We're following on from Wednesday's email covering invention and ethos, which was an appeal to your character and credibility.
Today, we're going to look at 'logos'.
Logos is an appeal to how reasonable and rational your selling points are. Sam Leith, author of You Talkin' to Me, says:
"If ethos is the ground on which your argument stands, logos is what drives it forward: it is the stuff of your argument, the way one point proceeds to another as if to show that the conclusion to which you're aiming is not only the right one, but so necessary and reasonable as to be more or less the only one. If in the course of it you can make your opponents sound venal or
even deranged, so much the better" (p.57)
And it's here you need to carefully sort the general points of your topic and decide which to use.
Which points do I choose?
As logos is an appeal to your reasonability, you need to first understand what's considered reasonable to your audience.
As we all know, what's reasonable to one may be outrageous to another, regardless of what facts, figures, expert opinions, or general 'proof' you put in front of them.
So, with that said, your chosen point could be readily accepted or need elaborate justification based on the points chosen.
When I start work on a new project, I like to start by considering the commonly held viewpoints of my audience - this gives me the rough guide posts of what's considered reasonable to them.
I call these 'common truths', because for the people who hold such viewpoints, they are effectively 'true' or fact and need no explanation.
An easy way to understand this is to imagine political parties on the far left and far right.
Arguments can get heated between the two quickly and easily, often because they think they're discussing the nuances of the same point.
Whereas in reality, the 'common truths' from which they form their arguments are different, which means their foundation of what's rational or reasonable is different too. In order to get to some form of common ground, either side would need to start at the oppositions' common truth and build from there, at some root shared 'truth'.
How to apply this
So, if you're advertising to a market which already understands what you do and why it's worthwhile, there's very little education needed on why they should use you.
Rather, your time is best spent on persuading people on the reason why now is the time to act.
And, the opposite is also true. If you're advertising to a market that doesn't understand what you do or why it's worthwhile (not advised unless well planned), your time is best spent educating them first.
And, in both cases, the use of logos and common truths are imperative.
By selecting the right common truths, you'll create a 'logical' argument that seems correct to your prospects. This is called a 'logic chain'.
Here's an example:
- Living longer is good
- To live longer, you need to stay healthy
- Staying healthy means you need to keep active
- An easy way to keep active is to walk daily
- Walking 10,000 steps every day is a universal, well-known goal
- Therefore, to live longer, you need to walk 10,000 steps every day
However, factually, there are numerous errors in this example.
Yet it's a common truth for many who need to hit that magic number every day: 10,000. It's such a prevalent number even apps on your phone or your Fitbit will recommend reaching it.
(As a side note, the 10,000 steps 'goal' originally came from a Japanese marketing campaign for a pedometer sold by Dr. Yoshiro Hatano in the 1960's named "Manpo-Kei". This translates in English to "10,000 step meter"... and from that marketing campaign, we've held the 10,000 steps as a 'true' goal ever since.)
Now, I'm not advocating the use of logos for false advertising. I'm merely showing you how people are using it in everyday practice.
What you do with it is your own business, but I hope it's ethically 'good'.
Logos - what to use:
- Facts, figures, and elements of proof
- Common truths
- Shared worldviews, values, and traits
Logos is critical for your marketing, so you need to spend time here and get it right!
Next week's email will be the final part of invention, covering pathos - your prospects emotions.
