1. Writing Persuasive Messages
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you will be able to do the following:
Apply the three-step writing process to persuasive messages
Identify seven ways to establish credibility in persuasive messages
Describe the AIDA model for persuasive messages
Distinguish between emotional and logical appeals and discuss how to balance them
Describe five essential steps in developing marketing and sales messages
Identify steps you can take to avoid ethical lapses in marketing and sales messages
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2. The Three-Step Process
Persuasion
Give Something
of Value
Take Substantial
Action
Actions
Beliefs
Attitudes
Whether you are convincing your boss to open a new office in Europe or encouraging potential customers to try your products, you will use many of the same techniques of persuasion—the attempt to change an audience’s attitudes, beliefs, or actions. Because persuasive messages ask audiences to give something of value (money in exchange for a product, for example) or take substantial action (such as changing a corporate policy), they are more challenging to write than routine messages. Successful professionals understand that persuasion is not about trickery or getting people to act against their own best interests; it is about letting audiences know they have choices and helping them choose to agree with you.
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3. Gather the Information
Plan the Message
Analyze the Situation
Gather the Information
Select the Medium
Organize the Message
Every day, untold numbers of good ideas go unheeded and good products go unsold simply because the messages meant to promote them are not compelling enough. Even if audiences agree that your idea or product is attractive, they usually have other options to consider as well, so you will need to convince them that your choice is the best of all the attractive alternatives. Creating successful persuasive messages starts with an insightful analysis of the situation, and then moves through three more phases: gathering information, selecting the right medium, and organizing the message.
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4. Analyze the Situation The Purpose The Audience Changing Attitudes
Motivating Decisions
Requesting Actions
The Audience
Demographics
Psychographics
Motivation
A clear purpose is important in every message, but clarity is doubly important in persuasive messages because you are asking the audience to do something: to take action, make decisions, change an existing attitude, and so on.
In addition to having a clear purpose, the best persuasive messages are closely connected to audience members’ desires and interests, needs and motivations, and concerns and objections.
To understand and categorize audience needs, you can refer to specific information such as demographics (age, gender, occupation, income, education, and other quantifiable characteristics) and psychographics (personality, attitudes, lifestyle, and other psychological characteristics). Both types of information are strongly influenced by culture. When analyzing your audience, take into account their cultural expectations and practices so that you do not undermine your persuasive message by using an inappropriate appeal or by organizing your message in a way that seems unfamiliar or uncomfortable to them.
If you aim to change someone’s attitudes, beliefs, or actions, you must understand his or her motivation—the combination of forces that drive people to satisfy their needs. The more closely a persuasive message aligns with a recipient’s existing motivation, the more effective the message is likely to be.
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5. Gather Information Knowledge Beliefs Emotions
Once your situation analysis is complete, you need to gather the information necessary to create a compelling, persuasive message: that is, to close the gap between what your audience knows, believes, or feels right now and what you want them to know, believe, or feel as a result of receiving your message. Chapter 11 presents some advice on how to find the information you need.
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6. Select the Medium Electronic Mail Social Media Personal Attention
Technological Reach
Media choices are always relevant to business communication success, of course, but these decisions are particularly important with persuasive messages because such messages are often unexpected or even unwelcome. For instance, some people do not mind promotional messages for products they are interested in; others resent every piece of commercial they receive.
As noted in Chapter 7, social media provide some exciting options for persuasive messages, particularly marketing and sales messages. However, as this chapter’s section on “Writing Persuasive Messages for Social Media” explains, messages in these media require a unique approach.
Another important area of development in media for persuasive messages is combining personal attention with technological reach and efficiency. For example, a customer support agent can carry on multiple instant messaging conversations at once, responding to one customer while other customers are typing messages. Even perceptions of human interaction created by animated avatars, such as IKEA’s “Anna”, can create a more sociable experience for shoppers, which can make websites more effective as a persuasive medium.
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7. Organize the Message Audience Focus Limited Scope Audience Reaction
Direct
Approach
Indirect
Limited Scope
Audience Reaction
Power and Expertise
Audience Focus
Successful persuasion requires close attention to all four aspects of organizing your information: defining your main idea, limiting your scope, choosing the direct or indirect approach, and grouping your points in a meaningful way.
The most effective main ideas for persuasive messages have one thing in common: they are about the receiver, not the sender. If you are trying to convince others to join you in a business venture, explain how it will help them, not how it will help you.
