by Jeff Tippett
7. Create a sense of urgency
Use a countdown clock on a landing page. Announce the point at which you’ll “take away” the offer. Using time-sensitive words is another way to do this.
8. Use a singular call to action
Oftentimes, there may be several actions you want a person to take. But it’s best to present them one at a time (“Sign our petition,” “Share on social,” “Like us on FB,” etc.).
9. Use strong, precise, punchy language
Too often, CTA’s are mushy. This type of language actually hinders your ability to persuade. Betsy Talbot, on her site BetsyTalbot.com, offers some great examples of revising mushy language into strong language:
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10. Reduce risk
It’s not unlikely that your audience is weighing out the benefits of taking the action against the risks involved. Think through those potential perceived risks. Then find ways to reduce or eliminate them.
Could you offer two weeks for free? Money back within the first thirty days?
Your goal is to eliminate anxiety, allowing the audience to make the decision worry free.
11. Establish scarcity
We all want what we can’t have. Your audience is much more likely to want what you’re offering if they’re concerned there may not be enough for them. In fact, it’ll make them want it more if they fear (emotion) they won’t be able to get it.
12. Power of a crowd
Social proof can be one of the greatest tools in developing an effective CTA. If others are doing something, we tend to want to do it. So think through the power of the crowd to see how others could help persuade your audience.
13. Make it easy
People are busy, and all around them are distractions. Once they’re ready to follow through on your CTA, make it as easy as possible to close the deal. This is extremely important with digital purchases. Keep all unnecessary roadblocks out of the way.
With these tools in your toolbox, you’ll have exactly what you need to craft a call to action your user can’t resist. Just be sure to figure out which one(s) will work best for your audience.
Ready for the next step? Let’s talk about how to become an industry expert.
Questions for Reflection
“Asks” are often fuzzy, unclear. What defines a “clear” ask?
Think back to the simple message you created in the reflection section of Chapter 3. What is it you want your audience to do?
Can you think of instances in which you may have multiple calls to action? If so, how would you move users through them to get the ultimate action you want?
When looking through your call to action, have you clearly defined its value to your audience?
Have you focused on sales features or the problem you solve?
One of the most significant elements of persuasion gets overlooked—and it really shouldn’t.
That element is this: Becoming an industry expert is your secret weapon in rising above your competition.
First, a word of caution: Never consider yourself sufficiently expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.
Earlier, I discussed the steps that anyone should go through in the buying process. To recap: When closing a deal, I operate in three steps: know, like, trust. These steps must be well-defined and carried out in order.
One of the most potentially valuable tools in gaining that ultimate trust is establishing industry expertise. As the expert, most likely, people will instinctively trust you.
You’ve probably heard the saying: “It’s all about who you know.” Well, I disagree. I think it’s more about who knows you and what they think of you.
People often consider a corporate or personal brand to be a logo. It’s not. Actually, a brand is held by others. A brand is how others perceive you or your company. And your role is to give them clues, as to how you want to be known.
A logo is one of those clues. But so is your messaging, your photos, your color palette, your facial expressions and body language, your publications, and more. There’s a wide range of clues that potential clients use to frame up your brand.
And perhaps the most potent means of conveying clues to the people you’re trying to persuade is to be viewed as that industry expert.
This isn’t about gaining a mass audience; it’s about establishing yourself within your targeted audience. And there are so many resources at your disposal to gain and maintain that trust.
I’m presently working with a wellness group that has asked me to design a curriculum for wellness experts who are embedded in a company. The objective is to help raise their profile within that company. It’s a niche area, and the trick is to arrive as the expert—someone to be trusted. They’ll then seek you out, rather than vice versa: “He’s the guru; he knows. I want to know more.”
Establishing yourself as an industry expert means you’ve mastered your niche area of expertise, found your targeted audience, and you understand how to reach it with compelling messages—in your own, unique voice.
Ever listen to Gary Vaynerchuk or Grant Cardone? They have very distinctive voices. A distinctive tone sets you apart from everyone else in this crowded field; it builds trust and helps determine how you’ll persuade.
Finding your voice will come over time. But you need to start where you are and allow your voice to reveal itself through your work. Then, once you’ve embraced your true voice, I encourage you to keep it consistent. Be you. You’ll discover your own unique ways of communicating ideas to your audience.
So how do you get there? How do you become the industry expert? Here are three critical steps.
1. Understand your skills.
What expertise do you have? What are you good at doing?
What do you love to do? What are your top three strengths?
