Why Your Content Reaches Only a Fraction of Your Audience | NLP Techniques in Marketing [ep. #285]
Almost no one in the online business space is talking about NLP in marketing like this, and it is the reason your content lands beautifully for some people and slides straight past everyone else. I have been using neuro-linguistic programming in my marketing and how I sell since 2019, the day I first qualified as an NLP practitioner.
Most content gets written from a single representational system, usually your own, because you assume everyone sees the world the way you do. They do not, and the moment your words only speak one sensory language, you go invisible to most of your audience.
I'm going into the 4 representational systems, the predicates that reveal how your ideal client processes the world, and the NLP techniques that let one caption make 4 different people feel personally seen. Once you hear the patterns, you cannot unhear them.
Topics covered on NLP Techniques in Marketing:
What representational systems are and why almost no one applies NLP in marketing this way?
How to spot which representational system your ideal client runs?
Why writing from one representational system makes you invisible to most of your audience?
The NLP technique I use to weave all 4 systems into a single piece of content so everyone feels seen
Connect with Rebecca Haydon:
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Find out your CEO profile with C.E.I Quiz
Quote:
"People are constantly telling you how they experience the world. All you have to do is start listening." - Rebecca Haydon
Transcription:
Our AI tried its best, but expect a few quirky typos in the transcript. Embrace the imperfections and enjoy the read!
[00:00:00] I genuinely think this is one of the most underused tools in marketing and in selling. Of course, we are switching it up slightly for the podcast today, but we are looking at it through a subconscious lens, do not you worry. So when I say underused, I mean almost nobody is talking about this in the online business space in this way, and it makes me excited, because I am going full NLP nerd on you today during this episode. This is exactly the kind of NLP in marketing that I have built my whole approach around.
What NLP Is And Why Linguistics Sits At Its Core
[00:00:34] For those who do not know, NLP stands for neuro-linguistic programming. I am a trainer. I run my own business. I have the Subconscious Institute, where you can come and get qualified as an NLP practitioner, an NLP master practitioner, and a hypnotherapist. When teaching NLP, people sign up for the qualification to help their clients get deeper change, and to help themselves get deeper change too.
How I Have Used NLP In My Content And Selling Since 2019
[00:01:05] But also, because NLP is so rooted in the linguistics, which is right there in the title, neuro-linguistic programming, there are a lot of incredible tools within it that I have been using in my marketing, in my content, and in how I sell since 2019. Since the day that I learnt it, honestly. Because it is so much about how humans work, how they process information, how you can meet the person you are speaking to, how you can meet their map. This is the foundation of neuro-linguistic programming in marketing.
Meeting Your Ideal Client Where They Are, Not Where You Are
[00:01:38] That is the biggest thing about NLP. It is meeting people where they are at, and being able to ask the right questions in the right way that brings them to a conclusion that is going to make their life better. That is NLP wrapped up in a couple of short sentences. What I wanted to bring to the podcast is something slightly different today.
[00:01:58] I am not looking at your subconscious today. I am looking at your ideal client's subconscious today. So we are going to have a look at how we can meet our ideal clients where they are at through our content and through our visibility. When I say content, I mean across the board. You can use this in emails, on your podcast, in your YouTube videos, on social media, in your stories, in your grid posts, across the board.
[00:02:28] When you are speaking to humans, when you are coaching humans, when you are working with humans, I truly believe that everyone should be NLP qualified, quite frankly. It gives you so much. But seeing NLP in marketing from this perspective, which is what I am going to teach you today, is probably going to blow your mind a little bit, and I think you will already know some of what I am about to tell you.
[00:02:51] Welcome back to The Subconscious Expert. I am Rebecca Haydon, your host, and I am very excited to take a slightly different turn on the podcast today. By the end of this episode, you will know what representational systems are. I am going to be calling them rep systems for the rest of the podcast, and you too can call them rep systems if you want to sound like you know what you are talking about at a dinner party.
