August 26th, 2007 by Kelly

I’m reading Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini. I’ve been reading a chapter here and there for quite some time. Right now I’m reading about how we are taught as children to respond to authority without giving it much thought. Reacting and not thinking. Cialdini calls it the authority principle.

Authority figures, starting with our parents and teachers when we are young children, control our environment and our safety. They know more than us, they are looking out for us, and they punish as well as reward us either listening or not listening to them.

These authority figures control our live so much so they we soon follow directions by reacting rather than thinking about it. We don’t HAVE to make a decision when these people tell us to do something, so we don’t. We blindly follow directions.

As we mature we continue to have authority figures. Our bosses. Law enforcement. Judges. Medical doctors. Because we have been trained to follow their lead for so long we develop what Cialdini calls “automatic obedience”.

We don’t think when an authority figure tells us to do something, we just react. We follow their directions without putting any thought into ourselves.

What’s worrisome about the authority principle for us, the consumer, is if the authority figure makes a mistake no one in the “lower hierarchy” thinks to question it — because “once a legitimate authority had given an order, subordinates stop thinking in the situation and start reacting.”

Good information for me the consumer — what about me the copywriter? How does the authority principle affect my copy? Let’s take a look at this phenomenom a little deeper.

In your copy see how and when you can use authority figures that your reader would automatically know to trust. This can include the obvious things like testimonials. You can also use authority figures throughout your copy and in graphics. Cialdini goes on to show examples of how advertisers use “the appearance” of authority to persuade.
For example, actor Robert Young who played Dr. Welby on a tv show sold tons of Sanka coffee for several years talking about the benefits of a decaffinated coffee.

 Other studies he conducted showed people dressed in business suits, people with titles, police uniforms, priestly black, hospital clothes, etc.

Use this knowledge and your creativity to integrate the authority principle into your copy writing.

Kelly Robbins
The Copywriting Institute
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com

August 24th, 2007 by Kelly

I taught an 8 hour class last week, writing copy in the healthcare industry. There were about 10 folks in the class which I did for a national healthcare association.

 The biggest problem they seemed have was not focusing on the features of their services and conferences.

For example, on the cover of a brochure they were working on they had bullet points for each of the different things you got for attending a regional conference. Here is me making up an example

—concurrent tracks
—legislative news
—networking
—continuing ed. credits
—etc.

What we really want to talk about on the front of this brochure is what benefits participants will get. And tools for them to sell paying for this to their boss. What they could do is say….

—best practices for maximizing your offices’ ROI
—how legislative issues effect your practices future–and what you can do about it
—opportunity to learn what’s working, and what’s not, in other bus. around the country.

I am just throwing these out here in two minutes. You could probably come up with something better than this. But do you see the difference here?

As a copywriter, your job is to take the factual bullets on the front page and turn them into benefits your prospects have to have.

Happy Copywriting!

Kelly Robbins
www.TheCopywritingInstitute.com