When things don’t go your way, add a little bit of persuasion.

The Necessary Art of Persuasion

Entrepreneurs must practice the skill of persuasion, often known as the ability to persuade people to see things the way you do, from the moment they come up with their new business idea. The correct partners must join you in developing the solution, the right investors must provide the funding, and the right customers must agree to purchase it. Only a portion of their efforts and abilities go into effective marketing.

The ability to persuade others, such as getting them to adopt a certain set of views, is known as persuasion. In business, persuasion involves demonstrating to potential customers why their needs depend on your goods or services. Marketing strategies are a collection of techniques and instruments used to influence people to do a certain action.

Before getting ahead of yourself, let’s run through the motions first.

1. The carrier of the message is vital. Depending on the messenger, different people may respond more or less strongly to the same message. The perceived authority of the source is key, so make sure to back up your knowledge!
2. Know your audience. Knowing the intended audience enables you to make statements that have more impact. Try to grasp their needs, interests, desires, and values, whether they are clients, partners, or employees.
3.  Know what message you’re selling. Your message can be conveyed in various ways, like orally, in writing, in audio, or visually. Pick and choose the best fit for you. That’s the best starting point.

Persuasion runs through many different dimensions. If you’re interested in mastering the art of persuasion, think about it from each angle: emotional, and rational.

Rational persuasion

Some audiences are persuaded by rationale and facts. If you’re in an industry that is based on hard sciences, this is especially relevant. Even if you are in a creative industry, a message carries more weight when it is backed up by facts and rationale.

Let’s explore an example. Imagine that you are pitching a marketing strategy to an art gallery. The strategy is very international, where audiences from around Europe can pitch in their artwork in a competition, where the winner gets to showcase their work in the next Biennale.

Don’t: We have a strong feeling that this communication strategy will resonate with your audiences since art is international in nature and should cross boundaries.

Do: We find that art festivals get attention across boundaries, especially in the European context where travel is fast and convenient. This is also backed by our experiences with a previous consumer, where an open art exhibition got art pieces from 15 countries. 85% of art purchases take place at international gatherings, suggesting that this is the right direction to take our strategy in.

Emotional persuasion

People tend to be more likely to take action when their emotions are rather intense. In order to persuade your audience, you should think about the emotional dimension of your pitch and message. Playing with emotions will entice your audiences to take action!

Persuasion is an art form. Your primary responsibility as a business owner or entrepreneur is to persuade. Every day, you engage in the art of persuasion: whether it’s persuading people to work for you, stick with you, buy your products and services, collaborate with you, and much more. In truth, some degree of persuasion plays a role in practically every element of business.