Nike is valued at approximately US$35 billion. When we are talking of athletic footwear in the US – they have about 50 per cent of the market to themselves. When we narrow it down to just footwear for basketball, their market share is over 95 per cent. These figures are remarkable and one would want to know how they do it. In this article, I want to discuss a 3-pronged approach that Nike uses in marketing its products. The keywords are ethos, pathos, and logos; they will all make sense to you as we move along. Do not mind that this is Nike’s strategy; you too can do it for your business, just do it!

The Overall Principle At Play

The things I am discussing herein pertain to ads that Nike puts out. They do apply to even every aspect of how a business is run. Their core aim is to engage people’s emotions so that the ads really mean something to them. They seek to make people realize that they have certain things they need that only Nike can provide. If you have ever seen Nike ads you will also notice that they are very inspirational. That is even accentuated in their popular tagline – just do it! How do they achieve these things I am talking? Well, it is because they pay attention to 3 strategic areas that I am about to detail now.

These areas form what is referred to as the art of persuasion. The Oxford dictionary defines the art of persuasion as effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques. This is a theory that was birthed by the famous Greek philosopher by the name Aristotle. He said that if you are to put together a persuasive argument it must be anchored on the following 3 aspects.

ETHOS

When dealing with the ethos we are looking at two main things namely, credibility and ethics. It basically deals with how authoritative a brand is in the market. Thus when the element of ethos is put to action it seeks to convince people that a brand is credible, ethical, and authoritative. Have you ever heard about the term brand authority? Brand authority refers to the level of trust that consumers have towards a particular brand. One way in which this can be achieved is through pushing relevant and engaging content online.

There are two things of note here namely, content and being online. Nike is actively online and interacts with the public putting out top-notch content. This can also be augmented by social proofs e.g. testimonials and product reviews. Throwing in certifications e.g. in the form of badges – a quick example is ISO certification; that helps enhance a brand’s credibility. Other strategic certifications can be on environmental sustainability e.g. eco-friendliness. As for Nike they also take it a notch up by the use of endorsements by notable celebrities.

PATHOS

Pathos is all about appealing to or engaging people’s emotions. When Nike does its ads it wants to get people’s emotions involved. One of how it does this is by creating story themes in their ads that make people empathize. For instance, imagine an athlete pushing themselves to their limits whilst working out. The apparent display of pain in the athlete’s demeanour can cause people to empathize with them.  This is one way of appealing to consumers’ emotions.

There are several other ways to engage people’s emotions. One of them is through creating a semblance of urgency which causes people to act fast. This feeds off the natural tendency of people to be less aversive. Whenever something good is on offer and there is a possibility of not getting it if one delays, that makes one act fast. The other way is by making people have a sense of ownership. This they can do by involving consumers in branding or marketing decisions or activities. This can also be done by involving consumers in corporate social responsibility initiatives.

LOGOS

Logos deals with logic and reasoning – basically using tangible evidence to validate a standpoint. One of the most powerful tools to use here is statistics. You are presenting persuasive facts that cause people to consider your brand or your products. For instance, if you say that a product reduces one’s monthly power bill by 20 per cent – that is an example of the logos aspect.

Now that you know all these things it is time to put them to task in your businesses. There is one thing you must be wary of though – be subtle and genuine. If you come as being clearly deceptive people will catch you out. It is a given that you are somewhat leveraging on people’s emotions and all but do not make it seem like you do not genuinely care about the consumers. Strive to have a win-win for both your brand and the consumers.