[00:03:18] By the end of this episode, you are going to understand what they are, how to identify which one your ideal client is primarily running, and how to deliberately write your content and sell in a way that really speaks to all of them. So whoever lands on your page, whoever is reading your sales page, whoever is reading your emails, will feel completely seen.
[00:03:44] You might want a notebook for this one. You might want your notes app for this one. So let us get into it.
What Representational Systems Are And Why They Matter For Your Content
[00:03:44] In NLP, neuro-linguistic programming, we talk about the fact that human beings experience the world through their senses. No shit, Sherlock. I know you know that. We see things, we hear things, we feel things, we smell, and we taste things.
[00:04:13] We represent our internal experiences, so that is our memories, our imagination, our thoughts, through those same sensory systems, and these are what we call the representational systems. There are quite a few of them. We are going to look at the predominant 4 today, but I want to take you through them all.
[00:04:41] So we have visual, we have auditory, we have kinaesthetic, we have auditory digital, and then we have olfactory and gustatory. Those last 2 are less known in the world. I feel like you will have heard of the other 4. Olfactory and gustatory are smell and taste. They are the least common primary systems, so we are going to park those for today.
Everyone Has A Primary System They Default To
[00:05:09] We do not really need those right now. We are just going to focus on the first 4. So visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, and auditory digital. Every single person will have a primary rep system. The one thing people get a little hung up on when I am teaching NLP is the idea that you only operate from this one rep system, which is not the truth.
[00:05:36] We can operate from all 4. We can be in any of those within any given situation and any given circumstance. But every single person will have a primary representational system, the one they kind of default to when they are processing information, when they are making decisions, when they are experiencing the world.
[00:06:05] This primary system shows up in everything. It shows up in how they think, how they communicate, what they need to see, what they need to hear, and what they need to feel in order to be convinced of something, in order to buy, in order to feel safe, in order to do anything they are doing.
[00:06:30] If the way you are showing up, as in the way you are writing your content, only speaks to one rep system, and usually that is your own primary system, because you feel that everyone else sees the world the way you do, then you are quite literally invisible to everyone else who processes the world differently. And so many of us process the world differently.
Why I Spotted My Learning Type On My School Planner
[00:06:54] I have actually known about the rep systems for a very long time. I remember doing this sort of understanding back in primary school and secondary school. We had it on our planner back in the day, when you had planners. My God, it gives me the fear of getting a red mark. But on the front of my planner, I used to have what learning type I was, and it would be there so the teacher knew. So you might have heard about this before. You might have had an understanding of this before.
The 4 Representational Systems: Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic And Auditory Digital
[00:07:33] If we are only speaking to one rep system, what about all the others? Like I said, we are going to concentrate on 4 of the representational systems today, visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, and auditory digital. The first thing I want us to look at is the difference between all of them.
[00:08:03] As you are listening to this, you might start to sense which one your primary system is, and maybe sense which one you keep writing in, or which one you tend to create content through.
The Visual Reprepresentational System: People Who Think In Pictures
[00:08:03] So the first of the representational systems we are going to look at is visual. A visual person experiences the world through images, through pictures. They think in images. They process information by seeing it. A lot of the time, without getting too far into NLP, they will recall information by looking up. When we look up, we are accessing a visual memory. So you will notice a lot of visual people look up when they are accessing things.
[00:08:55] The key thing about visual people is that they speak very quickly. Their thoughts move fast, because they are processing pictures, and the pictures are moving fast. The specific sensory words they use, we call these predicates in NLP, but you do not need to know the exact terminology for this.
[00:09:19] The kind of words we are looking for are, "Oh yeah, I see what you mean," or, "Let me get a clearer picture on this. Ooh, I can imagine that. Yeah, I can really imagine that working for me," or, "Could you show me what that looks like? Yeah, I can see the path ahead." They are using these predicates, these words that tell you they are playing in their visual rep system.
[00:09:50] In your content, visual people respond best to really vivid imagery, to specific scenes, and this is why we tell people to go micro. Paint the picture, you might have heard. They want to be able to see the change. They want to see themselves in the scenario you are describing, and they need you to paint them a picture so clear that they can actually visualise being inside it.
