The 21 Principles of Persuasion

Friends and associates, Promise Productions Marketing Communications services are about persuasion - getting your message across in a compelling way that opens up for your listener, the opportunity to take a specific action. As a leading Dallas marketing strategy firm, we help our clients reap top dollar profits by effective and persuasive marketing. So, in the spirit of contribution, I'm passing along this well-written and insightful article. To your success, Marcus.

Reprinted from Forbes Entrepreneurs
by Jason Nazar, Contributor
CEO, Docstoc. Making entrepreneurs and small businesses better.


How is it that certain people are so incredibly persuasive? Can we all harness those skills? After  studying the most influential political, social, business and religious leaders, and trying countless techniques out myself, these are the 21 critical lessons I’ve identified to persuading people. This is an overview from a talk I’ve been giving to thousands of entrepreneurs for a few years now on “How to Persuade People.”

THE BASICS
1. Persuasion is not Manipulation - Manipulation is either tricking or pressuring someone to do something that is not in their own interest.  Persuasion is the art of getting people to do things that are in their own best interest that also benefit you.

2. Persuade the Persuadable -  Everyone can be persuaded, given the right timing and context, but not necessarily in the short term.  Political campaigns focus their time and money on a small set of swing voters who decide elections.  The first step of persuasion is always to identify those people that at a given time are persuadable to your point of view and focus your energy and attention on them.

3. Context and Timing - The basics building blocks of persuasion are context and timing.  Context creates a relative standard of what’s acceptable.  For example the Stanford Prisoner Experiment proved that overachieving students could be molded into dictatorial prison guards.  Timing dictates what we want from others and life.  We chose to marry a different type of person than we date when we’re younger, because what we want changes.

4. You have to be Interested to be Persuaded  -  You can never persuade somebody who’s not interested in what you’re saying.  We are all most interested in ourselves, and spend most of our time thinking about either money, love or health.  The first art of persuasion is learning how to consistently talk to people about them; if you do that then you’ll always have their captive attention.

GENERAL RULES
5.  Reciprocity Compels  –  When I do something for you, you feel compelled to do something for me.  It is part of our evolutionary DNA to help each other out to survive as a species.  More importantly, you can leverage reciprocity disproportionately in your favor.   By providing small gestures of consideration to others, you can ask for more back in return which others will happily provide.   (TIP: read  ”Influence” by Robert Cialdini)

6.  Persistence Pays - The person who is willing to keep asking for what they want, and keeps demonstrating value, is ultimately the most persuasive.  The way that so many historical figures have ultimately persuaded masses of people is by staying persistent in their endeavors and message.  Consider Abraham Lincoln, who lost his mother, three sons, a sister, his girlfriend,  failed in business and lost eight separate elections before he was elected president of the United States.

7.  Compliment Sincerely  - We are all so positively affected by compliments, and we’re more apt to trust people for whom we have good feelings.  Try complimenting people sincerely and often for things they aren’t typically complimented for, it’s the easiest thing you can do to persuade others that doesn’t cost anything but a moment of thought.

8.  Set Expectations - Much of persuasion is managing other’s expectations to trust in your judgment.  The CEO who promises a 20% increase in sales and delivers a 30% increase is rewarded, while the same CEO who promises a 40%  increase and delivers 35% is punished. Persuasion is simply about understanding and over-delivering on other’s expectations.

9.  Don’t Assume   - Don’t ever assume what someone needs, always offer your value.  In sales we’ll often hold back from offering our products/services because we assume others don’t have the money or interest.  Don’t assume what others might want or not want, offer what you can provide and leave the choice to them.

10.  Create Scarcity  – Besides the necessities to survive, almost everything has value on a relative scale.  We want things because other people want these things.  If you want somebody to want what you have, you have to make that object scarce, even if that object is yourself.

11.  Create Urgency  –  You have to be able to instill a sense of urgency in people to want to act right away. If we’re not motivated enough to want something right now, it’s unlikely we’ll find that motivation in the future.  We have to persuade people in the present, and urgency is our most valuable card to play.

