Research have shown that people will likely be influenced by those with characteristics of honesty, likability, and perceived to be a figure of authority.
Perceived Authority
In the US, studies have found that the symbols of authority are: title, clothing, and luxury cars.
Levine states in his best selling book,The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold
that people with "Dr." before their names are usually seen as an expert. Advertisements and promotional campaigns that have their sales messages conveyed by someone who is perceived to be an expert will definitely increase sales. To show you how complexly bizarre our brains can be; actors who play a role of a medical doctor on screen when promoting a product for an advertisement will almost always increase sales, depending on how authoritative that actor is on screen.Another way pointed out by Levine, is the importance of technical jargon used by experts, or perceived experts. Research have shown that the more jargon used by an expert, the more knowledgeable his/she is seen to be, and ultimately will be more persuasive.
From a mock jury trial conducted by researchers Joel Cooper, Elizebeth Bennet, and Holly Sukel as quoted from The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold
, 'The researchers concluded that when the witness spoke simply the jurors could evaluate his argument on its merits. But when he was unintelligible, they had to resort to the mental shortcut of accepting his title and reputation in liew of comprehensible facts.'The point to note is, as long as a person have credentials, people will generally treat them with respect, and will likely acknowledge their argument fairly.
Now if you were to combine credentials with confidence, you will likely to always get your way. In The Power of Persuasion: How We're Bought and Sold
, there was a experiment done. Phone calls were made to nurses to get them to administer a drug on a patient. 95% of the nurses eventually did as they were told by an unfamiliar voice over the phone who was perceived to be a doctor and who spoke in a authoritative manner to the nurses.Honesty
Moral trustworthiness can be said as the virtue that makes or, more often than not, breaks a person. We all know how difficult it is to gain back trust.
The following are ways stated by Levine to earn trust from your customers, and to acquire new customers:
- Testimonials and Endorsements
- Presenting Propaganda as Education (disguising your sales process as education)
- Presenting Propaganda as News (eg Infomercials. Info=News + Commercial=Sales)
- Coloring the Choices (communicate both sides of the argument, for and against the agenda, the pros and cons of your product)
- The Norman Mailer Technique (Power of prepersuasion. Address objections before they occur. Tell people about your earlier mistakes before your competitors does)
- Presentation Style (Verbal skills, Body language etc)
- The Peer (Recommendations from peers, Word-Of-Mouth marketing)
- The Maven (Using Opinion leaders)
Likability
Often than not we buy products advertised on TV not because of how good the ad was, but because of the movie, sports, or rock star who appeared in the ad.
How much likability depends on how passionate your fans are. If you find your fans tattooing your company logo on the back of their head, and ready to defend you brand name at any cause, you've got it made.
I love to see how passionate Mac fans are. Never in the history of branding can you ever see such a cult-like following. You can say Apple will be around for a long while.
Companies are spending a lot of money improving their image, and always finding new ways for people to identify with them. They use celebrities and advertising aim at 'making friends' with you and I. It's all about being liked, and being trusted.
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