Logos is the substance of your communication

Substance appeals to a person’s capability to reason and is often the easiest to communicate, but it is not necessarily done very effectively. Why? Relevance makes your communications germane. Always imagine that your audience or reader has a balloon above their head. It either has the words “Prove It!” or “So What!” in it.

For your message to be relevant, knowledge of your audience is required, and a firm grasp of their needs, key issues and challenges. Then bridge your presentation or communication back to their needs and issues.

The old saying, “character counts” is still relevant today. Integrity is critical to inspiring confidence in your audience. How many presidential campaign trains that started with apparent substance and appeal lost their wheels on the “character issue”? Or, you may remember the award-winning Isuzu ads of the 1980’s. They were highly memorable, used humor for emotional appeal, great automobiles – there was substance. But there was a critical problem. Mr. Isuzu was a pathological liar. The net effect … the ads were pulled after the dealers complained that the ads were causing sales to fall despite an expanding economy. Substance with emotional appeal without integrity doesn’t work.

"Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion."
~ Aristotle

Final Thoughts

So is it any surprise that most presentations and the majority of marketing communications fail in their primary objective of engaging persuasion. It’s not more insipid information people need, they are already drowning in the glut. It’s not more self-puffery fluff. Your target audience wants to be communicated with substance that is relevant, clothed in engaging emotional appeal and delivered with trustworthy integrity. Communication that will move their heart, mind and soul. Communication that will undeniably motivate them to take a course of action that is mutually desirable to all parties.