Master the analogy - a powerful persuasive tool

An analogy is a figure of speech that can be a very effective way to convey complex information. It makes your idea easy to understand, and more importantly, easy to remember. But it must be done right for it to work.

In this article, we will talk about analogies—why they work and why you should be using them. Let us begin.

What is an analogy and why use it?

An analogy is a comparison between two things that is drawn usually as a tool for explanation. The power of the analogy lies in its exploitation of the human tendency to learn new ideas based on established concepts.

Trying to introduce a completely new idea without some reference to an established one is like trying to erect a brand-new building from scratch. It can be done but it takes a lot of time and a lot of energy. Two things that are often in short supply during a presentation or even a conversation.

Analogies, on the other hand, help you build upon an existing scaffold saving both you and your listener valuable time and energy.

Persuading with an analogy?

From a persuasive perspective, analogies can be used to weaken or remove resistance to ideas. This is an advanced use of the analogy and requires skill and thought in its application. Let us look at an example of this application executed effectively.

Surplus or deficit? That is the question.

In the 2015 Canada election, Liberal candidate Justin Trudeau displayed knowledge of this concept. The federal budget was a strong bone of contention in this election. Trudeau was campaigning on the stance that running a deficit (essentially going into debt) was the right direction to go for the country's economy.

His opponent had attacked this position leveraging the “common sense” of maintaining a surplus. Voters could understand this common sense. They did not “get” the logic of running a deficit. The young Trudeau’s team knew they had to make the idea more acceptable to voters – more concrete. But how?

Enter the analogy. 

It is like a house

With a stroke of persuasive genius, the analogy was employed. Trudeau began comparing the country’s economy to a Canadian household and his plan to run a deficit to taking out a line of credit to finance improvements on the house.

To paraphrase Trudeau in countless interviews:

Every Canadian knows that when you need to make improvements on your house, what do you do? You take out a line of credit knowing that when you are done, the value of the house will be higher.

He knew that by comparing his plan to run a deficit to a common, concrete reality of his listeners, his idea would be received much easier. It worked. Voters "got it" and it helped drive his campaign to success.

Trudeau went on to win the election and become Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister.Now to say that this one analogy won Trudeau the Prime Minister seat would be a gross overstatement and an offensive oversimplification. But what it certainly did was help him get through to voters on an otherwise sticky and dicey aspect of his policy plan. In other words, he effectively employed the analogy as a persuasive tool.

Was the analogy accurate?

Whether the analogy of the country being like a household was a true representation of the reality of federal budgets or not, economists can have at it and decide. Personally, I think the issues in question were probably more complicated than that. But then again, isn’t most government policy?

And that is the power of the analogy – it makes complex concepts more accessible. Not necessarily by covering every nuance of the subject, but by making the core idea concrete enough for your listener to understand. In other words, by making the idea more fluent. 

They need to understand - the role of cognitive fluency

Cognitive fluency is the ease with which information is processed and understood. It can have a powerful impact on whether or not an idea is accepted or rejected. In short, ideas that have low cognitive fluency are harder to think about and more likely to be rejected. These ideas demand a lot of energy to process.

When the idea feels too hard to process, most people check out. They may be physically present - staring and nodding but, rest assured, they are long gone. Perhaps you can relate.

Conversely, ideas that have high cognitive fluency or are easier to think about and process are more readily accepted and acted upon.

Analogies aid in persuasion because they increase the cognitive fluency of your ideas and make it more likely that the listener will stick around mentally to give your idea a fair hearing and possibly take action on it.

You can read more about cognitive fluency and its role in decision-making in this excellent article by UXMatters.

Can the analogy help you?

Like most professionals, you likely have specialized knowledge. Knowledge that you take for granted because you have spent years studying and mastering it. This knowledge can be a curse because you have forgotten what it is like to not know. That familiarity with your subject can sabotage your attempts to communicate with clients or a non-technical audience.

Realizing this, you might want to put yourself in your audience’s shoes before attempting to communicate with them. From a persuasive standpoint, unclear communication or ineffective explanations can introduce apprehension on the side of your audience and can damage your credibility.

What does this mean for you?

Albert Einstein supposedly said that if you can't explain something to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself. Most intelligent people expect that if you really know your subject, you ought to be able to explain it. The analogy is a great way to do this.

Therefore, it is worth taking time to thoughtfully design analogies explaining the difficult or highly technical aspects of your skills or expertise. Especially if part of your work involves communication with different stakeholders.

My job is...

Strange as it may sound, analogies can extend to describing what you do for a living. In the current era of skill-workers, work is getting more and more dynamic. Skills are getting more and more niched and highly technical. Gone are the days when the question "what do you do for a living?" yielded a straight answer.

A good analogy can help here.Data Integration Specialist?"

I use data like jigsaw puzzle pieces to create a big picture of reality for businesses".

Now that is so clear and concrete that even a six-year-old can understand it.

So go ahead and use analogies in your communications. You (and your audience) will be happy you did.

In the next article on analogies, I’ll give you a few tips on crafting and using analogies effectively. 

Till then, speak with skill