How to Ensure Your Marketing Strategies Are Persuasive

There are several ads that people see in their lifetime that make a huge impact on them and live in their heads rent-free. Even people who were not fond of milk or other dairy products remember the iconic ‘Got Milk?’ campaign, which is one of the best examples of persuasive advertising. Persuasive advertising is not only compelling but also very influential. Grabbing the attention of audiences and conveying the benefits of your offerings is essential for any brand’s success. With so much competition, getting noticed online is getting increasingly difficult for brands. Building ads with persuasive techniques that can leave a lasting impression is something every advertiser wants to do but may not always be successful. You can use any ad builder, but unless you employ the right techniques and strategies, you might not be able to realize your vision.

What Do You Mean by Persuasive Advertising

Persuasive Advertising is a digital marketing strategy that leverages the interests and desires of customers to convince them to purchase the brand’s product or service. These ads do not focus on a product or service or its benefits in particular as a convincing advertisement should successfully invoke an emotional response from users, which leverages the response to establish a positive association with the brand and its offerings. These ads frame the offerings in a positive light, which compels the audience to buy from the brand.

Persuasive ads span three categories of emotion – ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos refers to credibility and ethics, logos refers to reason and logic, and pathos is all about emotions and feelings.

Persuasive Vs Informative Advertising

While persuasive advertising aims to tug at the audience’s heartstrings, informative advertising uses data and facts to appeal to users, convincing them to buy from your brand. Persuasive and informative advertising focus on different types of persuasive techniques, but they both have the same aim of convincing the audience to take certain desired actions. Like all other advertising strategies, informative and persuasive ads have their own sets of advantages and limitations. Brands need to assess their offerings and brand identity to determine the right blend of informative and persuasive advertising that works for them.

Popular Compelling Persuasive Advertising Techniques

When you consider some of the best examples of persuasive advertising, you will notice that there are several adages that make for some of the most popular, well-known, and compelling techniques in advertising. To build the best persuasive ads, here are some techniques that you can consider:

The Scarcity Principle

A lot of value is placed on products or services that people believe to be rare. Having anything that a majority of people just cannot have boosts an individual’s sense of power and self-worth. Using this persuasive technique in advertising creates a sense of urgency and implies scarcity. Using certain phrases, like ‘Limited Time Offer’, ‘Stocks Limited’, ‘Exclusive Offer’, or ‘Only Available for Gold Level Members’ can significantly increase the demand for a product or service. 

Call-to-Value Not Call-to-Action!

It is a well-known fact that a call-to-action or CTA is a vital part of any ad for guiding the audience and compelling them to take the next step. However, a dry “Call Now” or “Download App” is not enough to convince the more difficult or skeptical audiences. Creating ads with persuasive techniques means making sure that the last line of the ad copy is the best one yet. So, it is important to replace those uninspiring calls-to-action with a more compelling copy that offers the audience a glimpse into what their life could be like if they take the next desired step.

The Carrot and the Stick

As a horse moves towards the carrot that dangles ahead, humans too are hardwired to go towards pleasure. Similarly, as a donkey tends to move away from a stick, people tend to avoid pain. In terms of digital marketing, when people come across ads, ‘carrots’ or promises of benefits may fill them with hope and convince them to pursue that possibility. On the other hand, ‘sticks’, or the possibility of loss may evoke fear and make them run away from the risk. However, both types of persuasive ads can help you drive the desired action by resonating with the right emotions, depending on what the ad is for.

One Ad = One Message

Even the most amazing ads with persuasive techniques that work in concept can backfire if the ad is overloaded with details. To hook and engage people and persuade them to check out your entire ad, you need to stick to a single message. Spotlight a product or the best feature of an offer. This will make it easy for the audience to understand the value being offered, increasing the chances of conversions.

Address the Audience in Second Person

You need to accept that your target audience mostly only cares about how you can help them, so using second-person pronouns, like ‘you’, can engage your audience on a more personal level and help them view themselves as a part of the ad experience and narrative you are delivering. When you write your ad copies or ad scripts, using the second-person narration can help you instantly grab the attention of your audience and show them, how you can help them as they imagine their lives better with the product or service you are offering.

Ensure Audiences Have a Sense of Control

The need for control is a necessity for everyone. People need to feel like they are in control of their lives. To give your audience this sense of control, you need to make sure they can choose. If they feel at any point that they are being forced to buy from a brand, they may disengage. Having gone through your ad, they should be able to feel like they have options. That they can go with your suggestion or pick any other path they want to. The ad should convey a ‘feel free’ and ‘no pressure’ attitude.

Persuasive advertising is a great tool for marketers to drive action. With the right approach, you can transform your marketing from run-of-the-mill to engaging, leaving a lasting impression and achieving results. Integrate persuasive ads across all your advertising servers and see your digital marketing campaigns transform.