Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation

And that is something she knows a fair bit about. An award-winning advertising writer, brand image consultant and sought-after speaker, Hogshead helped companies like Nike, MINI Cooper, Target, Coca-Cola and Godiva develop successful marketing and advertising strategies.

She leads keynotes for the likes of Starbucks and Microsoft and her articles have been widely published in the media.

Her first book "Radical Careering: 100 Truths to JumpStart Your Job, Your Career and Your Life" came out in 2005. It was a wake-up call to many who were languishing in jobs or living lifestyles that weren't making them happy.

In a similar way, "Fascinate" is an action-orientated book – something that comes across in its punchy style and tight structure.

The author identifies six hallmarks of fascination and seven fascination "triggers" – each of which has what she calls "pillars" or key characteristics. She sums up the contents of the book at the end, in chunky paragraphs and bullet points.

Now, some may find this rigid structure uninspiring and simplistic, but we think it makes for a swift and easy read. The author definitely gets her message across, although maybe too clearly for some. Her tone is direct and chatty. She often interjects witticisms in parentheses or footnotes. It's a style you'll either love or hate, but it's pretty consistent throughout, so you know where you stand.

The style also lends itself well to a book that contains some accurate observations of human nature. You might find yourself nodding or smiling in places – say, if you've ever stood inside an elevator and pressed the button to close the doors when you heard someone approaching, or if you've ever bought something you knew you couldn't afford.

"Fascinate" will help you understand what prompts you to make certain choices – an understanding that could lead to more control over those choices. It will also help you influence other people's decisions more effectively. There's a wealth of material on decision-making on the Mind Tools website, and "Fascinate" is a great complement to that.

And, while the author puts a lot of emphasis on effective marketing and advertising, her points are presented in an ethical way. It's about maximizing your potential and understanding your audience or customer base better, not about pulling the wool over anyone's eyes.

Nor is the book all about consumerism. Understanding people's triggers can also be put to non-business purposes – in building better personal relationships or persuading kids not to take drugs.

So, are you fascinated yet? Keep listening to discover how mystique helps sell Coca Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken, how prestige can boost the cachet of a simple T-shirt, and how a suicide survivor alarms people into thinking twice.

The book is divided into three parts. In Part One, the author gives us the background to fascination – mythological, historical, psychological and biological. In Part Two, she delves into her seven fascination triggers in detail, using some of the world's best-known brands as examples. Finally, in Part Three, there's the Fascination Plan of Attack – a step-by-step guide to making your company, your brand, your product, your message more alluring or powerful.

Let's take a look at the author's seven triggers of fascination.

The first is lust, which creates a craving for sensory pleasure. Then there's mystique, which lures with unanswered questions. Alarm threatens with negative consequences and can spur people into action. Prestige earns respect through symbols of achievement and recognition from peers. Power commands and controls. Vice tempts with "forbidden fruit," causing us to rebel against norms or do things we don't want to do. Finally, the most important trigger is trust, which comforts us with certainty and reliability.

The question the author poses in this book is whether you're using the right triggers, in the right way, to get the right result. Fascination isn't witchcraft or even rocket science – it can be measured and researched, and it can also be re-evaluated as needs change.

Once you understand these triggers, you can use them to your advantage. You can activate one over another to suit current market conditions or different audiences. And you can develop a culture of fascination within your own organization or relationship that allows ideas and people to flourish.

You can also begin to understand how your own decision-making is related to these triggers, as they're used by companies and people around you. Did you choose that stationery supplier because of the company's prestige? Or that family car, because you trusted the brand? If you can identify how the triggers affect you, you'll be better placed to make objective decisions in the future.

The author came up with the seven triggers after three years of research involving companies and individuals – and following a public opinion study involving more than a thousand Americans.

She states clearly that she didn't invent these triggers. We've all been using them throughout our lives, from smiling at someone to standing our ground. In short, we're "fascinating" whenever we use our natural strengths and instincts to connect with others. The author is simply helping us understand what these are and how to use them more effectively.

From the seven triggers, we go on to hear about the six "gold hallmarks" of a fascinating message. The author's key point here, and one that may ring true for those in advertising or marketing, is that fascination has little to do with what you say. It has much more to do with what you inspire others to say about you or your message.

Fascinating companies create opportunities for people to connect with each other through their brand. Take Harley-Davidson. With astounding success, the company has created not just a brand, but a sense of identity and community that's extended from motorbikes to clothes, hairstyles, and to a way of life.

Fascinating people and companies get under our skin. They spark heated discussion at the dinner table, incite protest or prompt people to go to any lengths to get close to them.

So what are these hallmarks of fascination? Well, to name a few, you have to provoke strong and immediate emotional reactions – as examples, think of Botox injections or a country and western band. You'll want to create advocates, people who are passionately dedicated to you – like pop stars or religions do. And you'll want to force competitors to realign around you or try to imitate you, so think Apple or Microsoft.

