One of the best ways to earn the trust of your target audience and win them over is by using three important components: your company’s authority, logical arguments, and emotions. In Ancient Greece, these elements were known under the term “rhetorical triangle”. How can these strategies be useful to a business these days? How are major brands using these three methods to appeal to an audience? Read on to find that out!
It turns out that the techniques of effective advertising were developed as early as in the times of Aristotle. The great thinker outlined three rhetorical appeals:
The combination of these techniques is called the “rhetorical triangle”. For more than 2,000 years now, this set of strategies has been used to influence an audience, change a person’s views, and sometimes even manipulate people’s minds.
Ethos, pathos, and logos are being actively used in political speeches, cinematography, literature, and, of course, advertising. For example, when giving a speech in front of an audience, a politician can talk about their previous accomplishments (ethos), recall a touching story from their childhood (pathos), and list the fundamentals of their election manifesto (logos).
For the best result, you should be using not one, not two, but all three strategies at once. However, it’s not uncommon that marketers focus on just one of these components, while the other two remain in the background. We’re going to look at the examples further into the article.
The goal of ethos (a Greek word meaning “character”) is to convince an audience that you have the credibility and expertise to speak on a specific subject. To win people over and find common ground with your potential customers, you need to showcase your authority by telling your target audience:
In Greek, the word “pathos” means “suffering”, “passion”, and “excitement”. Considering its meaning, it’s not surprising that this strategy has to do with affecting the feelings of an audience. The thing is that the human brain reacts to emotions first and logical arguments second. That’s why pathos can be a powerful tool when it comes to attracting the attention of potential customers. To achieve the desired effect, you need to have a clear understanding of:
From Greek, the term “logos” can be translated as “word, meaning”. In rhetorics, “logos” stands for proof, facts, statistics, and numbers. Companies rarely use the logos strategy on its own. Most of the time, they prefer to combine it with the emotions technique. To make the most of the logos method, you need to understand:
The elements of the rhetorical triangle are the three building bricks in creating an effective advertising, presentation or speech. Once your content is ready, be sure to do this checklist:
If you answered positively to all three questions, you can rest assured that your audience won’t remain indifferent to your promotion campaign or speech.
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