hot Take

But once upon a time in a land far, far away (also known as Ancient Greece, circa 350 BCE) rhetoric wasn't only for the sleaze balls. All the cool kids knew: 

Nowadays, "rhetoric" is a word reserved for smooth-talking politicians and sleazy sales people with *ahem* questionable morals

That influencer who has 1M+ followers on Instagram and counting? 

Their rhetoric is rad.

That introvert who turned an idea they built out of their garage into a globally-known business?

Rad rhetoric, baby! 

That brand you see everrryyywheree that seems to attract an audience of adoring fans like *magic*? 

Rhetoric that's *banker's kiss* (which is basically like a chef's kiss, except instead it takes you straight to the bank...ya get it? ;)

Rhetoric is the beating heart of all move-the-needle, raise-the-revenue communication you have with your audience

To put it simply, it's how you motivate your audience to action. Through authentic relationship-building, not brute force. Based on the the perfectly-balanced blend of 3 things: 

So...then what the heckity heck is rhetoric really?

When marketing strategies sink faster than the Titanic, it's because they get the rhetoric wrong

No one likes that person at the dinner party who only talks about themselves. 

But they also don't like the person who is so busy being what they think everyone wants that they may as well not have a personality of their own.

They like the perfectly-balanced person: who knows how to lead a convo but knows how to listen to a convo too. And until you show your perfect-fit people that's who you are...they'll always be tempted to head to your competitors waiting in the wings. 

There are too many people out there trying to strong-arm the sale… then scratching their noggins when their profits stall.

Sorry to all the pre-teen TikTokers who swear they know the "selling strategy of the century"...

but Aristotle already spelled that one out about 2 millennia ago

It involves long-proven strategies for building relationships while getting your audience to eagerly hang onto your every word. 

Confession time! I used to not know how I felt about that either. 

"Persuasion" has gotten a bit of a bad rap because of people who took a "sale by any means necessary" approach. 

"This sounds a bit like persuasion. And I'm notttt sure how I feel about that."

But at its heart, "selling by whatever means necessary" is not what persuasion (or rhetoric) is about. That's not what it's about at all. 

Because when used for the power of good, persuasion is a way of communicating your message more clearly and more effectively to an audience who already:


Needs your solution

Is looking for your solution

And is itching like crazy to get a solution like yours in their hands. (Hand them some calamine lotion already! Because they need some relief.)

Being everything your perfect-fit people are looking for? That's one thing.

It comes down to this:

Having the right words to get them to know with 0 doubts at all that you're everything they're looking for? That's another. 

Your life-long love story with your perfect-fit people starts now. You in?

You're already their brand soulmate. You just need them to know it.