Top 7 Advertising Techniques to Engage & Persuade Your Audience

Hi, I'm Alex from HubSpot, and today I'm going to teach you seven advertising techniques that will help you engage and persuade your audience. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to like it and subscribe to our channel. Post any questions or suggestions you have in the comments below. Let's get started There's a copywriting adage that goes features tell and benefits sell, and it's a timeless truism that can be applied to any form of writing. Why? Because a list of features doesn't specify how your audience will directly benefit from your product or ideas. Highlighting the benefits can help your audience visualize a better future, one that includes your product or services in their lives. For instance, a job ad that describes how you can arrive and leave work comfortably thanks to a heated garage will resonate with candidates more than a job ad that states the company has a heated parking garage. People value objects and experiences that are rare. Having something that most people want and can't have boosts our sense of self worth and power. So if you use words and phrases that imply scarcity and evoke a sense of urgency in your advertisements like exclusive offer or limited availability, you can skyrocket your product's perceived scarcity and consumer demand. Humans are hardwired to move towards pleasure like horses towards a carrot and away from pain like a donkey avoids a stick. So when people read or watch your advertisements, carrots or promises of gain can fill your prospects with hope and compel them to pursue that potential feeling of pleasure. Sticks, possibilities of losses evoke fear in your prospects, which will compel them to flee from that potential feeling of pain. Both tactics can pull your prospects into a narrative and evoke emotions that inspire your desired action. For instance, carrots, like a product's benefit, entice people to take a desired action. Sticks, on the other hand, like anti smoking campaigns, evoke fear in people to stop doing a certain action and start doing the alternative. To immediately hook people and persuade them to read or watch the rest of your advertisement, try sticking to only one message. Spotlighting your product or offer's main benefit or feature will make it easy for your customers to understand its value and increase the likelihood of their conversion. Because you're only conveying one message to your audience, your product's main feature will benefit your customer's life somehow, someway. Since your prospects primarily care about how you can help them and pronouns like you and your can engage them on a personal level and insert them in the narrative you're creating, writing advertisements in the second person can instantly grip their attention and help them imagine a future with your product or service, bettering their lives. Psychology tells us that emotions drive our behavior, while logic justifies our actions after the fact. Marketing confirms this theory. Humans associate the same personality traits with brands as they do with people. Choosing between two alternatives is like choosing your best friend or your significant other. We go with the option that makes us feel something. This is also the reason why pitching a product's features is a lousy attempt at persuasion. Features only appeal to the logical part of your brain, which doesn't drive action nearly as well as appealing to the emotional part of your brain does. So if you're writing social media copy for the grand opening of your new sporting goods store, don't highlight the number of gloves you have in stock. Highlight the lasting family memories your customers will make playing catch with their kids. They'll never forget those moments. Call to actions are crucial for getting prospects to take the next step. But a Download now or Call Now CTA isn't always going to convince the more skeptical prospects to to take the desired action. You need to make sure your ad's last line of copy or quip is the best of them all. So instead of writing an uninspiring final line of copy like Download now, write one that clearly communicates your offer's value and gives a glimpse into your prospect's potential life if they take your desired action. Like a call to Value prompting readers to download a blogging ebook that states click today and be a blogger tomorrow. Looking for more advertising strategy inspiration? Click the link in the description to learn more. Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to like it and subscribe. Let me know how you're doing in the comments below.