C Notes Newsletter Issue 13

Logos, Ethos & Pathos

Building Persuasion Through Your Brand and Speaking Truth to Consumers

Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds:

[ETHOS] Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think 
him credible.

[PATHOS] Persuasion may come through the hearers, when the speech stirs their emotions.

[LOGOS] Persuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or an apparent truth by means of the persuasive arguments suitable to the case in question.*

Examine and embrace each element to enhance the essence of your brand.

Personal Character. A brand builds character through a long-term building of its reputation. Over time, consumers tend to associate character traits with a brand (similar to an individual’s personality) that can serve as momentum to building an elite name. Understand your market and speak in a language that builds trust among 
your audiences.

Stir their emotions. Your brand must speak to the hearts and minds of consumers. Emotional appeal can (and will) be the strongest form of persuasion. To gain this appeal, your communication must establish and maintain the connection gained from your brand’s reputation (ethos) which will eventually be internalized emotionally (pathos) until your message is ultimately established as truth (logos, continued below).

Speech itself. Notice the rich etymology of the word logo - logos is logical appeal, and indeed the term logic is derived from it. When selecting a logo, ensure accurate and ‘truthful’ communication to your audience. The speech itself can occur in any form of brand-building, advertising, or marketing. Through all of its communications, a brand must constantly seek to provide ‘truth’ or ‘apparent truth’ while persuasively convincing consumers to buy and use your brand.

*Wikipedia.org

The Hidden Cost of Using Big Words

Save the 50 Cents for a Cup of Coffee!

Like many professionals, those working in marketing and advertising possess an exclusive vocabulary. Often the English and Writing majors who end up in the marketing field want to flex their linguistic muscles developed in college. While such language may have a home in the ivory tower, the real world results are often counter-productive.

Perhaps you’ve had the experience when speaking with your doctor or lawyer. He or she drones on for what seems like an eternity until you finally say, “Ok, what does that mean in laymen terms?” Or perhaps you are lucky enough to have the doctor or lawyer who tells you exactly what you need to know in the simplest and more concrete terms.

Writing in advertising and marketing requires speaking to

the grandest ‘laymen’ audience. One can never know precisely who and how many will be exposed to your message. The more clearly your product or service is communicated, the more likely it is your brand will invite, grasp, and persuade your customer’s attention.

Another pitfall of using professional jargon and an inflated vocabulary is alienating yourself from your potential customer. This applies to web content, print media and individual verbal communication. Purposefully using ‘50’ cent words may come across as condescending or elitist toward the potential customer. In the least it will simply confuse your audience forcing it to seek out that which makes sense.

Language exists so that communication can occur. Ironically, those with the greatest knowledge of language often fail to communicate. Keep it simple.

The Creative Process:

Rain With a Chance for Severe Brainstorms

Are some born creative while the rest of us are left to roam the wilderness of dullness and unoriginality? Not necessarily. Creativity is, in essence, about thinking less instead of more. The creative process, via brainstorming sessions, can turn even the least inspired into idea-maestros.

The group dynamic in creativity is a lot like building with Legos™. Individually, we are each a single piece, a non-descript cube with the potential to build something bigger.

We are seemingly an object whose single purpose may be inflicting great pain when stepped on by a groggy parent’s bare foot in the early morning hours. Eventually, each individual idea can connect and lead to other ideas. Eventually, a few scattered pieces (or ideas) can become more than you initially imagined.

The Process

The environment. Create a relaxed atmosphere where everyone on the creative team can openly express ideas and communicate with one another. The key is an environment without boundaries, filters and hesitation.

Every idea is brilliant. Even if it seems silly, arbitrary or unimportant, every idea is vital. Oftentimes, the ideas may eventually be discarded, but the process

itself leads to paths that no one would have discovered otherwise.

Write it down! Have everyone state their idea out loud and write down his or her idea on a card. Many times one ‘general’ idea will branch-out to many tangents. Use bigger cards for ‘broad’ topics and smaller cards for points within that idea.

Create order out of chaos. As creative minds gear up, you’ll begin to see new directions taking place. Guide ideas into cohesive and related categories. This step will hone and fine-tune the focus of the group.

Know when to say enough. Eventually, you’ll begin to smell the carcass of the horse your team has been beating. Even the most brilliant minds eventually come to a point of diminished return. It doesn’t mean there are no more ideas to be found. There comes a point when the mind continues to run through the maze of ideas finding only walls. Take a break. Stand back and appreciate the ideas generated.

After the storm. Now that your team has created stacks of ideas, it’s time to use your instincts. Chances are, certain ideas will begin to stand out from the pack. It is through this final step where the ‘winner’ will be found.

Ideas are ubiquitous. Ignite your team, weather the storm and catch ideas as

they rain down onto your collective umbrella. Sometimes all it takes is one idea to spark an entire strategy or launch a campaign. Now, gather your team and prepare for the forecast..