heartharmony.com.au

All copywriters and marketers worth their money talk about creating persuasive copy. After all it makes logical sense that you want to persuade people to buy your product or service … right?

Well hold your horses. Another psychology study report in New Scientist suggests that people may be becoming immune to persuasion, and in fact the more you try to persuade people the more you may be turning them against you.

Specifically – one study showed that if you remind people they vulnerable to manipulation by showing them ads with celebrities or models endorsing products they clearly know nothing about, then they are more likely to be difficult to persuade.

The study went on to show that people who successfully resist persuasive arguments then become more entrenched in their viewpoints; and the stronger, more credible or authoritative they perceive the attempt at persuasion to be, the more certain of their opinions they become.

Phew! Translating it into plain speak – if someone reads some long copy about a product or service such as internet marketing and as a result thinks that all internet marketers are shonks, then they will read all future copy by internet marketers with those goggles on. This means they are harder to convince to buy your product or service, and will be more and more righteous about why they are not buying it. People become more cynical and jaded and less likely to buy your product or service.

So as a business owner what can you do about it? I mean – the vast majority of businesses are run by decent people, trying to genuinely share solutions to people’s problems.  If people are cynical and jaded about your product – how can you convince them to buy?

Well to start with – be 100% honest and ethical in your dealings and your marketing so all your claims are valid and justifiable. That’s a given.

You will also want to rethink the celebrity endorsements and bikini clad models draped across your equipment. These are likely to give you more harm than good.

Then there’s the technique called so flatteringly “chunking” – where you start by presenting positions that are closer to people’s viewpoints and then gradually bring them up to your view. You have to do this carefully as if you actually label their belief that “all internet marketers are shonks” before countering it in your copy, you are likely to just reinforce their opinion rather than move their thinking.

You could also remember that when people feel good about themselves that they are more open to messages that challenge their current mindset. So no starting your copy with doom and gloom, or negative stories if you have encountered persuasive resistance. Start by building self esteem and confidence and you will be more successful.

Finally you could decide that you will only focus on attracting clients who do not already have those blinkers in place, and work on good old fashioned persuasive copy.  This works best if you are in an industry that does not already carry wide societal negative stereotypes about the people in the industry (eg: don’t try this approach if you are a multi-level marketer, telemarketer, real estate sales person, used car salesperson). In those cases, you need to work hard on removing the resistance to persuasion before you can even begin to share your message.

One last thing – you may want to remember this study the next time you try and convince your kids about the need to eat their greens or to tidy their rooms, or you could be entrenching some pretty strong viewpoints.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter