Politicians get it. Why don’t business owners?
Persuade customers to take action.
Why is it that politicians know how to use words to effectively persuade their audience and obtain results while many business owners don’t seem to understand the importance of words? Through trial and error, politicians have come to appreciate that one word can mean the difference between success and failure.
“When California’s conservatives wanted to define the word ‘marriage’ by law, Proposition 22 was added to the California ballot. It was officially titled the “Defense of Marriage Act.” As the date for voting drew near, it became apparent that the proposition was going to lose by a wide margin. Finally, a wizard said, The meaning of a word is always bigger than its definition; words carry associations. The word ‘defense’ is a violent word, conjuring associative memories of ‘national defense’ and ‘defense budget.’ It makes us think of Vietnam and bloodshed” With just a few weeks to go, the new ads began talking about “Proposition 22, the Protection of Marriage Act.” – Roy Williams, Magical World of the Wizard of Ads.
Protection of Marriage Act won by a landslide. “Protect” and “Defend” may mean the same thing in a dictionary, but they’re profoundly different in the mind.
Politicians can test and measure the results of their message within a short period of time. They can see how voters respond to their campaigns and fine-tune their copy in the middle of a campaign. Sometimes, the smallest of changes can have a big impact on the final outcome.
“In the biggest of campaigns, we are running tracking polls nightly. At the Congressional level, we are doing it weekly. We literally see if the ad moves the needle almost instantaneously.” – Brett Feinstein, Political Campaign Strategist.
What words are you using to persuade potential customers to take action? Are your salesmen using them?
Happy holidays! See you next year!
Thank you to Jeff Sexton for helping us out with this article.
Morty Silber, CEO
Mad Strategies Inc.
a Wizard of Ads Partner