The 7 Secrets of Persuasion by James C. Crimmins, PhD. has it all. Well, almost all. Criminals go through all the rules, or “secrets,” to persuade their target audience. It turns out that the big general secret is to use emotion, not facts. But what you don’t quite do is go through the process of putting together your own persuasive marketing message.
Let’s put together a marketing message, one that almost any company would use. Then we will take it apart and rebuild it using those 7 secrets.
Let’s think about our initial message. We want to tell people something positive about our business: our services, our products. Then we want you to contact us, maybe get on our email list.
Now, I’m going to explain it a little differently. We want to persuade our target audience. First, we want to persuade them to listen to our message. So, we want to persuade them that we have a solution to their problem or situation. Finally, we will persuade them that they should be on our contact list.
The first explanation will give us a message. The second explanation will give us a completely different one.
Let’s prepare a short marketing message for a sample company. Before you start yelling, “It’s not what my company does,” keep in mind that you can substitute your company names, features, and benefits for those in this generic message, and 99 times out of a hundred, the resulting message it will sound perfect. good. Obviously, I’m putting this in written form, but you could also use it as a script for an audio or video message. Let’s take a look at our sample message.
Original
At CleanCo, we use the Steam-o-mat 5000 to clean residential and commercial carpet installations. When you hire us, you get:
- A team with over 25 years of combined experience
- Organic cleaning solutions that leave no harmful residue
- A system that extracts the greatest amount of dirt and moisture from the carpets we clean
- A 3-month guarantee – we’ll clean any minor stains in the area we repair free of charge
When it’s mission critical you clean your carpets fast and well, call CleanCo. For more information and a 10% discount coupon, please visit our website.
Advantages:
- Company name mentions at the bottom and top
- Guarantee
- call to action
Cons:
- Two calls to action, both weak
- No time limit or deadline
- All done, no emotion
- Two target markets (residential and commercial)
- Fake professional language – “mission critical”
- no testimonials
Now let’s take the guts of this message and use two different emotions to frame the message. We are going to use as many of the 7 Crimmins secrets as we can to craft each message. Please note: the fact that we do not mention the features and benefits of our service in the following messages does not mean that they do not apply yet. Since people buy with emotion and justify with reason, having those benefits is still applicable.
fear
Pet feces. Toxic chemicals. Insect larvae waiting to infect your skin and lungs. Don’t let your rugs make your employees and visitors sick. Keep your costs down by keeping workers healthy and cleaning your carpets every quarter. Steam cleaning isn’t just about beautifying your carpets – you’re improving the health of your visitors, your employees, and yourself! You’ll enjoy a healthier workplace. You will literally breathe better every day. Call CleanCo now to schedule a visit from our team of experts this week.
Advantages:
- 6 of seven secrets (if we add an image or background music)
- End with a strong call to action and deadline
Cons:
- No Secret #4 – Discover information
- The image you add may not be “art” (Secret #7)
pride
Your workplace design is beautiful. You and your employees enjoy working here. But creating a work environment is only the first step. Keep your quality of life and home value up by cleaning your carpets this quarter. You want to provide a clean and healthy work environment for yourself and your employees. Start from scratch by calling CleanCo today. Feel healthier and happier, breathe easier, with a clean carpet under your feet. Your visitors, your employees – you’ll have a better day at work! What is the main reason you do NOT steam clean more often? We want to know! Call now to let us know and to schedule a visit from our team of experts this week.
Advantages:
- The 7 secrets (with image or music)
Cons:
- No testimonials yet
Your task now is to take the above examples and create your own emotional message, aimed right at the gut of your target market!