How to be a more persuasive vegan

If you’ve been here long enough, you know I’m vegan and slightly obsessed with how vegan companies market themselves.

We’re blessed that the AVA (Animal & Vegan Advocacy) Summit has a YouTube channel and uploads recordings of its live sessions there, because I missed this year’s summit (opting for the Vegan Women Summit instead) and I would have been all over this presentation on Secrets of Persuasion: Lessons from Hollywood, DC, and Global Movements by Brian Kateman and Roger Wolfson.

Brian Kateman is the Executive Director of the Reducetarian Foundation and shared 8 tips that have helped him spread the Reducetarian movement, which I used in my talk at the Vancouver Vegan Festival.

When the organizer asked me to speak at VVF, it was before my Planted Expo talk. So after learning that only a few people who attended my talks at Planted and the Nanaimo VegFest were business owners, I thought I would share the first half of the same talk, but tailor the last bit to individuals vs. business owners/marketers. After all, the #2 tactic that influences people to eat 100% plant-based are conversations with vegan family and friends.

I knew that something around helping people eat more plant-based would be more helpful to that crowd than business marketing tips, so the AVA Summit presentation could not have come at a more perfect moment.

Here it is:

While I’m focusing on Brian’s tips here, I highly suggest also watching Roger’s portion as he gets really interactive with the folks who attended.

1. Emphasize what many people are doing

Groups pressure WORKS. If there are two lines for the same food truck or restaurant, people will join the longer line because they think they’ll get better food, even if it isn’t true. Similarly, one or two people must start dancing at a nightclub or public event before more will join. Nobody wants to be the first loner at anything!

This is also the psychological tactic behind crowdfunding. If you need to raise a lot of money, it’s easier to get many people to contribute a small amount than to find one person to contribute the entire sum.

How do we capitalize on this? We need people to think veganism is better than it is. That there are more vegans in the world than they think. (8 to 32 million people globally is nothing to laugh at either.) That means we have to bombard the internet with vegan food. For every photo or video of meat, seafood, dairy, or eggs, there needs to be at least 2 or more pieces of content of vegan food.

Sure, celebrities stop eating plant-based and fall off the wagon, but IGNORE THEM and hype up all the influencers who become vegan instead. Does your boyfriend, husband, or father work out? Watch The Game Changers with him and buy him a copy of John Lewis’s Badass Vegan. Did you share content around the vegan athletes who won medals at the 2024 Paris Olympic Summer Games? I know I did. 

2. Connect to a real or perceived authority

People trust celebrities and influencers over academics, scientists, and government. It sucks, but it’s true. That’s why we should share as much content from these folks who are vegan (it’s why I keep a list of plant-based celebrities and influencers online) or at least allies for veganism. I share scientific content from other folks’ accounts, but let’s face it: it’s not popular.

If you don’t want to share content from vegan authority figures and would rather become one yourself, great. Emphasizing your own authority as a vegan is just as good. Work with vegans? Share their endorsements of your work. Like to speak in public? Get on the TEDx stage and share your talk widely. Or do what I did and publish a book and accept every media interview and speaking invitation possible.

If your friends/family obsess over a celebrity, influencer, or musical/acting group and one of them happens to be vegan, use that in your arsenal. If you live in Vancouver, you know how successful vegan bakery To Live For Bakery is because its owner, Erin Ireland, is an influencer. I’d bet she’s converted at least a few people to eat plant-based and/or become vegan. That’s how that works.

3. Do nice things for people

This is THE EASIEST tactic of them all. People are likely to return favours to those who do nice things for them. 

All that takes is buying a vegan snack or meal for someone. Baking them a batch of vegan cookies or treating them to vegan donuts. Show them plant-based food tastes good and that it’s easily accessible.

For Christmas every year, I’ve given the same vegan food packs to all of my loved ones. The contents vary each year, but they know they’re getting vegan food from me. And I never get complaints. My niece and nephew almost always immediately tear into the cookies or chocolates.

