ABOUT PERSUASION
ABOUT PERSUASION
Ultimately, all marketing communications are about persuasion. Convincing people to trust you, to accept your benefits and value, and to take positive action. This is very difficult if not impossible. But consider this approach.
Traditional marketing tries to increase success by segmenting audiences and telling them a uniform message that appeals to the greatest number of prospects. Even when overlaying tracking data, retargeting, or using fancy martech and other surveillance tactics, this is still a blunt instrument for effective persuasion. Online, the average click through rate hovers at less than 1%, and rarely exceeds 10% for verified humans (not bots).
What we know is word-of-mouth (WOM) is the most effective and persuasive communications method. In the past the reason was simple: you knew the person speaking the word. Surprisingly, this trust often holds in social media circles where you might know nothing about the person but identify with, or are a fan of, the influencer.
Perhaps a lesson can be learned from how political and social actors persuade using Loretta Ross’s "circles of influence" theory where an actor divides the audience into "90 percenters, 75 percenters, 50 percenters, 24 percenters and 0 percenters," based on the amount of ideological overlap they share.
Understanding Your Circle of Influence (or Don't Waste Your Time) - Calling In with Loretta Ross https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T11YuEE9omQ
The commercial corollary might be a “circle of engagement” where engagement is composed of loyalty, satisfaction (propensity to switch), language/meaning, and desire/ability to share. Note these percentages are not population sizes and do not add to 100. Think of them as a measure of intensity like a sports fan and brand loyalist.
From inside out as the most to least intense.
- 90% Evangelists are outspoken and engaging of others. These intense loyalists are most effective when engaging Supporters as part of the shared community
- 75% Supporters look like Evangelists but are not action oriented. They share an affinity with Evangelists and are comfortable with communicating outward to Common people.
- 50% Common people are open, flexible, and have an affinity toward engagement but may not be overly consistent in preferences.
- 24% Remote people have little preference or intensity for engagement often because of historical preferences, i.e., our family always did this way.
- 0% Routine people are happily set in their ways and are interested in engaging in the conversation. In practice, these people would be Evangelists or Supporters for another business or concept.
There are 3 take-aways for marketing, innovation, and business growth:
1. Segment your audience using this “circle of engagement” to define loyalty, satisfaction, language, and desire to share with those nearest in the circle. A message to Evangelists would suggest sharing this superior benefit with a Supporter. For example, “Madge the Manicurist” in Palmolive ads or Mr. Whipple for Charmin.
2. Understand that language and meaning change across the segments so an Evangelist uses words that don’t have the same meaning to Common people. This is obvious when talking with die hard sports fans or car enthusiasts. Simple language for Common and Remote people is more approachable and genuine than the shorthand slang of an Evangelist or Supporter who want to hear from others in the club.
3. Apply these learning to increase word-of-mouth sharing, social marketing, and content creation.
At HBxC, our approach to branding and communications is different, and we think it is smarter. Please reach out to us to learn more about applying this knowledge to growing your business.