I’m convinced we all have areas in which we know more than others. Let’s frame it up this way: What issues do your skills solve? The answer should fall into one of three buckets: health, wealth, relationships.
There’s a lot of competition out there, a lot of noise, and making your voice ring through the noise din is no easy task. You have to differentiate yourself, or as Nilofer Merchant puts it, find your “onlyness.” Your voice doesn’t need to resonate with everyone—you don’t need everyone as a client—but you need to find your niche.
2. Figure out you.
Some people refer to this as your unique selling point, or USP. Merchant defines onlyness thusly:
Onlyness is that thing that only that one individual can bring to a situation. It includes the journey and passions of each human. Onlyness is fundamentally about honoring each person: first as we view ourselves and second as we are valued. Each of us is standing in a spot that no one else occupies. That unique point of view is born of our accumulated experience, perspective, and vision. Some of those experiences are not as “perfect” as we might want, but even those experiences are a source for what you create.
Think through your onlyness. If you can’t define it, you’ll never stand out. (Judy Carter’s book The Message of You is another highly recommended resource.)
3. Find your audience.
Don’t let this overwhelm you. Again, it’s not about winning over everyone. It’s not about mass. It’s about niche. You simply need to take o
wnership of a piece of the pie. Look for fallow ground in the market; look for what’s missing. This is where you should consider planting yourself.
My public affairs and communications firm is presently working with an insurance lobbyist, Ben. Ben is already an industry expert. But he’s always worked in public service; he hasn’t yet debuted his expertise in the marketplace.
Ben is respected for his experience working in administrative government, having established himself among his colleagues as an expert on the healthcare and insurance industries.
Ben recognized there is no single source for information on the legislative process addressing these industries—industries that affect us all. He’s identified a gap, a need—one that he’s well qualified to fill.
He understands who his audience is: legislators, healthcare and insurance specialists, other lobbyists, the business community. He has the credibility. But he must first build his brand.
Ben is in a good position: When you’ve gained the expertise, identified your target market, and there’s clearly a gap in knowledge—that’s the trifecta. Now, it’s a matter of getting his message out there: “I’ve been there. I have the expertise. I can guide you.”
The launching point for Ben—as for all industry experts—was defining his space. In their book Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne define “blue water” as the place where you can find success; “red water,” conversely, is the shark-infested zone.
You need to find the place where others are not—your niche market, devoid of sharks. When you find this place, this market, you’re set for success. You’re confident in your skills, you’ve identified your uniqueness, you’ve determined your niche audience. Now, you must capture this audience.
How? For the most part, you’ll do this work online. Most everyone can engage with their market online. There are so many resources at your avail.
For Ben, we are, of course, employing Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. We’re also leveraging Ben’s considerable email database. He’s now putting out a newsletter recapping what’s happening in the legislature. He’s establishing himself as the go-to guy, and he’s building a client base.
I can’t overemphasize the importance of embracing the full potential of your online tools. I meet people from all over the globe every single day through LinkedIn. With LinkedIn, I can hone in tightly on the people with whom I want to connect. I can identify my audience.
I find that people are very open to making those connections through LinkedIn. Typically, they’re using it because they want to broaden their connections. So—assuming you’re adding value and convincing them you’re worth their time— it’s an easy way to connect.
I’m not trying to attract everyone; I’m focusing on those I want to pull in. Just having them as part of my network— and as I regularly post updates—allows me to strengthen my brand and reinforce my message. It’s not like I’m constantly emailing them. It’s like a feather touch.
Each of these online tools has its own particular assets. Twitter, for example, is a great place to get the media’s attention.
If you’re working in public affairs, or anywhere in the political sphere, you’ll learn that reporters live on Twitter. It’s a great way to reach them.
We’ve discussed, in these pages, how to craft a message. Where you take it is equally critical. You have to determine what platform(s) you’ll use to get that message out to your audience. In determining what communications platforms to use, ask this question: “Where is my target market?” Then get yourself out there.
And be mindful that your audience is not only the people you seek out on these platforms but also those who have liked or commented on your posts. As you begin to build content, your audience will grow—exponentially.
Keeping your brand out there is so important. As much as McDonald’s is engrained in our culture, we’re still bombarded each day with ads for those golden arches. As ubiquitous as the Apple logo is in our homes, office, and coffeeshops, there it is, too, unceasingly in the media.
Online tools are noninvasive means of keeping your brand in front of your targeted audience. It takes some work. But the tools are out there, and they’re affordable.
