Research says we need reasons to feel confident about our decisions to buy something. That goes for buying a product or buying into a concept or a message. When we feel confident about our decision there’s actually a neuron in the brain that fires up and triggers people to take action. This happens regardless of the amount of information we have, it’s based on the feeling of confidence.

So if you want your audience to take action, you need to make them feel confident about buying into the message you’re selling. The key is to provide proof points to support your message AND present them in a way that won’t undermine your message!

Let’s assume you know your customer wants to improve their marketing. Your message is then “Print can help make your marketing more effective.” How can you support and boost that message?

• STATISTICS Numbers provide proof for your message and truly help highlight your point. Adding a statistic builds trust in the message. Now the audience has a real reason to believe the message is valid. 

EXAMPLE: “Print can help make your marketing more effective. Research shows response rates for e-mail alone are as low as 7%. However, once you add printed direct mail to an e-mail, responses more than double! Just with the addition of printed marketing you can get double your typical response rate.”

• ANALOGIES: Sometimes numbers can feel just too big to relate to or on the flip side, not big enough to make a difference. Analogies can make numbers come to life.  If you can, use an analogy that is local to your audience. Whether you’re in California or New York, find something locally to compare your numbers to.

EXAMPLE: “Print is truly a more effective form of marketing. In fact 56% of consumers trust print marketing more than digital media. That represents about 100 million customers. The next time you’re in Michigan Stadium, imagine filling that stadium 1000 times and that’s the number of customers who’d trust your printed direct mail more than e-mail.” 

• DIFFERENTIATORS: What makes your message different than what the audience has heard elsewhere? Why is your solution better, faster or easier?

EXAMPLE:  “Printed direct mail is a more effective way to reach your customers.  Millenials, especially, almost unanimously say print marketing is easier and faster to comprehend than an e-mail.”   

• STORIES: The best way to have your message heard, remembered, and acted upon is to tell a story. Stories paint pictures for us and when we see and hear the message at the same time we relate that much more. Plus, stories make us more relatable. We can connect to stories. They provide emotion and a human angle to your message.

EXAMPLE: “Print can boost your marketing efforts. One of my customers yesterday said that she gets a ton of e-mail a day and it’s hard to go through them all, but that the printed marketing she receives feels more personal. She said printed marketing gets her attention more easily.”

So…how do you add proof points effectively without undermining your message?

Well the common mistake is to have multiple messages and support each message with 3 proof points. That’s a lot of information for your audience and can dilute your goal entirely.

Instead, it’s more effective to have one clear message, repeated with one proof point at a time. Just like the examples above. The more we hear something, the more we’ll remember it. Repetition leads to recognition.

• Deliver your message and add a statistic.
• Deliver that same message and back it up with an analogy.
• Deliver that same message with a story to highlight its importance.

Now your audience has heard the same message multiple times, with multiple proof points. They’ll have a solid understanding of what you want them to walk away with, and the reasons they need to feel confident buying into that message so they’re triggered to take action.

Watch the video, “What Makes Someone Buy What You’re Selling?”