12.  Images Matter  – What we see is more potent that what we hear.  It may be why pharma companies are now so forthcoming with the potentially horrible side effects of their drugs, when set to a background of folks enjoying a sunset in Hawaii. Perfect your first impressions.  And master the ability to paint an image for others, in their minds eye, of a future experience you can provide for them.

13.  Truth-Tell  – Sometimes the most effective way to persuade somebody, is by telling them the things about themselves that nobody else is willing to say.  Facing the hard truths are the most piercing, meaningful events that happen in our lives.  Truth-tell without judgement or agenda, and you’ll often find others’ responses quite surprising.

14.  Build Rapport - We like people who we are like.  This extends beyond our conscious decisions to our unconscious behaviors.  By Mirroring and Matching others habitual behaviors (body language, cadence, language patterns, etc.) you can build a sense of rapport where people feel more comfortable with you and become more open to your suggestions.

PERSONAL SKILLS
15.  Behavioral Flexibility - It’s the person with the most flexibility, not necessarily the most power, who’s in control.  Children are often so persuasive because they’re wiling to go through a litany of behaviors to get what they want (pouting, crying, bargaining, pleading, charming), while parents are stuck with the single response of “No.”  The larger your repertoire of behaviors, the more persuasive you’ll be.

16.  Learn to Transfer Energy - Some people drain us of our energy, while others infuse us with it.  The most persuasive people know how to transfer their energy to others, to motivate and invigorate them.  Sometimes it’s as straightforward as eye contact, physical touch, laughter, excitement in verbal responses, or even just active listening.

17.  Communicating Clearly is Key - If you can’t explain your concept or point of view to an 8th grader, such that they could explain it with sufficient clarity to another adult, it’s too complicated.  The art of persuasion lies in simplifying something down to its core, and communicating to others what they really care about.

18.  Being Prepared Gives you the Advantage - Your starting point should always be to know more about the people and situations around you.  Meticulous preparation allows for effective persuasion.  For example, you dramatically improve your odds in a job interview being completely versed in the company’s products, services, and background.

19.  Detach and Stay Calm in Conflict - Nobody is effective when they are “On Tilt” and simply reacting.  In situations of heightened emotion, you’ll always have the most leverage by staying calm and level-headed.  In conflict, people turn to those in control of their emotions, and trust them in those moments to lead them.

20.  Use Anger Purposefully - Most people are uncomfortable with conflict.  If you’re willing escalate a situation to a heightened level of tension and conflict, in many cases others will back down.  Use this sparingly, and don’t do it from an emotional place or due to a loss of self control.  But do remember, you can use anger purposefully for your advantage. That means instead of simply an angry attack (which rarely works), it is an expression of your passion and your fierce commitment to the cause, purpose or outcome you stand for.

21.  Confidence and Certainty - There is no quality as compelling, intoxicating and attractive as certainty.  It is the person who has an unbridled sense of certainty that will always be able to persuade others.  If you really believe in what you do, you will always be able to persuade others to do what’s right for them, while getting what you want in return.

Dallas Visual Marketing Communications - Key To Your Company's Profits

Promise Productions provides visual marketing communications.

Yes we can develop business growth strategies and implement them with content (web, mobile, photo, video).

Often, we come alongside a CEO, to help them realize the vision for their company - filling in the resources, strategy and implementation needed to take their company where they want it to go.

We also develop mobile websites and mobile apps with a view towards our client's profits:

• Get found and chosen by local customers in search engines

• Loyalty Rewards programs

• Facilitate communication between HQ and remote employee (construction, logistics, installers, etc.)

At each new business opportunity, we focus on presenting the value in a compelling way to dominate the chosen marketplace.

I look forward to the opportunity to be of service in reaching your business' goals.

Marcus Kaiser, President

877-858-0071

Brand Engaement - Reality vs Myth

Just take a look at the chart below and spot all the disconnects between what marketers value compared to what consumers value. This is reposted from Steve Olinsky responding to an article in Forbes.

Marketers view consumers’ proactivity via social media as more engaging then consumers do. The inflation of “engagement” in this case has been caused by the ease of social media use and equating online followers with successful marketing. Measurement of social media engagement is an area where CMOs often don’t know what they don’t know.

