How the Socratic Method reveals a copywriting truth

I’m sitting on the couch last night chatting with my wife’s uncle about the new Lord of the Rings series.

He’s a big fan of the story in general, so I ask him: “What did you think about the new series?”

(I’m not a huge fan, so I was genuinely curious. I haven’t seen it so I couldn’t speak much to it.)

Let’s just say he had some … interesting … views on what he referred to as the “woke” aspects of the series.

I had one perspective. I’m more liberal and progressive.

My wife’s uncle had a different perspective. He’s a bit more conservative and traditionalist.

We had opposing views.

But one thing that was really important to me while we debated was that I never tried to convince him of my viewpoint.

At least not by arguing my own viewpoint.

My approach instead was to simply ask questions. This is called The Socratic Method. The definition from Wikipedia describes it as:

“... a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions.”

Here's a snippet of the conversation we had:

Me: “Sooo do you think we need to do things the way we’ve always done them?”

Him: “Well … no.”

Me: “And in your opinion, what is the story or moral behind LOTR?”

He mentions something about the “call to adventure,” etc.

Me: “And based on that, do your problems with this specific version of the series affect the moral of the story in any way?”

Him: “Well, no, I guess not. I get what you’re saying.”

It was an interesting debate.

But this is a copywriting newsletter — not a political one — and the point I want to make is something else.

I never tried to convince him that my side was right. I only asked him questions.

Because I know that I cannot and will not convince someone to change the way they think about anything they don’t already see at least some truth in.

My wife’s uncle might never see those issues through a more progressive lens … so I didn’t try to convince him to.

I just tried to pose some critical questions that could maybe open him up to a different perspective.

In the same way, I don’t ever try to “convince” readers of anything with my copy.

Good copywriting is about taking a desire or belief that someone already has (or has a propensity towards but doesn’t realize yet) and amplifying it, ultimately channeling it towards a sale.

Speaking of which …

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David Patrick

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P.S.: I really don’t care what side of the political spectrum you fall on. And I don’t think all conservative people are bad or that all liberal people are angels. That's also not the point of this email. The debate I had with my wife’s uncle simply helped me highlight a great marketing lesson — I hope that is evident.