Persuasive Advertising: 7 Persuasive Techniques in Advertising

Persuasive advertising sets out to create a positive emotional response in potential customers via persuasive writing and visuals. This advertising strategy works by appealing to people’s innate emotional drives and urges.

Many marketers believe this is a more surefire way to encourage interest in goods and services than simply providing information and logical arguments. The aim is to create such a positive feeling with the ad that customers feel more open and willing to answer the call to action, such as visiting a company’s website or purchasing a new product.

Informative advertising relies more heavily on providing logic-based evidence as to why customers should take a given action, whereas persuasive ad campaigns rely more on emotional appeals.

Consider the example of a college preparation company that wants to bring in new students to take advantage of its programs. Suppose that company took an informative advertising approach. In that case, they might lay out various compelling and rational reasons (ways to save money, etc.) for choosing their company for college prep needs over others. In a persuasive advertising approach, they might run ads saying they’re the best in the business at helping high school students become the people they most want to be (a more emotional and general appeal).

Persuasive ads take finesse to craft, but there are core principles you can keep in mind as you write your own persuasive advertising:

1. 1. Appeal emotionally. At the center of nearly all persuasive advertising is an emotional appeal. Think of ways your ads can create positive emotions in potential customers. Make people laugh. Tap into their innate desires for connection, control, and self-realization. It’s unnecessary to completely forgo logic when creating persuasive ads; however, the emphasis should be on creating a positive emotional reaction to the ad and planting a seed of desire for your unique goods or services.
2. 2. Balance pleasure and pain. Decide on what desired action your ad should lead a customer to take, then show them why that action will lead to maximized pleasure and minimized pain. For instance, think of an ad that starts slowly, showing five-star customer reviews, and then moves much faster while an upbeat and popular song plays in the background. This shows how happy your product makes people. At the end of the ad, you could mention there’s limited availability for this high-value product of yours. This creates a sense of urgency via the scarcity principle, while also insinuating your potential customers will lose out unless they act fast.
3. 3. Build positive associations. Tap into the ethos (or credibility) of popular, well-liked people by getting them to tout your brand. This can range from positive endorsements and testimonials from people in your local community to a nationally recognized celebrity spokesperson. Both small businesses and large corporations can benefit from reaching out to influencers like this to create a positive association between their own personal brands and your product or service.
4. 4. Demonstrate concrete value. Even though you should place a premium on appealing to emotion, you still need to find some way to demonstrate the innate, tangible value of your product. Anchor any positive images or clips with a tie-in to what you are actually selling. Also, be sure to include your contact information, such as a web address or phone number, so your potential customers can act immediately.
5. 5. Keep things simple. Try to keep your ad copy short, sweet, and to the point in addition to being emotionally impactful. This type of advertising works best as a marketing strategy when you refrain from overcomplicating things. Focus on a specific product and give one extremely compelling reason customers should desire it.
6. 6. Make customers feel special. Use a variety of persuasive techniques to make potential customers feel special. Sometimes it’s necessary to do research ahead of time to accomplish this. For example, ask members of your target audience which appeals to them more: being part of a group or being a unique trendsetter. This will help you determine whether your ads should make someone want to join the bandwagon (i.e. “Everybody’s buying our product”) or strike first (i.e. “Be one of our first customers to take advantage of this exclusive offer”).
7. 7. Use humor. Making people laugh is one of the most tried-and-true persuasive advertising techniques. It immediately creates a positive feeling about your product. As an example, imagine a ketchup brand that runs a print ad. In the advertisement, their own ketchup is at the finish line of a marathon while other competing brands of ketchup are far behind in the distance. The copy might read as something like “No matter how hard they try, they just can’t ketchup to us.”

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