Former Pastor with a Decade of Public Speaking to 1000's Shares the Main Secret to Moving an Audience:
One of the laws of copywriting is that no one cares about you or your product. What they care about is themselves.
This is true. But we also need to add a bit of nuance.
It's not simply that people are selfish.
It's that people are in pain. Their minds are preoccupied. Life is hard.
And when life is hard,
You don't have time for complicated...
For confusing...
Or for useless...
Think about it this way.
I was a pastor for 10 years. I worked in multiple churches and spoke to thousands of audiences.
Every week, pastors have something most marketers don't have: An entire room filled with a WARM audience ready to buy your ideas.
But guess what? In most churches I visited, members complained of how boring, dull, irrelevant, and terrible their pastor's sermons were.
In other words, week by week preachers were unable to convince a room full of WARM leads about their ideas.
Think about how sad that is.
These people showed up wanting you to convince them.
You are basically re-targeting every week.
And they walk out unconvinced.
That's tragic.
But things were different when I spoke. (Not trying to toot my own horn here btw, just want to point out something useful for you.)
When I spoke people would cry, laugh, and sometimes shout (in a good way).
They would nod their heads, glance at the people next to them with a smile on their face, and leave the room fully impacted by what I had to say.
What was the difference? It's really very simple. I spoke to the heart, not the head.
And the secret to speaking to the heart is to know that the heart has a small handful of roads that lead your right into it.
Those roads are the five senses: touch, taste, sound, smell, sight.
And when you speak in a language that triggers those senses, people begin to feel what you are saying. All of a sudden you are in their heart.
This is the key. Sensory communication, NOT information exchange.
Here's a quick example:
"Did you know that it is impossible to beat addiction just by trying harder? The reason is because addiction is the intricate interplay of neurobiological processes, psychosocial factors, and..." [😴😴😴]
Now compare this to:
"When I was a kid I got addicted to drinking soda. My best friend would always tell me to stop but honestly, I found saying "no" to those fizzy cans as impossible as climbing to the moon with a rope of sand. Addiction is like that you know?"
Notice how the first option isn't horrible. People might find the subject matter interesting and listen.
But the second option isn't about interesting. It's about the heart. It brings you in through story telling and sensory language.
I know what a rope feels like. I know what sand feels like. A rope of sand?
I'm in the heart now. And that's where the magic happens. ❤️
