How to persuade people to do anything? Aristotle answered.

Think of the last time you were listening to a speech or story that touched your heart, or even convinced you to take some action or refrain from one. What was the most powerful influential element that attracted your action in the first place, and then hooked you to a point you felt the speakers’ words so real?

The speaker persuaded you to believe what they were saying was true, in a way that aroused emotions in you. We are using and being the target of persuasion all the time. Everyone, from your kid attempting to convince you to allow them one more piece of chocolate to the most powerful politician on earth convincing their people to allow them spend tax money on building a military base in foreign country, is using the fundamentals of persuasion.

Since persuasion is a tool you can use to change people’s behaviors, it gives you power. Even more so if your job requires you to influence people’s behaviors on a mass scale as marketer. Kids, parents, salespeople, marketers, politicians, safely enough, everyone needs persuasion. The real question, therefore, is how to persuade people? Here are the five fundamental principles of persuasion according to Aristotle as he explained them in his "Rhetoric," to answer this question. But before that, we need to clarify a few things.

First, persuasion is a skill effectively anyone can learn. However, some people are more persuasive than others because they naturally possess some or all components (we discuss these components shortly) of persuasion more than others.

Second, persuasion doesn’t either work through emotion or through reasoning. Most of the times, the greatest persuaders are using a mixture of the two. The five methods that Aristotle explained in his “Rhetoric” reflect this point. I understand that you are impatient to know these principles so that you can use them to make people act “your way,” so we turn to these five fundamentals next.

Ethos

Ethos means character. By ethos Aristotle suggested that to be persuader, one needs to establish a character that the audience will feel is credible and trust. This will depend largely on the audience one is trying to persuade. Salespeople, for example, should appear to be experts on the products they are selling. One way effective communicators win trust in their character of their audience is by telling story. Stories are engaging and personal pieces of communication, therefore, they help persuader quickly create a connection with their target audiences. People are more likely to accept requests if they can relate to the one requesting. At the beginning of the article you were asked to recall a time you were moved by a speech. Research suggests the highest chances are that it was because the speaker told a personal story.

Pathos

 It is true that people won’t listen to someone they don’t trust or do not think is credible enough in their field. But most of the people would listen and forget if the communication didn’t arouse any emotions “pathos” in them. Emotions help people turn their ideas into action. Besides, people would use the short route to think if they are targeted with emotional piece of information. It can save the persuader time and effort required to change their mind with reasoning. But in some situations, reasoning becomes necessary. Therefore, we turn to it next.

Logos

Logos in rhetoric refers to use of logic or reasoning to persuade people or change their minds. If you are an industrial salesperson trying to sell heavy machinery to a manufacturer, you can’t simply make them “fall in love” with the machine. You will need to present the facts and figures which prove your machine is better than that of competition. This technique is at work when politicians brag that they will bring thousands of jobs to your constituency if you vote them to power. For persuasion to lead to success the reasoning must get along well with the emotional aspects of the communication. The last two elements are not “-os” but they are explained in Rhetoric, and are quite useful tools.

Metaphor

 Why do you enjoy comedy? What is inherently different about a joke than a normal conversation is that it compares two things in an expected manner. This surprise makes it funny and likeable. Metaphor is also a comparison used to explain complex things in terms more familiar to the audience. Besides this technical support to explain the argument metaphor adds beauty to communication such as fun in the case of comedy. Advertising and other forms of marketing communication may use metaphor in more subtle ways. For example, Red Bull says: “gives you wings.” But how many people have you seen flying just after drinking it? What the metaphor means is that it gives you energy boost at the same time communicates the intensity with which the speaker wants you believe it’s true.

Zaltman metaphor is a technique used as a way to dig into customers minds to find out how they relate a brand to other objects. In other words, metaphor helps people visualize in their minds what is being said. In this way it is easy for them to understand.

Brevity

Have you ever wondered why Twitter only allows 40-character tweets? Because it wanted to attract people who needed a platform where they could communicate with their audiences briefly and instantly. Most of the world’s political leaders and reputable brands use this platform for brief instant messages. When you see “see more” on a Facebook post, you scroll up faster and don’t even start reading that post! Brevity saves the audience’s time. And as scientific fact we can’t pay attention to anything for longer than 30 minutes. Attention is a useful but depleting resource.

Conclusion

Thus, a one-line formula for persuading anyone anytime is: “Wrap a blend of rational and emotional argument in a brief message (pictures, words and/or sounds), and tell it as a story.”