But before you push out your first piece of content, I want you to commit to consistently showing up. You have to be in the conversation, all the time. This is why I love and continue to use scheduled and automated posts. Don’t go ghost on your audience. Show up regularly.
With that commitment, you’re ready to start sharing content. Here are some suggestions.
Post an article. This article can be posted on your blog. If you don’t have a blog, no worries. There are sites like medium. com where you can set up an account in less than two minutes and begin publishing. You can also write a post on LinkedIn or your other existing social sites.
Post a video. Now, I realize that creating a video seems intimidating to a lot of people. You want a level of professionalism that well represents your brand. Producing videos can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, your videos will probably gain more traction if they’re less polished and more authentic—professional and authentic. I encourage you to strongly consider this option.
Record a podcast. You may well find that your target market regularly consumes podcasts. I’m one of those people. Almost anytime I’m in my car, I have a podcast playing. If you decide to move forward with podcasting, check out Clammr for converting lengthy podcasts into short sound bites for sharing on social media.
Broadcast a live event. Facebook Live is currently gaining a lot of traction. It’s a quick, easy way to test messaging—to explore new ideas, see how people respond, and make decisions about building out the content. Why not give it a try?
Share on social media. Hands down, social media is the largest driver of traffic to my website. And Twitter champions all my social networks. I realize social media can be time consuming, and often people question the return on investment.
Since I know it brings value, but I have limited time, I use MeetEdgar to manage my social media. In just a few hours a month, I can upload all my social posts, and I determine the distribution time. If you’re heavy into Pinterest, try scheduling with Tailwind. Or Grum, Kistagram, or Onlypult for Instagram. And Facebook has a built-in scheduler.
Keep in mind that you should always include an image with your posts. I often use branded personal images. You may want to select a stunning, relevant image from a service such as Over, Quick, Typorama, or Enlight. You can add captions instantly from your mobile. And if your target audience is into Instagram, create a beautiful image with a striking headline. Also, consider using sponsored posts in Facebook if you determine it’s worth the investment.
Brand your short links when sharing on social media. My links are all shortened with my name. My current favorite is Short.cm. Links look like this: http://jefftippett.co/inKUqx. You can also track conversion rates using this service.
So what does all this have to do with persuasion? One of the most effective tools for successfully persuading is to be that industry expert. And how are you establishing yourself as that expert? You take your skill sets, you build your audience, you find that niche, and you keep your brand in front of them.
Another industry expert’s perspective:
What comes to your mind when you hear about Steve Jobs, Brian Tracy, Sheryl Sandberg, or Stephen King?
They are all great examples of people recognized as industry experts. They positioned their message and brand so effectively and skillfully that it gives them an advantage over others. People like these can establish their connection as a trusted authority with their audience, employees, or followers, in an instant. Effective positioning is the secret sauce to stand out, expand your reach, maintain an edge, and thrive in a crowded industry. Positioning is the creation of a focused brand message and sharing it with your tribe on a consistent basis.
The first step is to have clarity
around your purpose, your vision, your mission, and your values. With clarity comes congruence. Then you must deeply understand the hearts and minds of the industry and the people you serve. When your promise is in alignment with your values and customers’ needs, you can craft a personalized and meaningful message, to which your audience is compelled to engage. Further, this compelling message helps build your brand story that creates a community of people that are deeply connected and proud to belong to.
The second step is to build marketing systems that work for your brand and yield consistent and predictable results. For example, if you decide to rely heavily on content marketing, then it is essential to have specific ways to communicate consistently with your audience. Different techniques of building your brand communication with your audience could include writing a book, speaking, weekly newsletters, online video series, Facebook lives, podcasts, or webinars. The list may seem overwhelming, but the key is to know what your audience is consuming, choose those few mediums, and focus only on them. By building your unique and unprecedented platform strategy to solidify your brand’s relationship with your market, you are positioning yourself as an authority.
One of the most valuable strategies to establish you as an industry expert is to write a book. Authoring a book on your expertise gives you instant legitimacy in your profession. It also gives you a tremendous sense of accomplishment, but that is not the end game. Your book becomes a dynamic component of your brand. It can open doors that otherwise are not available. You can share it with colleagues, clients, and potential customers, to give them greater insight into who you are and what you do. It is an excellent starting point with which to speak at conferences or other public forums, to further get your message out. You can double your success with social media and the different ways you promote yourself with a book. Indeed, a book is the impetus for some professionals to begin actively branding themselves. Start observing other influencers that have written books, including industry experts who do “Ted Talks,” speak at conferences, or you find on YouTube.