To limit your scope effectively, include only the information needed to help your audience take the next step toward the decision or action you want.
Most persuasive messages use the indirect approach because it gives the writer the opportunity to explain his or her reasons and build interest before asking for a decision or action. However, consider using the direct approach whenever you know your audience is ready to hear your proposal.
Your choice between the direct and indirect approaches is also influenced by the extent of your authority, expertise, or power in an organization. Generally, the more of these qualities you have in a given situation, the more likely that the direct approach will work for you, because audience members are more apt to accept whatever you have to say. Conversely, if you are writing on a subject outside your recognized area of expertise, or if you are trying to persuade higher-level managers, the indirect approach is usually better because it allows you to build credibility as you present your reasoning.
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8. Write the Message Positive Language Cultural Differences
Corporate Cultures
Your Credibility
The generally uninvited and occasionally even unwelcome nature of persuasive messages means the “you” attitude is more critical than ever. Most people won’t even pay attention to your message, much less respond to it, if it is not about them. You can encourage a more welcome reception by doing the following:
Use positive and polite language. Positive language usually happens naturally with persuasive messages because you are promoting an idea or a product you believe in. However, take care not to inadvertently insult your readers by implying that they have made poor choices in the past.
Understand and respect cultural differences. Be sure to understand cultural expectations as well. For example, a message that seems forthright and direct in a low-context culture might seem brash and intrusive in a high-context culture.
Be sensitive to organizational cultures. Just as social culture affects the success of a persuasive message, so too does the culture within various organizations. Some organizations handle disagreement and conflict in an indirect, behind-the-scenes way, whereas others accept and even encourage open discussion and sharing of differing viewpoints.
Take steps to establish your credibility. When trying to persuade a skeptical or hostile audience, you must convince people that you know what you are talking about and that you are not trying to mislead them.
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9. Enhance Your Credibility
Assess Your Credibility
Use Simple Language
Provide Evidence
Identify Sources
Find Common Ground
Be Objective and Fair
Consider the Audience
Avoid the “Hard Sell”
You can improve your credibility in persuasive messages with the following techniques:
Do not overestimate your own credibility in a given situation.
Use simple language to avoid suspicions of fantastic claims, insupportable descriptions, and emotional manipulation.
Provide objective evidence for the claims and promises you make.
Identify your sources, especially if your audience already respects those sources.
Find common ground by emphasizing beliefs, attitudes, and background experiences you have in common with the audience.
Be objective, and present fair and logical arguments.
Display your willingness to keep your audience’s best interests at heart.
Avoid the “hard sell,” an aggressive approach that uses high-pressure tactics to convince people to make a firm decision in a hurry.
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10. Completing the Message
Evaluate
the Content
Evaluate the
Design
Proofread the
Message
Select the
Delivery Method
The pros know from experience that details can make or break a persuasive message, so they are careful not to skimp on this part of the writing process. When you evaluate your content, try to judge your argument objectively and do not overestimate your credibility. Make sure your design elements complement, not detract from, your persuasive argument. In addition, meticulous proofreading will help identify any mechanical or spelling errors that would weaken your persuasive potential. Finally, make sure your distribution methods fit your audience’s expectations and preferences.
With the three-step model in mind, you are ready to begin composing persuasive messages, starting with persuasive business messages (those that try to convince audiences to approve new projects, enter into business partnerships, and so on), followed by marketing and sales messages (those that try to convince audiences to consider and then purchase products and services).
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11. Persuasive Messages Four Essential Strategies Frame the Argument
Balance Logic and Emotion
Reinforce Your Position
Anticipate Objections
Persuasive business messages comprise a broad and diverse category, with audiences that range from a single person in your own department to government agencies, investors, business partners, community leaders, and other external groups. Your success as a businessperson is closely tied to your ability to convince others to accept new ideas, change old habits, or act on your recommendations.
The goal of a persuasive business message is to convince the reader that the request or idea is reasonable and that it will benefit him or her in some way. Within the context of the three-step process, effective persuasion involves four essential strategies:
Framing your arguments
Balancing emotional and logical appeals
Reinforcing your position
Anticipating objections
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12. Using the AIDA Model Interest Attention Desire Action
Most persuasive messages use the indirect approach. In order to frame a persuasive argument, follow the AIDA model, an organizational plan that goes beyond the indirect approach used for negative messages. This model organizes messages into four phases:
Attention. Your first objective is to encourage your audience to want to hear about your problem, idea, or new product—whatever your main idea is. Be sure to find some common ground on which to build your case.
