effective communication is to analyze your audience. What will your audience care most about? What can you learn about the people with whom you will be communicating? What kinds of goals and objectives do they have? The key to persuasion is to develop an argument that speaks to your listeners. They probably don’t want to hear about your issues or frustrations or problems – remember, this is not to persuade you. Your audience will always be more persuaded by issues that directly affect them.
So, regardless of the situation or limited time you may have to prepare, your first task is to analyze your audience. Sometimes it can even be useful to do some audience analysis at the beginning of a presentation by directly asking your audience about their expectations and preferences for your talk. However you choose to conduct your analysis, the fundamental lesson is to align your appeals with the values and beliefs of your audience, to “hit them where they live.”
People are convinced to align their attitudes and behavior with those of someone else for three main reasons. Aristotle first articulated these three elements of persuasion, which have changed little since his time in ancient Greece. First, we are persuaded by the personal credibility, or ethos, of a speaker. Second, we respond to emotional appeals, or pathos, in a message. Finally, we are moved by the logical arguments, or logos, supporting a position.
Ethos: Personal Credibility
Sometimes, we accept what people say simply because we believe they know what they are talking about. The Greeks referred to this as ethos, and you might think of it as belief in someone’s ethical and professional character or the belief that the speaker shares your values. You respond to this kind of persuasion when you reply on the expertise of someone or believe your best friend has your best interests in mind.
This is persuasion based on personal credibility. If you ever wondered why it was important to gain and maintain a trustworthy reputation, now you know the answer; so that you have the kind of character that inspires ethos. In fact, research indicates that, as the requests you make require others to do more, your personal credibility becomes more and more important.
Research investigations have discovered some specific ways in which you can enhance your ethos for an audience. First, people find your message most appealing when it is clear that you truly understand them. This means you can develop ethos by emphasizing ways you are similar to your audience. While studies have shown people respond most positively to others like them in age, politics, and so on, it is not necessary for you to share these characteristics with your listeners.
Through small talk, you can often find things you have in common with your audience: a love of sports, growing up in a similar area, or perhaps even identification with a specific type of music. The important thing is to find a bond and reinforce it in the relationship, to remind people that some of your credibility comes from being similar to them.
Another way to enhance your ethos is by establishing your authority or expertise. Significant research supports the argument that people believe, and are persuaded by, testimony by someone perceived to be an expert. People defer to others’ expertise in matters where they either lack sufficient knowledge or background to make an informed decision or when the issue is simply too complex for them to properly analyze. To capitalize on this, you need to ensure you establish yourself as an expert on your topic of choice.
People will not recognize you as an expert simply because you are the one chosen to speak on a particular topic, so you need to go an extra step to prove your knowledge and skills. You don’t need to go overboard, toting diplomas and other credentials wherever you go. Instead, you can tell stories about your role in solving previous problems or explain research you have done that led to your chosen conclusion. These personal disclosures should be made early in a presentation so your audience is primed to listen to your ultimate recommendations.
In short, ethos boils down to expertise and relationships. Expertise involves knowledge and a history of sound judgment. Relationships stem from demonstrating you can be trusted to listen and to work in the best interests of others. While that may seem relatively straightforward, research has shown most presenters overestimate their own credibility. As a result, many speakers ignore these straightforward strategies to build ethos.
On a final note: When your audience has no prior knowledge of you or your reputation, they are likely to determine your credibility partly on the basis of the quality of your presentation. They will also use cues such as how you are dressed, how confident you appear, or how professional your visual aids appear to be. To be sure you have the maximum possible credibility, you need to make certain the quality of your presentation reflects your expertise.
Pathos: Arousing Others’ Emotions
Persuasive appeals that tug at your heartstrings, make you laugh, or even scare you when using pathos to arouse your emotions. This form of persuasion is most effective when speakers use stories and examples that are highly relevant to their listeners, or when listeners’ emotions are aroused in a way that prompts their compliance with the message. There are multiple techniques speakers can use when trying to move their audience to action. Two of these are the use of fairness and storytelling.
The first technique is one of fairness. This technique relies on the universal human tendency for people to treat others as they are themselves treated. Think about how automatic this is: We smile at others when they smile at us; if someone holds a door for us, we hold the door for them; or if someone gives us a gift, we seek to offer something in return.
A classic example of this behavior comes from Hari Krishnas. For years, members of this sect solicited funds in and around airports, with very limited success. Then they developed the strategy of handling small, hand-made paper flowers to people before asking them for a donation. The rate of donation increased dramatically – largely because people felt compelled to pay for a gift they had just been given.
To use this principle to your advantage, remember that people will treat you as you have treated them. Being trusting, cooperative, pleasant, or responsive to others’ needs will encourage others to act similarly towards you. It may be necessary to gently remind an audience of their obligation for fairness, but you can do this by remarking on the history of your relationship with them and subtly recalling times when you provided favors.
Another technique is storytelling, one of the oldest, most powerful modes of communication. Research has found that stories are more convincing to an audience than rational arguments, statistics or facts. Well-told stories can illustrate almost any business concept: customer service, culture, teamwork, decision-making, or leadership. Stories make information more relevant and “richer” to the listener. Those on the receiving end can see themselves in the story and become emotionally charged as the narrative continues. When listeners begin to ask themselves, “Who do I know like that?” or “When did something like that happen to me?” they are hooked.
(Part 2 continues in the next article.)
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