4. Make things easy and convenient

This is, in a big way, the responsibility of grocery chains and restaurants because vegan food is more accessible in some places than others, but you can get packaged vegan food delivered pretty much anywhere in the world thanks to e-commerce retailers like Vegan Supply.

If you don’t live in a neighbourhood that has easy access to fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds, this is your first step. Harass your politicians to no end because this is much more important than getting a vegan burger in the fast food chain near you.

Here’s a real life example of ease and convenience. At the Nanaimo VegFest, I shared a table with Vesanto Melina, and she gave tofu coupons to everyone who stopped by to talk to her.

If you want someone to endorse you or a project you’re working on, draft the endorsement for them. For books, this is called “swipe copy.” I recently drafted swipe copy for my author client to use so she can ask for book endorsements without pressure.

5. Prompt people to do what you want them to do

The easiest way to do this is to ask a firm question. If you’re having conversations and people say “I’d like to eat less meat.” Ask them, “How many days do you think you could do without meat?” It’ll get their mental gears going. The practicing Catholics know they can do at least one day without because they practice that during Lent every year.

I haven’t used this all that much, but if folks show passion for health, the environment, or alleviating poverty, these could be easy segues into veganism. Ask them if they eat meat or dairy and if they do, show the link between (or potential of) those foods and chronic disease, climate change, and feeding people instead of animals raised for food.

6. Highlight sameness

Strangers become friends when we find we have common interests. So when you meet and have conversations with people, find out how you relate to them, what you both agree on, and your shared commonalities. 

Maybe it’s Meatless Monday or an excruciatingly hot summer day. Find that commonality.

7. Be likeable

What makes someone likeable is going to vary culturally, but some steps include:

• Giving compliments. I believe it’s far better to celebrate folks who don’t eat all animals than tell them they’re unethical or bad people because they’re not vegan. We already have that reputation, so we need to improve it so omnivores see most vegans as rad people.
• Celebrating milestones. Every eliminated animal counts.
• Asking questions.
• Showing interest, care, and curiosity.
• Telling stories. Vegan transformation stories are good. Share your vegan story where and when it’s appropriate. If it’s not yours or that of someone you know, talk about Rich Roll, Kevin Smith, or Chuck Carroll’s vegan transformations.

I’ll also say lean into your superpowers. I’m not a phenomenal speaker so I won’t be applying at TEDx and I don’t have a car so I can’t attend many protests, vigils, or rescues, but I can write you a damn book and get you seen because of it. That’s my superpower.

If you’re not confident that you’re likeable, ask the people who love you why they love you, and double down on that.

I know several closet vegans, and that’s not helping our movement. While you don’t have to become an influencer, focus on being the best vegan in your inner circle and you’ll have as much impact as you can while being yourself. Trust me on this.

8. Highlight scarcity

Humans value rare things. Diamonds. Supreme merchandise. That orchid that blooms once and then dies. We can use this to our advantage. Only 1 to 4% of the global population is vegan, so we can highlight veganism as the most ethical, compassionate lifestyle there is and show how happy we are to be living life without animal consumption and exploitation.

I make it sound easy, right? We know it’s not, but this is how we have to appear so that people want to join our exclusive club. If they don’t think it’s possible, they won’t take that first step.

Are you talking with someone about climate change? Mention that consuming meat, dairy, and seafood contributes to climate change (there are so many links online you can share on this).

Scientists predict the global average temperature will permanently hit 1.5 C as soon as 2026, even though it might be as far ahead as 2042. Do your friends & family like coffee or chocolate? Mention that these plants are at risk of dying because of climate change. That could get them reducing their intake of animal products faster.

Did any of these tips inspire you to try something new that got someone to reduce their animal intake? Let me know or send me a DM on social media.

Click here for the video and transcript of my “Everyone’s a Marketer” talk at Planted Expo, and visit the transcript and audio podcast of my interview on The No Bullsh!t Vegan Podcast on 4 ways the animal agriculture industry misleads the public about the healthiness of meat, dairy, and eggs.