Interest. Provide additional details that prompt audience members to imagine how the solution might benefit them.
Desire. Help audience members embrace your idea by explaining how the change will benefit them and answering potential objections.
Action. Suggest the specific action you want your audience to take. Include a deadline, when applicable.
It’s important to realize that the AIDA model does have some limitations. First, AIDA is a unidirectional method that essentially talks at audiences, not with them. Second, AIDA is built around a single event, such as asking an audience for a decision, rather than on building a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship. In spite of these limitations, the AIDA model is still a valuable persuasive technique.
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13. Write Balanced Messages
Emotional Appeals
Logical Appeals
Feelings
Sympathies
Needs
Analogy
Induction
Deduction
Persuasive business messages rely more heavily on logical appeals than on emotional appeals because the main idea is usually to save money, increase quality, or improve some other practical, measurable aspect of business. To find the optimum balance, consider the actions you hope to motivate, your readers’ expectations, the degree of resistance you need to overcome, and how far you feel empowered to go in order to sell your point of view.
An emotional appeal calls on human feelings, basing the argument on audience needs or sympathies. For instance, you can make use of the emotion inspired by words such as freedom, success, prestige, compassion, and comfort. Such words put your audience in a certain frame of mind and help people accept your message.
A logical appeal calls on human reason. When appealing to your audience’s logic, you might use three types of reasoning:
With analogy, you reason from specific evidence to specific evidence.
With induction, you reason from specific evidence to a general conclusion.
With deduction, you reason from a generalization to a specific conclusion.
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14. Avoiding Faulty Logic Simplifying Issues Forced Cause and Effect
Analogies
Illogical
Support
Hasty
Generalizations
Circular
Reasoning
Attacking the
Opponent
Every method of reasoning is vulnerable to misuse. To avoid faulty logic, practice the following guidelines:
Avoid hasty generalizations. Make sure you have plenty of evidence before drawing conclusions.
Avoid circular reasoning. Circular reasoning is a logical fallacy in which you try to support your claim by restating it in different words. The statement “We know temporary workers cannot handle this task because temps are unqualified” does not prove anything because the claim and the supporting evidence are essentially identical.
Avoid attacking an opponent. Attack the argument your opponent is making, not your opponent’s character.
Avoid oversimplifying a complex issue. For instance, do not reduce a complex situation to an “either/or” statement if the situation is not that simple or clear-cut.
Avoid mistaken assumptions of cause and effect. If you can not isolate the impact of a specific factor, you can not assume that it is the cause of whatever effect you are discussing. The complexity of many business situations makes using the cause and effect approach challenging.
Avoid faulty analogies. Be sure that the two objects or situations being compared are similar enough for the analogy to hold. Even if A resembles B in one respect, it may not hold true in other important respects.
Avoid illogical support. Make sure the connection between your claim and your support is truly logical and not based on a leap of faith, a missing premise, or irrelevant evidence.
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15. Reinforce Your Position
Powerful Words
Figures of Speech
Right Timing
After you have worked out the basic elements of your argument, step back and look for ways to bolster the strength of your position. Can you find more powerful words to convey your message? As with any powerful tool, be sure to use vivid language and abstractions carefully and honestly.
In addition to individual word choices, consider using metaphors and other figures of speech. If you want to describe a quality-control system as being designed to catch every possible product flaw, you might call it a spider web to imply that it catches everything that comes its way. Similarly, anecdotes and stories can help your audience grasp the meaning and importance of your arguments.
Beyond the specific wording of your message, look for other forces and factors that can reinforce your position. The timing of your message can also help. Virtually all organizations operate in cycles of some sort. Study these patterns to see whether they might work for or against you.
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16. Anticipate Objections
Ask the Audience
Present All Sides
Test Your Theories
Even the most powerful, persuasive messages can expect to encounter some initial resistance. After all, if your audience was already sold on your argument, you probably would not need to make it. The best way to deal with audience resistance is to anticipate as many objections as you can and address them in your initial message, before your audience can even bring them up. This anticipation is particularly important in written messages, when you do not have the opportunity to detect and respond to objections on the spot.