Fundamental disconnects in how marketers and consumers understand and value engagement tactics may cost marketers great opportunities. The biggest schisms are found in approach to redemption rates, discount codes and loyalty programs. Additionally, marketers’ attempts at personalization and customization engage few consumers. This finding may stem from consumers’ high expectations of what true customization and personalization stands for. 

Younger consumers identify strongly with brands, who have only a partially-developed self-identity and thus view their relationship with brands as a reflection of self. And they approach and interact with them in a variety of ways, from social media to traditional advertising. They don’t necessarily view this as engagement, however. Rather, their view of how they interact with and relate to brands is much more holistic. 

Just take a look at the chart below and spot all the disconnects between what marketers value compared to what consumers value.

Perhaps the most glaring example of a disconnect from the above chart lies in the fact that 49% of marketers rate forwards or shares of ads or other content online as a strong influence on their engagement measures, but just 15% of consumers say they feel engaged or invested in a brand when they share an ad.

So the next time all you marketers out there break into a happy dance because 100 people shared your ad you may want to temper your enthusiasm just a tad as it is not indicative of a consumer who is necessarily engaged with your brand per se.
And you also may want to not take out your dancing shoes just because you grew your Twitter followers by X%.

Different Strokes
From the report:
"Consumers and marketers differ fundamentally in how they define the state of engagement with a brand; what companies consider engaging is not considered anywhere near so by consumers. But this also cuts both ways: some activities that consumers consider highly engaging are seen as less important by marketers. This may be costing companies great opportunities to engage consumers."

The first two results alone from the chart above say it all and if not all, they say a lot. Consumers are creatures of habit, they are human beings which means they want something in return for their engaging with your brand.
From the aforementioned The Major Disconnect Between Brands and Consumers When It Comes to Social Media:

This Is Not Just About Social Media Engagement
The need to engage with consumers extends well beyond the scope of social media. People want the personal touch, they want to know brands understand them and offer the ability to create a brand experience that matches their individual tastes.
Yet that is apparently not happening as you will see another example of the major disconnect between consumers and brands.
From the report:
"72% of marketing executives say that they have personally reached out to customers, but just 9% of consumers say that they feel engaged or invested in a brand because of such gestures. The personal connection has been a cornerstone of marketing strategy."

And since I am such a huge fan of infusing humor into, well just about everything in my life but especially advertising and marketing, I had to share this one final finding from the report which speaks directly to the power of humor to connect and engage.

Sources: Forbes Insights, MarketingCharts.com, Google Images

Why Video Wins in Today's Marketing Equation

To increase your market-share and gain the new customers / clients that make for higher profits, you must win the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of your prospects. That means winning their trust.

Trust-based marketing is most powerfully done through video. Broadband Internet, powerful smart-phones and rich media now means that video communication can present the value of your products and services with an effectiveness like nothing else!

Video marketing is increasingly the deciding factor that separates the market leader from the competition in industry after industry. Video delivers benefits include personalization, competitive advantage and cost-effective persuasion power!

Video, if done from from professional tastefulness and authenticity, can promote trust in your products and services faster than any other marketing method. This is because video marketing does more than tell, it SHOWS what you have to offer.

Here are seven golden ways video marketing outperforms static web content in the competition for the lions' share of the profits:

1. Video Attracts New, Relevant Search Traffic
No conversation about ebusiness is complete without discussing search engine optimization (SEO). Your business cannot gain on a competitor until consumers know it exists and can easily find it organically in the search engines.

Today, businesses that utilize video assets have an almost unfair advantage, since Google is structuring its search engine results to reward sites that include video. According to Forrester, any given video in an index of searchable keywords has a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first page of results than any given text webpage.

It only makes sense to spend 50 times the budget on professional video marketing, optimized and tagged for search engines. Like I said, no other method can say that! There is no better way to reward yourself and your company than giving yourself a professional video profile.

To better promote their video investments and derive the greatest SEO rewards, companies are making videos more accessible to visitors, making overview videos, making videos on specific products and services, making videos that answer customer's questions, and automating video production in order to have video available as soon as new products are introduced.

2. Video Assets Can be Easily Syndicated
That's right; video can be spread and shared online in more places and to more devices that your prospects use than ever before!