The Auditory Representational System: People Who Process Through Sound
[00:10:29] The next one is auditory. Auditory people, hello to those who love listening to podcasts, experience the world through sound, through tone, through rhythm. They process through what they hear, both internally and externally. The quality and tone of the language, the pace and the tone, really matters to them.
[00:10:55] Anyone who is predominantly auditory will have a natural musical quality to their voice, and their predicates will sound something like this. "Mm, that does not sound right to me," or, "Hmm, that does not quite ring true," or, "Yeah, that rings a bell." In your content for auditory people, they respond to the rhythm.
[00:11:25] They respond to the flow. They love dialogue. They love the way language sounds when it is read. They are probably your most devoted podcast listeners, because they naturally process through sound, but they want the content to sound right before they can almost trust it.
The Kinaesthetic Representational System: People Who Feel Before They Act
[00:11:48] The next one is kinaesthetic. Hello, my kinaesthetic people, one of my main primary rep systems. I am a mix between kinaesthetic and visual. I am pretty much spot on the same score for visual and kinaesthetic. The kinaesthetic person experiences the world through feeling, through sensation, through movement. A lot of the information comes through their body, so a lot of gut feelings, a lot of emotion, a lot of physical sensations.
[00:12:22] They will often speak slower than visual people, because they are processing through feelings, and feelings take longer than seeing. So the predicates you will hear them say are, "Mm, yeah, that feels so right for me," or, "Oh gosh, I just have a gut feeling about this," or, "Mm, I need to get a handle on this. Something does not sit right with me," or, "It feels really heavy right now." All me.
[00:12:55] In your content, kinaesthetic people respond to real emotional depth. They respond incredibly to vulnerability. They are the ones who read a caption and feel it in their body. They are the ones who DM you and say, "Oh my God, that landed so deeply for me." They want to feel your content before they act on it, and they are genuinely moved by content that creates a real felt experience.
The Auditory Digital Representational System: People Who Need Logic First
[00:13:26] Lastly is auditory digital. This one is slightly different from the others. Auditory digital is much more about the internal narration, the internal dialogue. If a person is in AD, as we call it, it is very much the part of them that analyses, that categorises, that reasons, that makes sense of things through logic and through structure. A lot of people who work in IT are auditory digital, and I do not want to blanket people, but it is true.
[00:14:27] Auditory digital people love order. They love precision. They love understanding the why behind things. They are very good at following processes, because they naturally think in sequence and in logic. I love when I work with an auditory digital client who is primarily in their AD. It really stretches me as a coach, because I am so the opposite. My AD score is the lowest of all 4.
[00:15:00] So I really have to switch on to meet them at their map, to make what we are doing and how I coach speak to their world. Their predicates a lot of the time will be, "Ooh, that makes sense. I need to think about that," or, "Mm, no, that does not make logical sense to me. What is the process? I need to work this through properly." Your AD people are the ones who love the breakdown on a sales page of exactly what they get and how they get it.
[00:15:44] So in your content, auditory digital people respond to structure, they respond to frameworks, they want a logical flow. They want evidence. They want to understand why something works before they trust it. They will probably read every word of your long caption. They want the mechanism of how you teach explained. They need the reasoning before they buy.
Predicates: The Sensory Words That Reveal How Someone Thinks
[00:16:08] So that is a bit of a whistle-stop tour of the rep systems. Really powerful stuff, and this is probably 2% of what I teach when it comes to representational systems in NLP, which I just think is gold. But the one thing I want you to take away from all of this is the predicates. Like I said, during all 4 of them I have given you examples, but predicates, as I teach them in NLP, are those specific sensory words that each system uses.
[00:16:37] They are absolute gold when it comes to your content. Once you start hearing someone's predicates, you can begin using them back to them, which is one of the simplest NLP techniques, what we call matching.