To uncover potential audience objections, try to poke holes in your own theories and ideas before your audience does. Then, find solutions to the problems you have uncovered. If possible, ask your audience members for their thoughts on the subject before you put together your argument; people are more likely to support solutions they helped to create.
If you expect a hostile audience (one biased against your plan from the beginning), present all sides of the story. As you cover each option, explain the pros and cons. You will gain additional credibility if you present these options before presenting your recommendations or decisions.
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17. Types of Persuasive Messages
Requests for Action
Presentation of Ideas
Claims and Adjustments
Inside the
Organization
Outside the
Throughout your career, you will have numerous opportunities to write persuasive messages inside your organization, such as reports suggesting more efficient operating procedures, or memos requesting money for new equipment. Similarly, you may produce a variety of persuasive messages for people outside the organization, such as websites shaping public opinions, or letters requesting adjustments that go beyond a supplier’s contractual obligations. Most of these messages can be divided into requests for action, presentation of ideas, and claims and requests for adjustments.
Most persuasive messages focus on getting the audience to make a specific decision or take some specific action. In some cases, your request will be anticipated, so the direct approach is fine. In others, you will need to introduce your intention indirectly.
You will encounter situations in which you simply want to change ideas (attitudes or beliefs) about a particular topic, without asking the audience to decide or do anything—at least not yet. The goal of your first message might be nothing more than convincing your audience to re-examine long-held opinions or admit the possibility of new ways of thinking.
Most claim letters are routine messages, involving the direct approach. The key ingredients of a good persuasive claim are a complete and specific review of the facts and a confident, positive tone.
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18. Commercial Transactions
Marketing and Selling
Commercial Transactions
Marketing
Selling
Information
Goodwill
Action
Purchase
Marketing and sales messages use the same basic techniques as other persuasive messages, with the added emphasis of encouraging someone to participate in a commercial transaction. Although the terms marketing message and sales message are often used interchangeably, they are slightly different.
Marketing messages usher potential buyers through the purchasing process without asking them to make an immediate decision; that is when sales messages take over. Marketing messages focus on such tasks as introducing new brands to the public, providing competitive comparisons, encouraging customers to visit websites for more information, and reminding buyers that a particular product or service is available. In contrast, a sales message makes a specific request for people to place an order for a particular product or service.
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19. Applying the Strategies
Assess the
Audience
Present Key
Selling Points
Analyze the
Competition
Highlight the
Benefits
Successful marketing and sales messages start with an understanding of audience needs. For some products and services, this assessment is a simple matter. For instance, customers compare only a few basic attributes when purchasing copy or printer paper, including weight, brightness, color, and finish. In contrast, they might consider dozens of features when shopping for real estate, cars, professional services, and other complex purchases.
Marketing and sales messages nearly always compete with messages from other companies trying to reach the same audience. In crowded markets, writers sometimes have to search for words or phrases that other companies are not using already, and avoid themes, writing styles, or creative approaches that are too similar to those used by competitors.
For all but the simplest products, you will want to prioritize the items you plan to discuss. You will also want to distinguish between selling points and benefits. Selling points are the most attractive features of an idea or product, whereas benefits are the particular advantages that readers will realize from those features. Selling points focus on the product. Benefits focus on the user.
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20. Anticipating Objections
High Price
Inferior Quality
Compatibility
Perceived Risk
As with persuasive business messages, marketing and sales messages often encounter objections, which can range from high price to low quality to a lack of compatibility with existing products. Perceived risk is another common objection. The best way to handle objections is to identify them up front and try to address as many as you can.
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21. Applying the AIDA Model
Getting Attention
Building Interest
Increasing Desire
Motivating Action
Most marketing and sales messages are prepared according to the AIDA model, or some variation of it. You begin with an attention-getting device, generate interest by describing some of the unique features of the product or service, increase desire by highlighting the benefits that are most appealing to your audience, and close by suggesting the action you want the audience to take.
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22. Getting Attention Genuine News Promised Savings Evocative Images
Product Benefits
Personal Appeals
Product Samples
Common Ground
Inside Information
Problem Solutions
Getting Attention
You can use a wide range of techniques to attract your audience’s attention:
Your product’s strongest benefit
A point of common ground with the audience
A piece of genuine news
A personal appeal to the reader’s emotions and values
The promise of insider information
The promise of savings
A sample or demonstration of the product
A solution to a problem
Strong, evocative images
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23. Building Interest Build Intrigue Support Promises Highlight Benefits
Use the interest section of your message to build on the intrigue you created with your opening. This section should offer support for whatever claims or promises you might have made. Help people understand how they might benefit from your product or service, and answer potential objections.