Let's take a look at three of the triggers in more detail, beginning with mystique.

This is all about striking the right balance between openness and secrecy, between disclosing enough to spike curiosity, while maintaining some mystery. Fascination ends when all is revealed. Facts are important, but cultivate a bit of legend and lore around your company or product, and it could make the crucial difference.

The author points to Coca-Cola as a master player in terms of mystique. "Merchandise 7X" is the name of the Coca-Cola ingredient that remained secret for decades after the soda's invention in 1886. Its list of ingredients was said to be stored in a bank vault from 1925 onwards.

The author points out that Mark Pendergrast claimed to have revealed the secret formula in his book "For God, Country and Coca-Cola" in 2000, but mystique helped sell plenty of bottles and cans of the soda before then and doubtless still does to a degree.

Other brands cultivate a similar sense of mystery. Kentucky Fried Chicken is made with eleven secret herbs and spices, according to the advertising. These spices are mixed in two different factories to minimize the number of people who know the recipe.

Mystique is why we're still talking about the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. We feel there's more to know.

Let's move on to another trigger: prestige. Why can some designer brands charge outrageous prices for a handbag or a pair of jeans? Well, prestige is about establishing a ranking, a pecking order, and being able to position oneself relative to others in that order. Emblems and designer logos say something about us and fulfill an instinctive human need to feel important, respected and recognized.

To show how the prestige trigger can elevate a simple, non-prestigious item to new heights, the author uses the example of the T-shirt.

What if you made a T-shirt scarce, a limited edition, perhaps designed by famous artists? That might increase its prestige and therefore its appeal. How about making it out of a material that holds particular value for some consumers, say, patched together out of famous football players? shirts? You could allow consumers to customize their T-shirt design, and then watch online via streaming video as it's assembled in a workshop. This would create an attachment between the consumer and the t-shirt before it's even made.

And what if you made the T-shirt so expensive that virtually nobody could afford it? Chanel already sells a plain white T-shirt for 500 dollars while Prada's version retails at 1500 dollars. The author suggests pricing your T-shirt at 15,000 dollars. Now you may not sell any, but you'd certainly have people talking about your brand, and you just might sell some other products on the back of the hype!

Now, you heard earlier that this book isn't all about consumerism, so let's look at how triggers can be used for the greater good.

Take the alarm trigger. To get a sense of how this works, think about annual tax return forms. Deadlines and potentially negative consequences can effectively persuade people to get on with tasks they'd really rather avoid. As a manager, you could use the alarm trigger by applying threats constructively.

Alarm sparks that fight or flight feeling and we act. This is one of the most visceral triggers, and the author uses an example about the human body itself to show this.

In October 2006, Jay Gnospelius threw himself in front of a high-speed Amtrak commuter train in a moment of psychosis. He was sure the train's snub-nosed design would lead to instant death and he'd avoid the possibility of mutilation. He was wrong. Ten days later, he woke up in an intensive care unit. He survived, but lost his right arm and his left leg.

The author describes her reaction when she first met him in a hotel lobby to interview him for the book. She felt alarmed. Naturally, we expect four limbs and when we see only two we're shocked and somehow threatened. Jay is aware of people's strong reaction to him and is using it for a purpose.

He's a motivational speaker and advocate for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. His message is hard to ignore and difficult to forget. He channels alarm into action.

The key thing is to identify an audience's buttons and then push them to achieve an impact. Advertising writer Luke Sullivan did this with a campaign to stop teenagers from driving drunk. He knew they didn't fear death in the way adults do, so graphic images of accidents wouldn't have much of an impact. Instead, he alarmed teens with the prospect of losing their license. His ad featured a boy on the way to the prom with his date by his side – being driven by his mom.

By being more aware of our audience's triggers, we can tailor our message to greater effect, be this to sell more cars or handbags, or to dissuade kids from taking drugs or driving drunk.

On to Part Three and "The Fascination Plan of Attack" – a three-stage process to make your message more fascinating. Beginning with evaluation, then development, then execution, you'll learn how to identify which triggers you're using well and which you are not, and you'll get some great tips on how to incorporate new triggers.

Through some simple exercises, akin to playing with a chemistry set, you can juggle the triggers you or your company are using to hit your message home.

Now, you heard earlier that this book isn't without its faults. The author includes a number of her own advertising success stories and the self-promotion may irk some readers.

This book also relies a fair bit on anecdotal evidence and appraisals, albeit accurate ones, of human nature. There is just one public opinion study in the book and some readers may want to see more hard facts. Plus, you may wonder if these techniques are a little too manipulative, an issue the author doesn't address head-on.

But, all that said, fascination isn't that easy to pin down, and the author makes a pretty good job of doing so.

At most, this book will swing you into action, into revamping your personal style, statement or corporate message, which may have some positive results. At least, it will increase your awareness of how you interact with other people and particular products – and may help you understand your own decisions better.

"Fascinate," by Sally Hogshead, is published in hardback by HarperCollins.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.