Marketing Philosophy

Aristotle believed that in order to be persuasive, a message needed three components: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos.

Logos = Appeal to Logic
Ethos = Appeal to Authority
Pathos = Appeal to Emotion

An appeal to logic could be as simple as, "this product will decrease your costs," which is just a basic statement of function. Appealing to authority means using credibility to show value, e.g. "featured in PC Magazine." Appealing to emotion has a great impact, but may require a little extra thinking. Rather than focusing on the features of the product, think of the emotional impact the features will have on the buyer. One example would be, "Rest easy, knowing your home is safe."

Roles of Logos, Ethos, and Pathos

Making a purchase requires a lot of thinking, but that thinking is mostly done behind the scenes in your subconscious mind. Even a simple purchase, like buying a hot dog, involves quite a bit of psychology. Let’s go through the whole process:

You’ve been making some repairs around the house, and you realize you need a couple more items from the home improvement store. After buying what you need from the store, you walk outside and see a hot dog stand. You notice a big picture of a juicy frank on the banner. The scent of sautéed onions hits you. You think, "That actually looks pretty good right now. I guess I am kind of hungry." (Emotion)

After glancing at the menu, you see the price is low and the hot dogs are already heating on rollers. You could just pull out some cash and quickly buy one on the way to the car. (Logic)

But why are the hot dogs so cheap? Can I trust these things? Then you notice a "USDA Approved" seal on the banner and think, "That's good enough for me." (Authority)

Let’s recap what happened here.

1. An appeal to the emotions made us interested.
2. We analyzed it logically to see if it was a practical purchase.
3. We considered other people's opinions (social proof) to avoid making a bad choice.

Each of your customers goes through a similar thought process. If you adjust your messaging accordingly, you can effectively guide them through the buying cycle.

The next three articles will focus on the components of persuasion: Logic, Emotion, and Authority.

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