Ethos, Pathos and Logos – The three core ingredients to connect with your customers
There have been terms thrown around the internet since 2013 – ‘Content is King’, ‘stories sell’, ‘selling without selling’. These are all true things being said, however, just saying these things, or doing them, is only one step of the puzzle. You can create reams of content for your website or blog, but if it doesn’t connect with a client, it is wasted. Google may like the fact you’re refreshing the content on your website, but it is kind of pointless if, when someone finds you, they think your content sucks.
Stories sell, yes, this is true, but why? Why did so many people connect with Rhonda and Ketut? Why do people love the Old Spice Guy, or connect with the Nike campaigns involving strong women?
Why do I, personally, connect with the Trivago ad campaign with the bearded man and the lady he meets at a hotel which she found cheaper rates?
Aristotle, who lived over 300 years before the birth of Christ, had figured it out. Three things which help PERSUADE someone to agree with us, lead them along a path we wish to take them. To persuade someone, we need to be credible to our audience. We must stir a person’s emotions so they feel the need to come with us. And there needs to be a sense of logic, a real reason a person would wish to work with, or be with us, a way in which they can understand and agree with us.
These three ingredients are known as Ethos, Pathos and Logos. And if you can weave these three elements into what it is you are saying, then you will have gone a long way to persuading a reader, a watcher, a listener, to agree with you, to join your tribe, and to be a client of yours.
When someone tells you a story, and you’re on the edge of your seat, hanging by every word, this person is using the elements of Ethos, Pathos and Logos, but they may not be consciously aware of doing so. Great comedians have us wrapped around their finger with their stories, entertaining us with views on life, often with themselves as the ‘victim’ of misfortune. And we laugh along, cry along, and nod because we understand. And we then follow that comedian on Twitter, or YouTube. We buy their DVD, tell other people they need to see his show. We become their customer.
While saying it like this may seem cold, in essence, that is what we are. The comedian, while loving the fact they make us laugh, are in the business to make money, from us. If they did not make money, they’d have to find another line of business.
And that is why the idea of these three elements ensnaring people to hang by your every word is great. It can be romantic, poetic even, but for those of us in business, we are in business. We need clients and customers to buy from us, so we can stay in business.
Being consciously aware of Ethos, Pathos and Logos when we communicate, can help you bring clients to you, help build your list, your database, your tribe. You become a voice of trust they can believe in, and hence buy from you.