Online video is usually channel-blind. By syndicating video properties to multiple sites — including YouTube (the second largest search engine today) — businesses extend their reach to innumerable eyeballs. In addition to traditional channels, online video plays equally well via mobile networks, TV, and in-store screens. It is a cost-effective way to maintain brand consistency and strengthen consumer awareness.

The masses are abandoning TV, or watching video on their smart-phones and iPads WHILE the TV is on! They are not paying attention to cable, to newspapers, but rather to their computers screens, watching more and more online video each day. Why not make your presentation where your audience is eager to listen... and watch!

3. Video Marketing Encourages Sharing
Videos are far more likely to be passed and shared than text-based pages. Additionally, a video thumbnail on a social media platform — Facebook, for example — grabs more attention than static text and often results in more comments, more “Likes,” and more traffic to the brand’s website. When you like or share a video link, a thumbnail appears on your wall and is also seen by your friends.

According to a study from YouBrand, pictures and video within Facebook get engaged with and clicked more often than just text and questions. From every angle, video simply "wins" hands down.

4. Video Engages Site Visitors
Video provides a familiar user interface for site visitors. When videos are properly produced, they captivate your audience. Instead of the need to navigate, scroll and click to access information, the video is a one-stop shop for information. It takes less energy than the hassle of reading and the user is engaged until he or she is ready to follow an embedded call-to-action. Today’s automated video production platforms easily enable this flow, in many cases directing visual and auditory calls-to-action that guide the viewer to a shopping cart.

5. Video’s “Halo Effect” Drives Conversions
The next best thing to a one-on-one demonstration in person from your VP of sales, Video Marketing can give customers an in-depth view of a product or a demonstration that quells any hesitancy they might have about purchasing online.

Moreover, the peace of mind the customer gains from the video seeps into the way he or she feels about the brand and website overall, making both trust and credibility soar! This is essential to gaining market share, especially for businesses that sell products in a competitive landscape.

6. Video Increases Customer Loyalty
Video newsletters are more likely to attract consumer attention. By some estimates, the open rate for a video newsletter is 200% to 300% than for a text-based newsletter. While many brands compete for consumer attention with the latter, those who employ video stand out from the crowd.

These video communications can be personalized for each recipient with individualized greetings, references to previously purchased items, or offers based on shopping history, geography and segmentation.

7. Video Creates Online Personalization
By improving and tailoring the customer experience, online retailers in every sector have increased customer loyalty, conversion rates and average order price. The quality of online personalization continues to rise and in many cases can rival or actually outperform the “live” physical shopping experience.

You have experienced it, I experience it -- you are at the store with a question or trying to compare a product, but the salesperson is either absent, helping someone else, or not knowledgeable enough about the specifics of the item. So shoppers naturally turn online for product reviews, community wisdom that is less biased and more well-rounded than any single salesperson could ever be! Make a video that answers how a product is used and voila -- you just paved the way to a sale... and a rave review that converts into many more sales!

That means video marketing is THE key factor in gaining market share, since consumers increasingly shop online but still express a desire for the personal dimension (the social aspect of in-person browsing).
When prospects go to a store, they get recommendations and help from in-store staff who point them to relevant products -- under more and more rare ideal circumstances.

But Video Marketing delivers this experience online -- literally in the very palm of your hand -- with far less variability and chance. With new technologies that offer personalized video created on-the-fly, ebusinesses can bridge the gap between live and virtual experiences.

8. Video Production Costs Less while its ROI continues to Rise!
Online video clearly has an impact on competitive advantage. But is it feasible for most companies? Thanks to today’s video production technology, the answer is “YES.”

Two decades ago, no, but today, yes. Today we hardly think about the steps required to update or add web content: Images and text are now template-based, database-driven and easier to manipulate than ever. Video production is experiencing a similar change. While many website owners once fought the limitations of manually produced videos — including slow production times and prohibitive costs — today’s solutions are both cost effective and high quality.

Today, online video production dramatically increases a business’s competitive advantage while creating a much more positive shopping experience for the user.

The longer you wait to embrace video, the more money and market-share slips through your fingers – right into the hands of competitors waking up to the power of online video marketing.

Why not put a marketing-savvy Dallas Video production firm to work on your behalf? Call Promise Productions today at 877-858-0071.

