Direct Response Marketing Copy & Strategy
Communication is hard.
We have to find the right words to express our idea in a way that the other person can decode and understand in their own brains.
Translating our ideas to others is hard. Their own perspectives color their understanding.
I’ve been learning this a lot lately. Continue reading “Never Expect Perfection”
Dinner was going to be late again. The dream of perfect 10 minute enchiladas, sizzling and gooey and crunchy, was only a dream. Much like the other late meals I had been making.
Hoping to improve our weeknight cooking game, my wife and I had picked up an Instant Pot.
We were still learning how to use it. Instant, apparently, Continue reading “Dinner in an Instant”
We choose help people that we like, people that make us happy.
We like people that are similar to ourselves. People that remind us of our best attributes.
Therefor, if we want to be persuasive, we must be likable.
As humans, we mirror one another’s behavior. We reciprocate emotions and we reciprocate favors.
To be persuasive, you Continue reading “Building Rapport for Fun and Profit”
You probably already know how easily life flows when you’re happy. Would you be surprised to know that some people choose happiness? You might even know someone who chooses unhappiness. It’s a lot easier. For the people around them, however, their constant complaining is draining.
Yep, it’s a choice to be happy. It’s not always easy.
We don’t get to choose what happens in the world.
We do get to choose our reactions. As the Tao Te Ching puts it: Continue reading “Creating Your Happiness”
The Secret calls it Living in Bliss.
Tony Robins calls it Living in a Beautiful State.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls it the Flow.
Lao Tzu wrote about Tao, the Way of the Universe, in the 4th century BCE.
Whatever name you give it, when you are happy your life is much better. Time disappears. Everything seems easier.
Imagine a pleasant summer morning. The world seems a bit lazier today. You hear the birds singing as you make your way to work. The sunlight warms your head. You hear your favorite song just before you arrive. Your smile is mirrored back to you by a coworker.
You know it’s going to be a great day. Confirmation bias will help to ensure it. Continue reading “Living with Happiness”
You like things? I like things! It’s hard not to, am I right?
Liking others, and being likable, is essential in the art of persuasion. People don’t help or support those they dislike.
But what if the things that someone likes aren’t capable of reciprocating that affection? They’ll forever support that, too.
People will dismiss an opportunity for improvement or learning if it means they might have to question their behavior… or their access to a favorite treat.
I could never eat healthy — I like cookies too much!
I love my morning Frappachino!*
Well, I don’t smoke that much.
This represents the most insidious of all the Liking: Consumables. Food, soda, beer, drugs.
*It’s 2017 — is Frappachino still a thing? Continue reading “Three Types of Liking: People Liking Consumables (Part 3)”
I decided long ago that I like Coca Cola products.
First, I enjoyed the flavor of Coke. That sweet, sweet fizz… Soon I “liked” everything the company produced. I advocated for Coca-Cola products of all varieties, even the ones I didn’t drink!
By extension, I decided I didn’t like Coke’s rivals. I avoided them, to match my new public identity.
Cognitive science has demonstrated that once someone publicly announces a position on a topic, that person rarely changes his mind. Any new evidence or challenge against that believe will backfire, causing the believer to dig in deeper.
Think about it — how many arguments have you really won? People almost never change their minds! Continue reading “Three Types of Liking: People Liking Brands (Part 2)”
You like cake? I like ice cream, although I’m flexible.
They’re both desserts. They fall under the same utility in classic Economic Theory, meaning they serve the same purpose: dessert!
Yet we all know that people have different tastes and preferences. Even economists understand that we like different things, which can make economic models complex!
In his book Influence, Robert Cialdini identified liking as one of his six (now seven) principles of persuasion.
If we want to persuade and influence people, it’s important that we’re liked and that we like others. It’s essential.
No one wants to help the jerk.
But in the age of Social Media, what does it mean to “like?”
Continue reading “Three Types of Liking: People Liking People (Part 1)”
You can shop for clothes on the British version of Amazon, the clothes are made in Bangladesh, and they’re shipped to your vacation hotel in Peru.
Sounds like a nice vacation!
It’s no secret that our economy is now global. International markets cross borders to supply the demands of humanity.
In the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution changed the workforce in the United States and around the world. Machines that could do the work of 10 people were invented, and then 100 people.
Hardware, slow and lumbering, ate the jobs of the 1800s.
In response to these labor-saving devices, US Americans increasingly became knowledge workers or geographic movers. We push pencils, we pull freight, we move people.
These jobs of the 1900s are quickly disappearing.
Within the coming decade, by 2025, a majority of the 3.5 million trucking jobs may well be automated. 180,000 taxi jobs are at risk. Even more Uber drivers. Retail jobs. Sales clerks. Fast-food restaurant employees. Warehouse pickers.
Many of the traditional jobs of the 1900s are being replaced by robots.
Robots don’t get tired, robots don’t negotiate as a union.
But back then, robots didn’t think.
Now, in the year 2017, we have software. Artificial Intelligence, AI. Software, cheap and infinity reproducible, is eating the jobs of the 2000s. Software that builds computer networks. Software that programs machines of all types. Software that writes software. Coders are eating their own.
The next economic shift is terrifying because we don’t know what the jobs of tomorrow will look like.
What we do know, however, is that there will always be people (until the world melts or freezes or something).
People want direction, people crave excitement, people follow charisma.
Motivating people will always be in demand.
The best way you can prepare for tomorrow is by learning how to work with people, how to influence their attitudes and direct their behaviour. These are known as ‘soft skills’ — and Persuasion Reading List is working to uncover these skills with you.
What do you see in the future?
Will your job be eaten by software automation?
Are you preparing yourself with soft skills?
Leave a comment below!
I’m really excited. Over the next three Tuesdays I’ll attend the Dale Carnegie Course. I hope to learn about social flows and interpersonal skills, and improve my own. And, I expect, I’ll learn about Influence, as Carnegie wrote the book on it in 1936.
