Have you ever had that feeling when …
… even though you consider yourself to be a fairly intelligent person …
… you find yourself scratching your head, not ‘understanding’ what someone else is trying to say?
This happened to me the other day.
I was on a call with a guy from a phone company who was trying to get me to upgrade my plan.
No matter how much he described what the offer was, I was still confused.
I had to ask him to repeat himself and clarify things for me quite a few times before I got it.
Here’s the problem and chances are it’s also affecting your campaign results …
But by being aware of this and using a certain writing technique your responses will dramatically increase.
It all comes back to the way different people process information.
According to the principles of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), there are four main ways that the human brain processes information.
They are:
- Visual (sight)
- Auditory (sound)
- Kinaesthetic (touch) and …
- Auditory-digital (think).
The less commonly used representation systems are olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste).
So what does that all mean?
Well, let’s say three people go to the beach and one of them favours visual representation system, another auditory and another kinaesthetic.
The person with the strong visual representation system …
… relates to the sense of sight, so they notice the beautiful blue sky, the white sand, and the crystal clear water.
The person with the auditory representation system …
… hears the soothing sounds of the waves as they crash on the rocks, the sound of seagulls squawking the children giggling as they play.
On the other hand, a kinaesthetically focused person …
… relates to touching and feeling so they notice the way the sand feels between their toes the coolness of the water as they wade out the feel of the salt spray as it brushes their face.
Three people.
One place.
Three different experiences.
Here is one experience communicated using three different modalities.
Auditory:
Hi Mum.
The holiday is a smash. We went to the aquarium today,. They had a touch tank which was a real buzz. You could actually hear the sea urchins squeaking. We had our own guide although it was hard to hearher over Sally’s laughing
Most of the other kids sounded like they were having a blast.
Mum you’ll love it. Tell Dad he has to come down.
Visual:
Hi Mum.
The holiday is brilliant. We went to the aquarium today. They have a touch tank so we could view the little critters really close. Wow, you should have seen them. They were so bright and colourful. The water was really blue too and crystal clear. It’s much better than you see on TV.
Mum, you and Dad have to come and have a look at this place.
Kinaesthetic:
Hi Mum.
The holiday is blissful. We went to the aquarium today. They had a touchtank where you can actually hold the little critters. It’s not what I feltwould happen, though. I sensed that they would feel slimy and soft but they were hard and grainy like sand.
Mum you’ll have to venture down and experience this.
Auditory Digital
Hi Mum.
The holiday is going predictably well. We went to the aquarium today. It was interesting. They installed a touch tank where you can analyse the interaction between the little critters. It’s not what I contemplated though. I thought that they wouldn’t engage in activity with each other but they did.
Mum make the decision to investigate this for yourself.
Notice the difference?
- Visual people like visual words, images, and diagrams, and like to picture themselves using the product. They like written copy and video.
- Auditory people favour the spoken word so face to face sales presentations, audio or video work best for them. In written copy use words that relate to sound.
- Kinaesthetic people need to feel into your proposition. They resonate with ‘feeling’ kinds of words. They also respond to suggestions or demonstrations or activities. Plus, they like slower paced copy that they can immerse themselves in.
- Auditory digital people are ‘thinkers’. They resonate with ‘thinking’ type words. They also like statistics, research and graphs.
So – you might be asking the question, “How do you appeal to everyone if you don’t know what their learning style is?”
Simple.
Use a combination of all.
Plus, use what I call …
“The Sensory Rapport” trigger.
So start with Kinaesthetic words then auditory then visual. Kinaesthetic builds rapport with most people and starts at a slower pace.
Want some help writing copy that sells?
