If you pay a lot of attention to what's in vogue in marketing then you'll know that the dominant theme over the last decade or so has been persuasion.

Whether that's copywriting or NLP or all sorts of tricks and techniques to try to get people to do what you want: persuasion is sexy.

We've come to believe that marketing is all about persuasion. Take what you have and convince people they want to buy it.

The best selling books on marketing are titles like Influence, Persuade and Hooked.

They're all about clever tools and techniques you can use to get people to do what you want.

Persuasion is sexy to marketing people because it puts them at the centre of the universe. It spins a tale where no matter what the product is, give it to a great marketer and they'll persuade people to buy it.

And it's nonsense.

Or more accurately, while a great marketer can improve the sales of any product; their skills at persuasion are by far the least important thing in marketing.

Years ago, back when I was still active in the world of close-up magic, I was lucky enough to attend a small workshop with one of the world's few true geniuses, Juan Tamariz.

At the workshop, Tamariz talked about what made a great magic trick. At the time (and still today in fact) the dominant school of thought in magic was that presentation was the most important factor in a great trick. You have to engage your audience, entertain them, tell great stories.

“No” said Tamariz.

Presentation is important. But it's just the final layer.

Much more important than the presentation is the trick itself and how magical it is.

If you could walk into a room and suddenly levitate and start flying, it wouldn't matter how you presented it; it would be utterly magical.

On the other hand, if people see through your trick and guess how it's done it doesn't matter how well you present it, it's not magical. It might be a good story, but it's not magic. 

Next in importance is how you routine the trick so that your audience's focus is in all the right places. So that they see the magic and not the secret moves.

Finally comes the presentation. The layer of entertainment you put on top to enhance the trick.

Marketing is a lot like magic in my experience.

We think that persuasion is the most important part, just like many magicians think presentation is the most important part.

But much more important than persuasion is your offer.

Creating a product or service that your ideal clients actually want.

That's the first and most vital job of marketing. Understand who your ideal clients are and what they value; and make sure your product or service delivers that.

Next is clear communication. Making sure, just like with magic, that your audience is focused in the right places. In other words, they “get” the value that your product or service is going to bring them.

Only then does persuasion kick in.

Persuasion can enhance a great offer with clear communication.

But it can't replace it.

It's trendy to talk about clever persuasion techniques and to think that somehow this is where we should be focusing. 

But the good news, especially if you don't have months to spend learning these fancy techniques, is that what really counts is the fundamentals.

Make sure you're offering something that your clients truly want. Make sure you communicate the value to them in clear and simple terms. 

Do that and you won't have to worry too much about persuasion.