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24. Increasing Desire Focus on Audience Emphasize Benefits Support Claims
Remember to keep the focus on the audience, not on your company or your product. When you talk about product features, remember to stress the benefits and talk in terms that make sense to users.
To increase desire, as well as boost your credibility, provide support for your claims; such as testimonials from satisfied users, articles written by industry experts, competitive comparisons, product samples and free demonstrations, independent test results, even movies or computer animations that show a product in action. You can also highlight guarantees that demonstrate your faith in your product and your willingness to back it up.
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25. Motivating Action The Next Step A Sense of Urgency Professionalism
The final step in the AIDA model is persuading the audience to take action. Whether you want people to pick up the phone to place an order or visit your website to download a free demo version of your software, try to persuade them to do it right away. Make the action as simple and as risk-free as possible.
Take care to maintain the respectful, professional tone you have been using up to this point. Do not resort to gimmicks and desperate-sounding pleas for the customer’s business. Make sure your final impression is compelling and positive.
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26. Using Social Media Conversation Marketing Social Commerce Networked
Persuasive
Interactive
Multidirectional
Conversation
Marketing
Social Commerce
The AIDA model and similar approaches have been successful with marketing and sales messages for decades, but communicating with customers in the social media landscape requires a different approach.
Potential buyers in a social media environment are no longer willing to be passive recipients in a structured, one-way information delivery process or to rely solely on promotional messages from marketers. This notion of interactive participation is the driving force behind conversation marketing, in which companies initiate and facilitate conversations in a networked community of customers, journalists, bloggers, and other interested parties. The term social commerce encompasses any aspect of buying and selling products and services or supporting customers through the use of social media.
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27. Social Media Guidelines
Facilitate community building
Initiate and respond to conversations
Identify and support your champions
Do not rely on the news media
Use the AIDA model as needed
Given this shift from unidirectional speeches to multidirectional conversations, you must learn to adapt your persuasive messages. The following guidelines can help:
Facilitate community building. The first step is to make sure customers and other audiences can connect with your company and each other. Accomplishing this goal can be as simple as activating the commenting feature on a blog, or it may involve having a more elaborate social commerce system.
Initiate and respond to conversations within the community. Use content on your website, blog postings, RSS newsfeeds, newsletters, and other tools to provide the information customers need to evaluate your products and services. Use an objective, conversational style; people in social networks want useful information, not “advertising speak.”
Identify and support your champions. In marketing, champions are enthusiastic fans of your company and its products. Champions are so enthusiastic that they help spread your message, defend you against detractors, and help other customers use your products.
Do not rely on the news media to distribute your message. In traditional public relations efforts, marketers have to persuade the news media to distribute their messages to consumers and other audiences by producing news stories. These media are still important, but you can also speak directly to these audiences through blogs and other electronic tools.
Use the AIDA model at the right time and in the right places. The AIDA approach is still valid for specific communication tasks, such as conventional advertising and the product promotion pages on your website.
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28. Maintain High Standards
Business Ethics
Legal Compliance
Business Etiquette
The word persuasion has negative connotations for some people, especially in a marketing or sales context. However, effective businesspeople view persuasion as a positive force, aligning their own interests with what is best for their audiences. To maintain the highest standards of business ethics, show honest concern for the needs and interests of your audience.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the authority to impose penalties against advertisers who violate federal standards for truthful advertising. Individual states have additional laws that apply. Pay close attention to the following legal aspects of marketing and sales communication: (1) marketing and sales messages must be truthful and not deceptive; (2) your claims must be supported by evidence; (3) marketing and sales messages are considered binding contracts in many states; and (4) do not use a person’s name, photograph, or other element of identity without permission. In addition, before you launch a marketing or sales campaign, make sure you are up to date on the latest regulations affecting customer privacy and data security.
Meeting your ethical and legal obligations will go a long way toward maintaining good communication etiquette. However, you may still face etiquette decisions within ethical and legal boundaries. An audience-centered approach, involving respect for your readers and their values, should help you avoid any such etiquette missteps. Use technology to show your sensitivity to user needs. Examples include automated RSS newsfeeds from blogs or opt-in newsletters, alerting customers to information in which they have expressed an interest.
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