Hey you!
Yes. You sat at home reading this post.
Are you interested in attracting customers through the way that you speak, write and advertise?
Well we have a solution for you…
In his 1989 book; “Language and Power,” Professor of Linguistics, Norman Fairclough identifies inequalities in social interaction, and the ways in which power through language is used to gain influence in social situations.
For us, this is most explicitly seen in advertising and the articles or blogs you write.
Fairclough’s theory of power in advertising, “Synthetic Personalisation,” in simple terms, is using personal language when addressing a mass audience to create a ‘faked’ personal relationship.
In his book. Fairclough discusses existing social perceptions of “powerful language,” identifying “unequal encounters” between people who have power over others due to their social standing.
Within this, he proposes 2 types of power. Instrumental and Influential.
Instrumental power is broadly defined as those who have authority or legally enforced powers over another, for example: Police and teachers.
Influential power is generally persuasive language used by advertisers such as similes, metaphors, wordplay and politeness features to attempt to influence a prospect, to become a customer.
Synthetic personalisation, establishing a faked relationship with individuals of a mass audience, is important when attempting to gain influential power over potential customers.
But how do you do this?
Look back at the introduction to this article in bold. Is there anything that you notice about the language choices, and in fact our language throughout this entire article?
The synthetic personalisation theory suggests the effectiveness of personal pronouns; “we, us, our, you” when addressing a mass audience to create a perceived personal bond between audience and producer- “Hey you!”
In addition. We attempted to create a personal link through a shared experience that you, reading this article, could relate to- “you sat at home reading this post. Are you interested in attracting your customers through the way that you speak, write and advertise?”
Throughout this article, we also adopt a generally formal tone, with moments of colloquialism- “Hey you!” and “in simple terms.” Our relaxed tone within this educational article gives us influential power as a source of learning. But also shows us as ordinary people and approachable.
Finally, techniques such as rhetoric; “but how do you do this?” and “are you interested?” can be used to engage your audience and single them out, whilst other companies may treat them, merely, as an impersonal mass audience.
So, what does this mean for you?
In summary. It’s important to treat prospects as individuals through personalised language, such as the personal pronouns, “you, we, us, our” and engaging rhetoric, including asking questions.
Try to use examples that your prospects can relate to, which makes your service more personal.
Whilst a more relaxed style of writing can make you seem like a more accessible person and business. But remember to maintain some formality, to portray your professionalism.
Use these techniques and see your prospects become customers. We hope you’ve found this useful. Thank you for reading.
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