How To Match Someone's Language And Speak Their Subconscious
[00:16:37] When you match their predicates, suddenly you are speaking their subconscious language, and their subconscious goes, "Ooh, okay, this person gets me. This person understands me." So let me give you a quick example. If I know I am speaking to a visual client, and they have spoken to me about something we are doing, I would respond, "Yeah, I absolutely see what you mean, Beck. Let us get a really clear picture, and then we can picture how that would work for you."
[00:17:28] So straight away I am meeting them at their map. The same with kinaesthetic. It could be, "Yeah, absolutely, Beck. That feels really right. That really sits well with me." Again, you are speaking the predicates. If someone was auditory digital, I would say, "Hmm, yeah, logically that really adds up. I know you need to understand the why before you move forward, so let us think that through. Let us make it make sense for you."
Examples Of Matching Predicates Across All 4 Systems
[00:17:55] Whatever rep system, oh no, I missed out auditory there. Let me do an auditory. Auditory could be, "Yeah, Beck, absolutely, that sounds great. That sounds right. Something is telling me this is the right move for you, and I know the other bits did not ring true for you, but actually..."
[00:18:19] So you can start using the predicates. Once you have listened to this episode and I have opened your beady little eyes to this, you can start listening to which rep system people are in, literally by listening to the language they are speaking. This is why NLP in marketing is so powerful for your business, especially when you are working with humans. And this is not a sell on NLP, by the way. This is genuinely me wanting to talk about this on the podcast, but it really is so powerful, and now you can see that you can meet people in their world, rather than speaking your world to them.
[00:18:46] Coming back round, people are telling you constantly how they experience the world, and like I said, all you have to do is start listening.
Why Writing From One Representational System Makes You Invisible
[00:19:09] Where it gets really practical for your content is that most people create content almost entirely from their own representational system, and you are probably doing it without realising. Of course you are, because you may never have heard of these before. So if you are primarily visual, your content will probably be full of vivid imagery and picture language, painting the scenes beautifully.
[00:19:43] But if you have kinaesthetic people in your audience, they cannot feel it, and your auditory digital people cannot make sense of it. The same if you are primarily kinaesthetic and your content is deeply emotional and felt and resonant. Your kinaesthetic audience absolutely love it, but your visual audience cannot see themselves in it, and your auditory digital audience is wondering where the logistics are.
[00:20:17] So every time you write content from only your primary system, you are speaking to a percentage of your audience.
What My "What CEO Are You?" Quiz Revealed About My Audience
[00:20:17] The thing I find so brilliant about this, and I have been using rep systems for years, is that quite a few years ago I put out a quiz, and quite a few people still do it to this day, where it was basically, "What CEO are you?"
[00:20:43] Those quiz profiles all have a particular rep system. If I go and look at the statistics on the quiz, and I did not do it through the eyes of rep systems, but they naturally fell into the representational systems, you can see that my natural way of speaking, my natural rep system, is predominantly what most of my audience are.
[00:21:09] It was quite funny, because you will attract a lot of people who are similar to you, but there were still a lot of people filling out the quiz in the different rep systems as well.
How To Write One Piece Of Content That Speaks To All 4 Systems
[00:21:09] So when you are speaking to all 4 representational systems, that is when you get your most magnetic content, and you can, in one piece of content, speak to all 4 systems. You can give the visual person a picture. You can give the auditory person a rhythm and a sound. You can give the kinaesthetic person a feeling. You can give the auditory digital person a reason and a logic. They could literally be 4 different sentences, and they would flow very smoothly.
[00:22:11] But it means that every single person who lands on your content feels completely seen, and a lot of the time will feel like your content was written specifically for them. It will resonate with them, the trust will be there, and they have probably not even looked at your offer by then. So that is what is so powerful about being able to write across the 4 representational systems. I hope this is all making sense. I just love it so much.
A Self-Belief Caption Written Across Every Representational System
[00:22:36] So let us do an example. Say you are writing a caption about self-belief. Let us keep it open. Let us start with visual. "I want you to see what is possible for you when the self-doubt stops." Tick. "Can you picture what your business would look like from that place?" So anyone in my audience who is visual will be like, "Yeah! Yeah! Hell yeah!" Because I have tapped into the visual person.
