(Image courtesy Yoann Boyer on Unsplash)

Powerful marketing relies upon emotional appeals. Although, as an intelligent, cognitively complex person, I would like the world to rely on logic, it does not – and I can’t proffer logical arguments to increase sales for my content clients. These emotional industry tricks are the route to profitability:

• Make them like you. Experts find that listeners are persuaded if they like the speaker. This can explain many political quagmires: They like him. Charisma. Attractiveness. Friendliness. Shared attitudes and values. It’s called the Halo Effect – and it’s a powerful cognitive bias. Shake hands. Kiss the baby. Authenticity (or whatever role you need to play) wins them over. This is the reason personal and company branding is vital. Be the brand your target audience will like.
• Trigger consistency. If you do it once, you’re likely to do it again. A consumer will feel cognitive dissonance if she goes to any other coffee shop besides Starbucks. She always goes to Starbucks. Humans like to feel sane – and changing up one’s actions is hard. We feel insincere. Inauthentic. So loyalty programs are popular. People like to be rewarded for doing what they do naturally. After a town council meeting, for example, I got audience members to sign a pledge that my idea was a good one. When it came time for a vote, to remain consistent, they had to vote for it. Indoctrination 101.
• Offer favors. People give to those who have given to them. Free samples. Free trials. (And, once a consumer uses the service or product, psychological consistency – needing to feel sane by staying true to one’s actions – will bring the consumer back again and again!) Offer a free service or free advice.
• Offer social proof. People like to think they think for themselves. For most people, it’s not true. They are sheeples on leashes and will only do or not do if they can follow another. Use testimonials. For those who are leaders, use testimonials from other leaders. Popular is proof in our emotional world (others like her… see above).
• Be the expert. The more credibility you have, the more people will follow you, yes. But you want to be the authority on a subject. When your audience is just following orders, you win.
• Create scarcity. If the consumer thinks he or she has to act fast (scarce time), or will miss out (limited amount), the product or service becomes more desirable. We see this in FOMO. Humans have evolved to compete for resources. Scarcity drives any human to demand.

Read Robert Cialdini’s book to master these practices.