Top 2 Business Mistakes

There are Two Primary mistakes that both small and medium sized businesses in Dallas make that keep them in a struggle mode. These are:
1. Not Marketing
2. Not Marketing

Seriously, those without a strategic marketing plan, fail to market and thus stay in a reactionary mode. Either they are slammed with business and so they "fail to market themselves" or business is slow, and they don't have the money to market themselves.

So either they are reacting to the workload and thus too busy to look ahead. Or they are too slow and desperate for the next batch of work, but without the funding or the plan to effectively promote their business.

"Marketing is all about putting a compelling message where your prospects are -- one that clearly shows you value. One that conveys that to use you is to benefit them."

That is where our Dallas business development services come in and where our marketing strategy comes in. Whatever the next step for your business' growth, come to Promise Productions and get a strategic plan we will help you implement for maximum profits. Call 877-858-0071.

Website Visibility - How To Win from Google's Panda Algorithm Ranking

Friends, your website's visibility in major search engines has a lot to do with how many new prospects and business leads you enjoy. New customers are the lifeblood of many companies, which is why Promise Production's SEO / SEM / Website Promotion and Search Engine Visibility play heavily in the marketing strategy we provide to grow your profits.

It is not just your IT department or your Webmaster, but your Marketing that needs to be savvy to the evolutions in search engine marketing. Otherwise, you'll continue to aim at the target where the results "were", not where they are "today." So even if you "win" in your goals, the target keeps moving, so in reality you have missed the lion's share of the profits. Up-to-date marketing strategy is so key, along with search engine optimization, you need smarter strategy to outthink the competition!

Below is an excellent article by that underscores everything we at Promise Productions have been saying. (Nice to find experts that agree, eh?) But seriously, it boils down to a few key concepts that Promise Productions knows exactly how to implement on your behalf:

•  Quality Content  - are your products and services communicated in a compelling way that makes their value stand out to your prospects?
• Video Marketing - are you making video more and more central to getting the message out? This is a win with your customer but also a win in the search engines - but only if you do it the right way!
• Quality Backlinks - how many others are talking about your brand, your products, your services. How many signposts pointing back to your website are there and how relevant  This area has been one of the most elusive to do in an effective and legitimate way with search engines – until now!

Both the Video Marketing and the Quality Backlinks overlap with Social Media Marketing, but as always the exact strategies we provide is what separates winners from losers. Again, these are not just "webmaster tweaks" – they are keys your company's decision makers need to be aware of to inform the entire way you orient your marketing, sales and advertising efforts. 

So contact Promise Productions for expert marketing strategy and implementation to promote your company at 877-858-0071.

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Without further ado, see the below recent article by Titus for a detailed discussion of these matters:

Lately, like many full-time webmasters, I have been spending a lot of my time dealing with the Panda/Farmer Update - Google's major Algorithm Changes which they did in February 2011 with further adjustments in the months following. This update was a major "game changer" since even some very prestigious sites saw their rankings drop and the debate/fallout is still continuing as I write this material.

Figuring Out "Exactly" How Google Ranks Web Pages Has Become the "Holy Grail" of SEO.

Webmasters and marketers have been debating these "ranking factors" for over 10 years now and that discussion will continue far into the future or for as long as Google remains the dominant search engine on the planet.


Rank Local Top 10 in Google
Of course, I have formed my own opinions and views on this matter, mostly from the information I get from running 9 or 10 websites. But mainly I derive the majority of my beliefs from observations of some major "keyword battles" which I have been fighting for about as long as Google has existed.




There are a lot of myths out there. For example, many SEO experts insist you must update your site/pages often. But I have one site which I have barely touched in over 4 or 5 years and it still ranks in the top spot in Google for its targeted keyword phrase "Internet Marketing Tools."




Now I have been constantly building backlinks to this site over the years, but I have not updated it or changed the content much since it was created. I have a few sites which I don't promote with link building and they have dropped off the map in Google.

What this tells me about Google is that quality one-way links is a very important factor in how Google ranks pages. These keyworded links back to your homepage and to your interior pages are extremely important for getting top rankings.




