Podcast

Jason Harris

#389: The Art of Soulful Persuasion Through Brand Storytelling

You and I live in a land of abundance. We have myriad choices of what brand to buy from. Scarcity is not the market dynamic it once was.

So as a sales and marketing leader, you must find a way for your product or service to stand out from the crowd by sharing the story of what you stand for.

But what DO you stand for? Without answering this question in an authentic way, you will remain viewed as a commodity, which impacts pricing, margins and growth.

Today, you’ll learn from Jason Harris, the Co-Founder and CEO of Mekanism, an award-winning New York-based creative advertising agency and author of The Soulful Art of Persuasion: The 11 Habits That Will Make Anyone a Master Influencer.

Jason works closely with iconic brands including Peloton, Ben & Jerry’s, Jose Cuervo, Alaska Airlines, Charles Schwab and OkCupid through a blend of creativity and performance, an approach they call Soul + Science.

Under his leadership, Mekanism was most recently named Independent Agency of the Year by The Drum, and ranked by the Effie Index as a top 10 Most Effective Independent Agency in the United States. Mekanism has also been named to Ad Age’s Agency A-list and twice to their Best Places to Work.

Harris was named 2021 CEO of the Year by The Drum, a recipient of the 4A’s 100 People Who Make Advertising Great, and a 2020 Campaign US 40 Over 40 honoree for his noteworthy contributions to the advertising & marketing industry. His methods are studied in cases at Harvard Business School.

HABIT 1: Being your own weird self makes it difficult for others to see you as phony or manipulative, and allows them to recognize you as a unique individual.

HABIT 2: The power of storytelling will help you to reframe contentious issues and offer your point of view in a way that resonates on a human level.

HABIT 3: Never be closing and avoiding the “hard sell” will help demonstrate that you care about things other than your own immediate gain.

HABIT 4: Give yourself away by seeking to give something away in every interaction. You’ll be laying the groundwork for cooperation.

HABIT 5: The pull of positivity counteracts the negative emotions that separate us.

HABIT 6: Just a little respect can neutralize toxic “us versus them” thinking on the part of your audience.

HABIT 7: It’s not me, it’s us is the ability to see things from the perspective of others. Truly empathizing with someone else’s point of view will enable you to meet your audience on their own terms and guide them to a new point of view.

HABIT 8: Collaboration will lead others to see you as a member of their team, making them far more likely to take your side now and in the future.

HABIT 9: Finding common ground involves learning to see people as basically similar. This will combat tribal tendencies in your own thinking and will help move others to do the same.

HABIT 10: Skill‐hunting brings a high level of proficiency to everything that you do, lending you an innate authority that carries real influence.

HABIT 11: Being a source of inspiration will help others to move past their normal limitations and join you in your positive pursuits.

Discussed in this episode:

How to be a great storyteller and how to use it for persuasion.
Why You Should Pay Attention to What a Brand Stands For.
The four pillars of brand soulfulness.
How to Use Your Platform/Brand to spread positivity.
Learn an exercise that connects what you’re good at with what you care about.
What is Soulful Persuasion, how to utilize it for your business and why persuasion matters.