How Brand "Persuasion" Works

Persuasion is not ever really about persuasion. Brand’s don’t twist someone’s arm, they don’t really even change someone’s mind.

To be persuasive is to identify an idea that matters and frame it in a way that someone feels compelled to follow or find true. Your brand’s product and story helps someone connect dots, with meaningful-to-them context.

Process is also of little value to people. People care instead about outcomes, and “fine points” on a story.

When people believe in conspiracies, the details matter little, except for those few details that stand out as important. Questioning the entire process goes nowhere because people don’t care about process, just outcome or stance.

It helps to understand that helping someone recognize their dreams, and demeaning their enemies, is the surest path to “persuasion.” This is because you’re not sharing anything new, you’re simply reinforcing something that was already there. Brands position against an “Enemy” because it helps set the context for why someone should care. If they also see them as an “enemy” you start to build a bridge.

Like the movie Inception, brands that succeed never place a totally new idea in someone’s mind.

They build on an existing story, which creates a bridge to a new belief.