Understand Persuasion to Improve Your Marketing

In today’s visually and connected world you can rarely escape the onslaught of advertising and brand marketing. Billboards, stores, websites, and more impact our every move, and every purchasing decision. Yet, why are some ads effective? Why do people opt for the choices they make, whether in B2B commitments or B2C transactions?

In essence, what exactly is at the heart of decision-making and how can we, as entrepreneurs, understand and harness that process to help market and sell our products?

Many theories abound, but some of the most on-target research comes from Robert Cialdini. A professor at Arizona State University and author of numerous books, Cialdini sites influence as the number one reason behind decision-making.

Marketing, particularly social media marketing, no longer centers on outbound concepts alone. Sure, those traditional ads still garner some attention, but now you must offer something more. Cialdini believes businesses must also utilize the power of persuasion to win clients and customers.

In competitive markets, and with the ups and downs of the economy, Cialdini believes understanding influence is critical. Clearly, his thinking applies to the financial services industry where competition is keen and margins are slim.

Over the coming weeks, my blog will delve into each of Cialdini’s six elements of influence and explain how these persuasion factors affect your financial services business. I’ll go over the basic concepts and provide some industry examples.

For now, here are the topics:
• Reciprocity
• Scarcity
• Consistency
• Consensus
• Liking
• Authority