Simple Marketing For Smart People: The One Question You Need to Win Customers without Gimmicks, Hype, or Hard Selling

Pathos: Pathos is an appeal to emotion. For the word pathos, you can think of “pathology,” which is the study of disease. Disease, of course, leads to suffering and negative emotions.

Not too cheery, I know, but it’s simply a way to remember the definition. But pathos doesn’t need to be negative. It can—and should—also invoke positive emotions.

Logos: This proof point is easiest to remember because it resembles the word “logic.”

You know you’ve used logic effectively when a prospect reads your marketing content, nods their head, and says, “That makes sense.”

When they do this, your prospect is recognizing the logical structure of your argument, even if they don’t express it in such formal terms—like Spock from Star Trek would, saying, “That is the logical choice, Captain.”

get them from problem to problem solved.

Give a clear demonstration of how the value of your product exceeds its cost.

Ethos establishes trust. It reassures your reader that you (or your sources) are reliable and authoritative.

Ethos can show up through various avenues, including:

Expert opinions or authoritative figures in the field.

Testimonials from individuals who have benefited from your product.

Data taken from research studies that support your claim.

Third-party reviews that lend an external voice of approval.

Belief: A Second Brain can benefit my career.

Claim: When you have a tight deadline, a Second Brain can save you.

Proof: Tiago’s personal story. (pathos)

Format: Text.

Marketing Channel: Email.

Call-to-action: Enroll in the online course.

Belief: A notebook is a secret weapon of top creatives.

Claim: Top thinkers and creatives relied on notebooks throughout history.

Proof: Leonardo da Vinci. (ethos)

Format: Text + Image.

Marketing Channel: Instagram.

Call-to-action: Enter your email address for a free PDF.

Do treat marketing as education. Know that an educated prospect is a better prospect. Dishonest marketers prefer to keep their prospects in the dark. That’s not us.

Belief: Information overwhelm is holding me back.

Claim: Information overwhelm is bad and only getting worse.

Proof: Data from a Nielsen study. (logos)

Format: Text + Image.

Marketing Channel: LinkedIn.

Call-to-action: Leave a comment.

*You can get templates for this chapter by scanning the QR code at the front of the book or by going to simplemarketingbook.com/bonus

First, our process:

Step One: Nail down what we want to say. This is our claim. The claim should instill a predetermined belief, which is required for purchasing our product.

Step Two: Support our claim with proof. We can use ethos, pathos, and logos to mix and match our proof elements.

Step Three: Create our content. Flood our content with claims, proof, sights, sounds, and feelings. We’ll make a compelling case for our recommended way of doing things.*