For their Christmas digital marketing push, Starbucks described a few lattes and mochas as, “Crafted by hand and heart. One sip will warm you up” and Apple discussed “the art of giving.” These campaigns sound natural because they immediately create an emotional connection, which as a byproduct creates not only a sale but a sustainable customer.
Both campaigns are intentional and rooted in the art of persuasive digital marketing. The power of persuasion is one of the most effective marketing tactics, but it must be done right. Above all, persuasive digital marketing efforts can’t be forceful; they need to naturally convey a company’s message, allowing customers to embrace the product or services while hopefully igniting some passion for your brand.
The following are five persuasive digital marketing tactics that my digital marketing agency uses not only for itself but for its clients.
Tell A Story
Storytelling has been and will always be the root of human interaction. A good story makes people feel connected, which is the ultimate persuasion factor. Use storytelling for not only a product or service push, but also for your brand.
When telling your story, keep these three tactics in mind: humanize the conversation, create an emotional connection, and offer value. Think of the Starbucks copy; it was not much in length but conveys a story that immediately humanizes the conversation and builds an emotional connection.
Speak in a voice that mirrors your brand’s voice and use all necessary jargon in your copy. For example, if you're talking to an SEO audience, use language familiar to that audience, such as internal linking, title tags, keyword density, etc. Remember to keep simplicity in mind; some of the best stories say much with so little.
Use Trigger Words In Copy
Lingual psychologists have spent much time analyzing words that quickly engage people, which can lead to an actionable response, such as a conversion. Dr. Robert Cialdini's classic book, "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion," explains how some words trigger more than others. There are a few persuasive trigger words that should be used throughout your digital marketing copy, such as "you," "because," "new" and "free."
By using “you,” you’re speaking directly to the customer and this psychologically develops a personal relationship with that customer, moving his or her attention to how they can work with you.
“Because” triggers reaction; always use this word in the beginning of your copy. It immediately triggers a reactive state and psychologically adds legitimacy to requests. If I was emailing someone about content creation, I would write “use our content creation services because we provide quality and relevancy while catering to search engines.” This immediately establishes a legit reason to what we provide and keeps people engaged for more.
The other two trigger words are “new” and “free.” Psychologically, new and free are attractive because it triggers the brain’s reward center.
Build Authority
Just as trigger words are used immediately, so should anything that builds authority, such as any form of recognition: awards, mentions in articles and content published at third-party resources, such as an article written by your company's CEO or an infographic used in a story.
Brand authority naturally persuades customers, providing a secure feeling for your product or services; again, you’re catering to human emotions. Make sure to highlight any recognition that builds authority across all channels of your online presence: website, social media, newsletters and ads. At LSEO, we establish brand authority by listing awards and recognition, articles published on notable third-party publications, and my book on search engine optimization.
Offer Social Proof
Just as important as building brand authority is offering social proof. Instead of telling a potential customer/client what to do, show them what others did in that situation. The easiest route towards social proof is featuring case studies and online reviews. If you’re an agency, find your best customers and develop case studies about their success and how you helped them achieve that success. For those selling actual products, highlight customer reviews. Social proof is naturally persuasive.
Talk Benefits And How To Avoid Problems
Once you have established a human connection between your brand and audience with the tips outlined above, the next act of persuasion is based on your actual products or services. Highlight the benefits of your products and services and how they will help customers or clients avoid problems.
One thing that search engine algorithms like Google despise is thin and irrelevant content, so when discussing the benefits of using our agency over others, our content team notes that quality and relevance are at the forefront, along with the proper target keywords. This immediately informs the client that they can avoid the major problem of having online content discredited by search engines due to black hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing.
Concluding Thoughts
Persuasion is the ultimate route to a loyal customer base. But you can’t be forceful; rather, you must engage emotions and create customer loyalty to not only your product or service but also your brand. A persuasive digital marketing campaign that incorporates these tactics is sure to garner much more attention over a basic, in-your-face campaign.