[00:23:10] Next one, and I want you to hear what I am saying about this, because it sounds different. "Self-belief, when it comes from a woman who actually believes it." So anyone who is auditory in my audience is like, "Yeah, it bloody does, Bec." Then, "I just want you to feel into this for a moment. I want you to feel it in your chest when you read your testimonials, and you actually let them land in your full body, to believe that what you are doing is so incredible." Kinaesthetic.
[00:23:38] Can you see? Can you see how it is literally one sentence each? And the reason this matters is because the subconscious is running 95% of your behaviour, so the patterns underneath your self-belief were formed... there we go, auditory digital. So I have given them a little bit of logic, a little bit of understanding, and a little bit of the to-dos.
[00:24:15] So we have 4 sentences, 4 systems, and every person reading that content will feel seen. This is where using NLP in marketing gets so powerful. Can you see now, if you look back on pieces of content you have written, maybe sales pages? Quite frankly, this is taught. This is not a new concept. I know I am not making this a new concept. It is taught through marketing, because you do have bits on the sales page where you picture the change, and you do have bits where you take them through the logic.
Different Platforms Lean On Different Representational Systems
[00:24:45] If you look at any email sequence, you will go through all the rep systems during a launch, for example. That is what I teach my clients. So if you want help on that, you know where I am. But it gets really powerful to be able to speak to these rep systems, and different parts of your business and your content might lean on different rep systems more.
[00:25:26] Obviously the podcast, I am very much in the auditory, because you are listening through your ears. But that does not mean I cannot bring in my auditory digital, my visual, all the others within this, even though I am leading through audio. The same if I am leading through a video, or you are watching me on stories. I can be visual by showing up on video, but also visually through the colours I use, the textures I use, and the way I use my stories.
[00:26:02] There are so many ways you can tap into all the rep systems.
Your Next Step: Audit Your Own Content For Representational Systems
[00:26:02] So what I want you to take away from today is this. Your content is probably already brilliant, and your ideal client is probably already in your audience. But what I want you to start to look at is, can she actually feel seen by what you are putting out?
[00:26:27] The representational systems are one powerful way you can make sure that every person who lands on your content, regardless of how they experience the world, feels like you wrote it just for them. So what I want you to do is have a bit of an audit. Go back through your last couple of pieces of content and look at the language you are using. Are you predominantly visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, or auditory digital? Whatever you find most, I would say that is your primary system.
[00:27:00] I do not want you to come out of your natural one, I just want you to consciously weave in the other systems alongside it. It is one of those things in NLP, and I say this throughout the whole qualification, once you see it, you cannot unsee it. Once you hear it, you cannot unhear it. But once you start doing this, the resonance, and how people feel reading, listening, and being in your world, will shift, and it will feel so different before they can even explain why.
[00:27:39] If you have loved this episode and you want to go deeper using NLP techniques in your marketing and selling, send me a DM on Instagram saying "rep system". I am currently building something around this, and I just want to know who is interested. So send me "rep system" in the DMs, and I will send you the details, because I am really excited.
[00:28:06] I am really excited to bring my two worlds together, all my worlds together really, because I used to teach visibility content through this lens, then went away from it, and I am being called back to it. I hope this has given you enough to go and get started with. I love you lots, and I will see you on the next episode.
More about The Subconscious Expert:
Welcome to The Subconscious Expert, the podcast where your subconscious becomes your one-way ticket to the mind-blowing results you desire in your life and business! I’m your host, Rebecca Haydon, The Subconscious Expert who went from being stuck in victim mode to a multi 6 figure business owner. Each week, I will be giving you the subconscious tools and techniques so you can become the woman who is living out her vision with a life and business that she is truly OBSESSED with. I have said it before, and I will say it 100 times again: "Your business can't outgrow your mindset, and if you want to grow your business, it always starts with growing your subconscious." So let's dive into the subconscious breakthrough you so deeply deserve!