Persuasion is the power behind Public Relations in my eyes. It is a very powerful tool to get the public to believe in your company or purchase your product. In chapter 3 of Public Relations Writing by Newsom & Haynes persuasion is discussed a lot. The part that sparked my interest was about the steps of the Persuasion Process. I didn’t know there were steps I just thought you were either persuaded about something or you weren’t. Somebody sends out a persuasive message and it works or it doesn’t.
The six steps are presenting, attending, comprehending, yielding, retaining the new position, and acting. Presenting is where the persuasive message is; for example a newspaper or on TV. Attending is the public actually viewing and paying attention to the message. Comprehending is the viewer actually understanding the message. Yielding is when the viewer understands the message and actually stops and likes the message. Retaining the new position is getting the viewer to keep liking the message after their initial interest. Acting is after the viewer sees the message enough times and then does whatever the message is persuading them to do.
After reading this section in the chapter it makes sense that all of these steps need to be accomplished before the persuasive message works. If one of the steps is missed the goal of the message won’t be accomplished. On TV I have noticed that certain commercials are played over and over and over. It gets annoying, but I understand that the more the commercial is seen the more people will remember the message. Are there any commercials that stick out in your head that you see over and over? The Febreze Company has their commercial on almost every commercial break on more than one channel. Sometimes I get annoyed with these commercials. Do you think over showing of a commercial will make the public hate the message even if it really is a good message?
I also did further research and found a self help magazine that explains 7 steps of persuasion. I found it very interesting to read the views of another writer. Check it out if you want to learn more!
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I too believe that persuasion is very important when dealing with Public Relations. I also think that commercials best portray the steps of persuation. They are able to get the attention of the customer. Its easier for the commercials to help the viewers understand the message by putting the commercials on different channels and playing them over and over.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the commercials that are on all the time can get annoying I think that they work. When I'm shopping for something I usually buy something that I have seen on TV, instead of buying the "cheaper" brand. Thanks for sharing what you learned from chapter 3 this week. Your post was interesting and informative.
For commercials, many companies will start an ad campaign and saturate the market with advertising until people become familiar with the product. Then they pull back the advertising and place the same ads in specific time slots that have the most visibility.
ReplyDeleteA layman’s example of retention could be associated with hearing a song. When you first heard the song it was because it played over and over again until you were tired of the song. Then you only hear the song randomly finally you hear it every so often yet you recognize the song and you still know the words. Example: The hokey pokey song – even though you rarely hear the song you still know the words and what to do.
The self help magazine link not only is a persuasion piece but also a sales piece. All these steps are the same ones that sales people use everyday.
Persuasion is truly the key component of Public Relations. Commercials are created to capture the audiences attention, take them on a journey, make the product, desitation, or business appear obtainable and then make the big sale and cash it on in. Commercials are costly but the business they bring in can offset that in a matter of weeks, days or even hours. Growing up a sports fanatic with my father, I watched a lot of games on TV. Being a kid, I loved my cartoons after school and on Saturday mornings. Between the two entities, I absorbed numerous commercials and some of them just stick with you and want what they're selling more than anything in the whole wide world.
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