How to Make People Care About Your Message

The short answer is: put a little style into your substance.

I listened to an interview recently with Randy Olson, author of Stop Being Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style. He’s combating what he sees as a growing anti-science mood in the U.S.

Olson says scientists have done this to themselves in large part because their communication skills are so poor. Many of them present their research by listing a series of research-based findings that may prove their argument – but do so in a way that is so dry that no one outside their circle of colleagues is willing to pay attention.

Scientists, like many business people, think that the substance of their message is all that matters. Lay out the facts, the reason, and surely anyone can draw the right conclusion.

Here’s the problem: a list of facts – no matter how true or relevant – is rarely persuasive.

By all rights it should be, but no matter how much we may work at being reasonable and logical, deep down we humans are still irrational beings - and not just irrational, but barraged with information at every turn. Why should I turn my valuable attention to absorbing your message?

Olson would say, “Because you have a worthwhile story to tell.” Thinking about that story and inserting it into your sales and marketing is critical in this age of information saturation.

Therein lies the problem with attempting to use a list of facts to sell. The relationship between the facts, the big picture, the core value of what it all means for your audience – all the things that make up a compelling story – are lost. They exist in your head when you read those facts, but not in your reader’s head.

And while a skill for storytelling is rarely seen as important in science or business, it’s arguably the most effective tool out there for persuasive communication. Stories elicit emotion and empathy, experiences that our brains are able to absorb and remember much more readily than intellectual experiences. We tend to be more open to information conveyed via narrative than we are to simple factual rhetoric.

Study after study shows that our brains respond positively to stories. Areas that involve empathy and trust are particularly active and areas that involve analysis and critiquing are less active. In other words, our mind’s reflex to find fault with something is less active when we hear or read a story.

A story has three key elements that make it powerful: people, plot and emotion:

People – Who, exactly, is your product or service helping? Think about a specific customer and tell that person’s story in three sentences on your home page. Stay anonymous if you need to, but get the story out. Visitors to your site will more quickly understand how your offering helps and will be much more likely to remember your value proposition as they continue their search.

Plot – Neuroscientists say our brains are wired to respond to the arc of a story. As a species, we’ve been storytellers since we started using language. It’s how we communicated the things we were learning about our environment (“…the wooly mammoth was coming toward me fast!… but I jumped up and screamed and waved my arms around and he slowed down and went around me!…”)

The typical case study structure (background, challenge, solution, result) is a dramatic arc most business people are familiar with. The presentation of a problem that’s faced and resolved by real people and companies is the reason case studies are so effective. Readers absorb the story more readily than an abstract discussion of features and benefits. Show how someone came up against a conflict and persevered, thanks to your offering.

Emotion – That conflict faced by the story’s protagonist – whether that’s your company and/or your customer – is what generates the emotion. It’s what transports the message to a different area of your reader’s mind, that place where the right side of the brain responds.

Our left brain consumes facts, analyzes them and makes an assessment (or gets bogged down in analysis paralysis). But our right brain sees the bigger picture and generates a more intuitive response. The strategic value of an offering can only be comprehended by our right brain.

People buy on emotion and justify with logic. Marketing content that omits the emotion rings hollow to your readers and will persuade few if any prospects.