Actually, I would bet the shop, that if you ONLY concentrated on quality backlinks you would achieve those top spots in Google. While, of course, there is no need to ignore the other ranking factors, if you did, and concentrated most of your efforts on link building, you would still get to the first page of Google. At least that is how things were working...


The Panda Algorithm


The Google Panda Update threw a monkey wrench into the whole ranking game. It is more or less, the ultimate filter which can override all the other ranking factors. It finds poor quality content and filters it out or lowers its rankings in Google's Index.




The key here is that this Panda filter doesn't just rank your web pages, it can rank your whole site. In other words, webmasters have to worry about the over-all quality of their sites because if you have too many of what Google believes to be "poor quality pages" then your whole site could drop in their rankings.






If Panda struck your site, then you must take a closer look at all your content and make adjustments so that Panda (Google) perceives it as all top quality material. Also, you have to look carefully at your internal linking structure and avoid excessive "keyword spamming" within your site.


What's out: thinking that having a bunch of links within your own website pointing to a certain page will boost that page's visibility. 


On-page elements must be in order and factors like site load times and speed have become more important. Writing quality, style, spelling, and grammar have also taken center stage. So too has the trust factor. Can your content or site be trusted? There is also an ongoing argument about "bounce rates" and whether or not Google can even measure these? My own opinion on this is that Google can track your every click on the web and has massive amounts of data derived from your usage of their search engine (cookies-R-us), the Chrome Browser and countless programs such as Analytics, Adsense, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, etc. All this anonymous data can be compiled, analyzed and dissected to create their ranking metrics. They would be foolish not to use this data.




Videos are Winners


Of course, I haven't survived on the web for this long without learning a few tricks. You must go where Google is going.

Like many others, I have noticed videos and pages with videos on them weren't hit hard by the Panda Update. Ignoring for the moment that Google owns YouTube, videos have always done well in Google SERPs and Panda hasn't changed that in any significant way.




For years now, I have been enriching my web content and pages with videos - mainly through YouTube - not only because Google owns it, but because everybody uses it. I believe videos are a good way to get traffic and help your rankings plus videos are a form of quality content around which you can build channels and an online community.




Because I believe videos play such an important role in Google's SERPs, I have created several channels on YouTube. And, I just recently created another channel around my main site. These channels contain simple videos and are usually created from my articles.


Hopefully, one major consequence of Panda will be that companies will have to take a closer look at all of their content and filter out the inferior stuff as well as improve site speed, minimize ads, delete pages with little or no real content, fix broken links and make sites more user-friendly. Do all this, not just to please Google, but because having a clean, fast and easy-to-navigate site filled with unique top quality content is a great way to attract more business.




Titus Hoskins owns the copyright to this article.

Dallas Advertising Agency and Strategic Marketing Firm

Promise Productions is a Dallas-based visual marketing communications firm. Our services provide the wisest use of your marketing dollar through customized, strategic visibility in search engines, web site design, social media marketing and video production.

Dallas Marketing Advertising Agency for Print, Online and Events

Our marketing campaigns from small to large, hit the mark so well because they rest on a foundation of online marketing research about (a) what prospects already want you the most, (b) where those prospects are online, (c) the best use of your budget for maximum impact.

From that knowledge, we develop a powerful and creative solution -- in print, in website design, in search engine visibility to reach your audience with a compelling presentation of your company's value. We excel at commercial photography and Dallas video production to, not just tell about, but SHOW what you have to offer.

This makes Promise Productions a premier provider of targeted advertising and marketing solutions to businesses of all types and sizes. Our ability to refine your value proposition and present it online in a strategic way gives your firm an UNFAIR ADVANTAGE over competition -- allowing your company to dominate its marketplace and enjoy the lion's share of the profits.

Promise Productions will help your company:

• Define program strategies using key consumer research
• Reach your best customers and prospects.
• Combine creative talent with emerging media and technology for high quality, consistent, brand communications that resonate with customers.
• Deliver custom marketing programs on time and on budget.

With experience across many industries and types of media, Promise Productions has the insight and skills to successfully manage programs of any scope or scale. Anywhere. Anytime. Our goal is to break through competitive barriers with innovative marketing solutions that deliver superior brand visibility and consumer response.

Pur our value to work for your profits by calling 877-858-0071.