Revealing Trump's Secrets: 7 Tricks That Will Make Your Content As Compelling As Trump's Speeches

The phenomenon of Donald Trump is making the halt all over the world. And while everybody is getting to know what his future policy will be, we can look at his success in public speaking.

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Regardless of how you personally feel about Donald Trump’s political ideas, there is one thing that is impossible to argue. This guy has a talent for persuading people. No matter how illogical or outright preposterous some of his proclamations are, he can make people believe in him.

This is the kind of talent that any content-maker should strive to cultivate, and borrowing some ideas from Trump’s public speeches is a great way to achieve this.

Let’s take a look at some of the tactics Trump uses to influence his audience and see how they can be incorporated into content generation.

Asking the audience a question and answering it for them

Trump’s ‘speech weapon’ #1 is the so-called double bind. You can see him using it masterfully during debates. In essence, this technique revolves around creating a kind of a ‘word trap’ that leaves your opponent with no chance of countering your argument without losing face in some way.

Trump achieves this through various methods that adapt to the situation, which shows his talent in verbal battles. Luckily, you don’t need to have any training in this specific skill to apply this trick when developing your content as there isn’t a direct argument there. What you should learn from this approach is to establish a ‘verbal setting’ that will give your audience less reason to argue.

A very effective way to achieve this is to ask a direct question and offer an answer to it, supported by overwhelming evidence. The question will lead the reader to the specific train of thought you want to target. The evidence will prove that your answer is THE ONE.

Don’t give people other options and offer enough supportive proof to kill off any arguments before they even occur.

Using repetition of the simplest ideas

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There are many studies on the subject of how ideas get stuck in our heads, but scientists have yet to understand this process completely. However, they did prove that repetition is a potent influence on us. When we are exposed to the same information over and over again, we start accepting it as a priority over anything else.

However, it’s important to understand that only the simplest of ideas. Almost every time Trump speaks in public, you can hear him repeating simple phrases up to 10 times a minute. They are the most basic of word formations, like ‘we don’t win’, ‘if I win, we win’, etc. This may sound silly, but this approach appeals to our subconscious, so the ideas get stuck.

When using this method for your content, remember that too much repetition makes a text look bad. Trump can get away with it because he’s making an oral speech, but you need to ration the message you want to make the biggest impact on the readers. Try not to use the same phrases more often than once every 150-200 words.

Using social proof

Trump is a champion of incorporating social proof into every speech he makes. He can actually make some sort of social reference after every other sentence, and it’s one of the reasons for his success. He understands how a human brain works and appeals directly to its ‘decision-making centers’.

It turns out that in many situations, we don’t really make decisions based on rational proof. Instead, we are influenced by the majority opinion. This is especially true for the situations when a person experiences an informational overload, like following the political race to the election.

Too much info is a stress for the brain, so it latches onto the opinion supported by the public. Which means that introducing social proof that tells the audience ‘look, people think this is best’ will motivate them to think the same.

Use this method in your content by including reviews and testimonials. Tell stories of how people who used your products and services benefitted from them.

Eliminating any negative social proof

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Trump understand the power of social proof, so he strives to destroy any negative connotations of this kind coming from his opponents immediately. You should try to do the same when developing your content.

Be extremely protective of the positive image you are trying to cultivate for your business. Don’t include any negative ideas, even if you plan to dispel them right away. You shouldn’t introduce them at all so that these things don’t occur to your readers.

Focus on highlighting the benefits of your product/service/brand, and be sure to deal with any negative fallback in social media or comments after you publish your content.

Appealing to the authority

This technique works on the same level as social proof. Trump often doesn’t offer any rational arguments, but he calls out the names of ‘people in high places’ who support his ideas. In this case, the public reacts to the authority generated by the name, so they trust the opinion on the subconscious level.

Try to incorporate expert opinions into your content. Even if they only support one aspect of your message, mentioning a name your readers trust should increase your conversion rate.

Using emotionally compelling proof

Studies indicate that people are more likely to believe an idea supported by some emotionally compelling proof (story) than by a rational argument that features large numbers and statistics.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should exclude all stats from your content as they have some level of persuasive value. However, it’s appealing to the emotions that you should focus on. Creating content in a form of a story that people can identify and sympathize with will give you an edge over the texts that focus on numbers, no matter how great an impact these numbers can make.

Combining all of the above to achieve the best results

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The truly greatest thing about Trump’s public speeches is that he doesn’t use a single persuasive technique. He combines all of them, adjusting the mix on the go when debating with an opponent in real-time.

This is the best way to go if you want to make a great impact on your customers. Develop your content keeping all these tricks in mind and incorporating them whenever possible. You should try to ‘squeeze in’ as many of them as possible, without sacrificing the readability of the text itself. Experiment a bit until you find the right mix of repetition, social proof, and emotional appeals that work for your specific audience and stick with the formula when developing new pieces of content.