Persuasive Writing: Everything You Need to Know
- Tarasekhar Padhy
- Dec 30, 2024
- 4 min read
Persuasive writing frames messages that influence people’s beliefs or actions.
There are two ways to do this: explicit and implicit.
Explicit persuasion is directly recommending someone to do something. For example, a salesman recommends a particular car to a prospect.
Implicit persuasion is about changing their perception to motivate them to do something. For example, a salesman stating that a particular car would suit a prospect’s lifestyle better.
In this last chapter of The Fundamental of Persuasive Writing, let’s take a quick overview of everything you need to know about influencing others’ beliefs and actions through text.
How to Persuade an Audience
Robert Cialdini, a guy in the psychology-marketing space, talked about six principles that can persuade someone to do you a favor on their own accord.
They are:
Reciprocity: Give them something they like so that they will be guilt-tripped into doing something for you.
Commitment and consistency: Make them say they are a certain type of a person. Then ask for a favor related to that commitment. For example, if they say they like sustainable fashion, ask them to buy a related product from your store.
Social proof: Pay influencers to get fake reviews. The electronics industry thrives on this.
Authority: Say that it is ‘FDA Approved’ or recommended by eight out of ten doctors or something.
Liking: Seduce your audience. Use Instagram thots and influencers.
Scarcity: Slap a sticker that says ‘Limited Edition’ on your website.
Biologically we are designed to react the way we react but these profiteers have turned it into the capitalistic engine. At the same time, not everyone falls for these advertising messages, so maybe people need to be smarter.
Anyway, to translate the aforementioned six principles into writing practices you need to:
Ditch the template. Think of the best way to tell it. If it’s a short story with powerful words, then do it. Not every message needs to be presented as a typical blog post or article! This way you will actually put the principle to use.
Respect your readers. Many content writers are trash because they write as if their audience are toddlers who don’t know how to navigate the world. They dance around the points, write a whole bunch of nothing to hit word counts, and more. Don’t do that.
Get to the point. People are busy out here. Tell them quickly what and why. If it can be said in one sentence, don’t write a fucking paragraph.
Criticize your work. Ask yourself — would I read it? Roast it. Read it from a different perspective. This is key to improving your persuasive writing skills.
Trim the fat. As you keep writing an article, you will add in a bit of filler here and there because you understand more and more with time. After completing the draft, review and delete these fillers. All they do is distract the reader away from the topic.
Getting Better at Persuading
Writers need to optimize the following four aspects of their work to make their text more persuasive:
Companion: Sound as a friend, not a consultant or robot.
Content: Clearly talk about things relevant to the reader.
Confidence: Say it as if it’s the truth.
Conditions: Ensure it’s the right time to make the pitch.
Moreover, you can use the following four hacks to influence others easily:
Empathize: Justify their emotions. Validate their feelings.
New-Easy-Safe-Better (NESB): These four words truly describe your offering.
Flatter: Tell them they deserve better. Better is you.
Repeat: Different styles, formats, and platforms. Same goal.
Manipulation and Dark Persuasive Tactics
Scams happen because of this.
To differentiate between an honest persuasion effort for a genuine product or service and a blatant manipulative pitch, check if the offer is based on reality. For instance, if an investment claims it can make you unlimited money, it isn’t, in fact, based on reality.
Additionally, you can recognize the telltale signs of manipulations and dark persuasive tactics by analyzing organized religion, mainstream media, and political organizations.
Techniques such as claiming supremacy, tossing up word salads, and promising utopic society are widely used by various individuals and institutions to remain in power. The only method to counter all that is through community education.
Epilogue: Communicate First
The first step in persuading someone is establishing a connection. Most marketers, unfortunately, look past this fundamental step and go straight to pitching whatever crap they need to move.
Establishing a connection involves welcoming your audience, making them feel comfortable, listening to their problems or challenges, and validating their emotions. After this, if they are actually your buyer, the sale will occur effortlessly.
I wrote this book to highlight all the elements you need to understand to establish a connection with your audience.
Be truthful, honest, and respectful. The finesse will come with time.
Thank you for finishing the book.
Until next time,
Tara
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Next Chapter: NA
Previous Chapter: 4 Hacks to Persuade Easily
Index (with Prologue): The Fundamentals of Persuasive Writing
