By Maggie David Holley
When you’re communicating to sell, you need to seize people’s attention right away. But how do you do that? How do you capture an audience immediately, and then transition into your argument in a natural manner?
Next time you’re writing an article or presentation, try opening with one of these:
- Analogy. Analogies compare two seemingly unrelated things. They’re great for explaining anything that’s obscure or complicated because they pack in so much information. Take “the brain is like a computer,” for instance. In six words, you’ve communicated that the brain processes, stores, and retrieves information; has short- and long-term memory; and needs energy to function (plus a bunch of other things you associate with a computer). It’s the same with explaining the structure of an atom by comparing it to the solar system. Don’t overreach with your analogies though. The comparison has to to make sense, or you risk confusion.
- Question. When you ask people a question, they automatically start thinking about how your message applies to them. But only if it matches their worldview. “Have you always wanted to start your own business?” will not resonate with folks who’ve always believed in the security of a full-time job and are counting the days until retirement. A question that can be answered by “No,” “I don’t know,” and “Who cares?” will backfire. Know your audience, then ask a question they can relate to.
- Anecdote. I’ve written about how storytelling fosters emotional connection, a big factor in people’s buying decisions. Anecdotes are short human-interest stories. The best anecdotes are true, but inventing one is okay too. Just make sure it could be true, and don’t pass it off as something that really happened. Adopting a format like, “It’s the first day of high school. You’re walking toward the bus stop, feeling the weight of a half a dozen textbooks in your bag…” makes it clear that the story’s made up.
- Aphorism. An aphorism is a familiar saying. The trick is to use one that relates naturally to your main theme. In his book, Presenting to Win, corporate presentations coach Jerry Weissman talks about a biotechnology firm formed by the merger of three companies. By starting their presentation with the aphorism, “the whole is better than the sum of its parts,” (a play on Euclid’s “the whole is equal to the sum of its parts), the company’s executives instantly communicated the synergies that their combined expertise and resources would produce.
- Quotation. A positive endorsement about your company or your company’s products and services can quickly establish credibility. Even a positive comment about the industry you serve has value. An company that scripts, shoots, and edits online videos, for instance, can say something like, “In a January 12, 2012 article in The Washington Post, YouTube’s Vice-President of Global Content Partnerships Robert Kyncl predicted that, in the next decade, 75% of all channels will be born on the Internet.’”
- Fact. If you have a simple, striking fact, use it. But make it concrete. Raw statistics can be overwhelming. Easy-to-visualize facts stick. The Center for Science in the Public Interest got more people to stop eating movie popcorn by telling them that a medium-sized bag contains “more artery-clogging fat than a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, a Big Mac and fries for lunch, and a steak dinner with all the trimmings combined” than by stating that it had 37 grams of saturated fat.
- Gallery. A gallery introduction gives three or more examples of a point you want to make (it’s called a gallery because it’s like lining up pictures on a wall). Here’s one I wrote recently: “Have you noticed how often anecdotes are used to introduce magazine articles? A story about a new antiviral drug would describe the everyday struggles of a mother with hepatitis C. An article about an anti-stroke campaign would profile a stroke survivor. An article about a high-tech prosthetic would chronicle how a young man found a lump (which turned out to be a tumor) in his foot.” Again, make sure you use examples your readers care about in your gallery.
Take the time to invest in a strong introduction. You only have one chance to make a first impression, right? By using any or a combination of analogy, question, anecdote, aphorism, quotation, fact, and gallery, you’ll capture your audience’s attention, and then keep it by making it easy to transition into your main points in a way that’s fluid and comfortable.
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