Persuasion

Larson Chapter 14 and Gladwell

Reflection Paper #5

Liz Horgan

October 23, 2009

COMM 612 Leanne Pupchek

 And…………………..aaaaction. Persuasion and action, actors together on the

same stage. Movies bring together the visual and the verbal, and can only be brought

to life with motion. So, too, with persuasion: the scene can be set, and as with a film,

the foundations for persuasion can be laid, but it takes action to ultimately influence

and affect change.

Action, on the part of the prospect, is an integral part of advertising. While a

detailed marketing strategy can be developed using integrated marketing

communication (IMC), the best laid advertising plans come to naught if people are not

compelled to do something, if action is not taken. Larson talks about seven stages of

advertising. Beginning with product/issue awareness and ending in fervent brand

loyalty, the most important step in-between involves participation and action on the

part of the prospect, specifically getting them to try the brand or idea (Larson p. 374).

For example, the physical act of clipping a coupon works to build momentum; it

signals motivation and advances the process of a prospect moving toward the end

stage of advertising, the total ‘buy in’. Without action, without motivation, it’s all

‘blah, blah, blah’. Action takes these advertising concepts, directives and processes

and allows them to come alive, to become three-dimensional.

A case in point is Apple’s new MagicMouse. It is sleek, technologically

interesting, an extension of the Apple narrative and another addition to the “cool”

factor Apple has manufactured. The MagicMouse advertising campaign can be clever,

it can be visually or intellectually interesting, it can engage both the central and

peripheral processing routes, but until a person acts, and actually buys (or, as Gladwell

discusses in his section on Connectors, Mavens and Salespeople, influences others to

buy) the product, the campaign is unfulfilled. My sense, however, is that with the

successes of Apple over the past several years, momentum exists at the outset of this

product launch, and even a moderate effort to promote the new product should bode

well for a successful sales campaign. Apple buyers are active, a community of interest

and a group already primed for the next sale.

The need for action that plays out on a grander scale, in advertising and overall

marketing strategies, also trickles down to the personal level.

Interaction between two people is complex. Gladwell describes a study of

cultural micro-rhythms, or a subtle dance, that takes place as people communicate.

Along with verbal communication, patterns of micro-movements occur with regularity

as the individuals involved talk and listen to each other. It is these small, barely

discernable physical movements, done in “interactional synchrony” that add a

dimension of action to a conversation and which affects overall communication

(Gladwell, pp. 80-81). This dance, where powerful people can draw others in and

dictate rhythms and thus the terms of the interaction (Gladwell p. 83), is an active and

necessary element of persuasion and influence. The movements are more than

mirroring the other person to create and build liking and confidence through the use

of the similarity tactic. It is a subtle reinforcement of the message and the messenger.

Part of persuasion can then be accomplished “from the outside-in, (a case) of an

external gesture affecting an internal decision” (Gladwell p. 87).

You can see this at a speed dating event. Men and women are paired for a

quick, typically 8 minute, conversation before rotating on to another pairing. Watching

the pairs communicate in a compressed timeframe heightens the physical dance

explained in Gladwell. How much of the ultimate compatibility assessment is based on

these subtle gestures is a question, but seems to me that analysis would bear out the

relationship between positive responses and effectively received and given micro-

movements.

To summarize: The role of action in persuasion affects large scale efforts such

as advertising, and impacts the thing as basic as how people communicate with each

other. Using the movie metaphor, both the overall product (advertising) and the

actors’ dialogs (two people talking) need energy and require action to make meaning

and to persuade. And……………………………CUT.

References:

Gladwell, M. (2002). The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference.
New York, Back Bay

Books/Little, Brown and Company.

Larson, C. U. (2010). Persuasion: Reception and responsibility. Boston: Wadsworth,

Cengage Learning.