EMBiz: How to Use Rhetorical Strategies in Advertising

Hi, I'm Cody Owens, Content Director at Elevate My Brand. In this EMBiz, I want to talk about rhetorical strategies you can use in your advertising.

One of the things that we talk about with our clients a lot when it comes to advertising, especially if they are in a saturated ad market, is "how do I continue to optimize my ads to make sure that they are performing as best as they can and competing with the other businesses in my market?" Using rhetorical strategies and language in headlines and descriptions is one key way to elevate your brand above the rest. 

The Rhetorical Triangle

The number one thing for me, coming from a speech communications background, is using the rhetorical triangle—logos, pathos and ethos—in order to conduct A/B testing around what's actually going to convert for you. So, let's break those down a little bit, one by one. 

Ethos

Ethos is really all about credibility. Think about when you see a toothpaste commercial, and they say "9 out of 10 dentists recommend." That's calling on the credibility of these unnamed dentists to tell you that the people who know what they're talking about actually approve of this product. But you can do that as well. If you're a founder with a history in the market that you're in, you can talk about your educational background, about your story, about how you became who you are, how you started the business, et cetera. So, that's one way that you can test your ad copy, is with "I am such-and-such blank," or "we have 30 years of experience in blank."

Pathos

Pathos is really all about emotion. It's about that emotional, relational connection with people. Think about those sad ASPCA ads—the animal ads with Sarah McLaughlin that have the sad music and make you feel so sad. They're calling on your emotion to make you make a decision, right? They're saying, here's a really sad problem, and you can fix it. But even if you don't have that deep emotional impact in your product or service or brand, you can still call on the emotions of your users by saying, "You care about the safety of your children, right? So, you want this really safe toy." So, that's another thing that you can test. 

Logos

Logos is all about logical appeal. That one tends to be the easiest for brands, because it's like, "here's the challenge you have, and here's the solution we have," and here's some facts, figures and statistics that prove that what we have actually is what you need. The best thing to do is to use all three of these appeals in combination. 

A Three-in-One Approach

I'd always suggest that you A/B test your ads and start some of them with ethos, start some of them with pathos, start some of them with logos, and then—after a week of high velocity A/B testing—see which ones are actually performing better. Then, you know which ones your audience cares about, and you can lean into that.

So, that's how you can get an edge on your competitors by using the rhetorical triangle in your advertising.