Dave Lakhani, in his excellent book Subliminal Persuasion, describes core values that resonate with people. If you can appeal to those values, then you can create powerful ads that influence people’s opinions and motivate them  to take action.

Engineers, scientists, and other technically minded people share these core values. But let’s face it, if you try to appeal to a person’s desire for family security when you are trying to sell an industrial robot, it can come across as manipulative if not threatening.

Technical people do have certain resonating values that might not have the same effect on other people. For example, they like to believe–whether or not it is true–that their decisions are based on rational, objective criteria. They don’t want to think that their choices are influenced by color, shape, or childhood memories. What they do want to know is how a product or service is going to benefit their company, make their jobs easier, or provide needed information. Write about those benefits, and support claims with data showing how much improvement can be expected. It is possible to keep it technical and still make it resonate.