How to Write Persuasively
When writing an advertisement, your aim is to persuade your readers to follow a
particular course of action - willingly.
There are three elements in this process:
1. you must win the trust of your audience
2. you must appeal to their emotions
3. you must rationalise their decision for them, so that they feel comfortable in
making it
If you succeed in all three areas, you will have engineered their consent to buy
your product or service.
Here are some tips to help you to achieve this desirable state of affairs:
1. Win the Trust of Your Audience
The first step is to show that you are a person who can be trusted - so try to give
your audience something of value - advice, interesting "inside" information or
helpful tips. Indicate why your opinion here should be valued - give a little detail
about your background and your credentials.
To win their trust, you must know something about your audience:
What sort of people are they?
How old are they?
What are their special interests?
You must also try to find some common ground with your audience:
Begin with a point of common interest e.g. "I'm sure we all want to give
our kids the best start possible..."
Anticipate their responses by using rhetorical questions e.g. "You're
probably wondering where you'll find the time to ..."
Use generalisations to persuade your audience to agree with you - people feel
more comfortable when they know that, "80% of families use ..." or that "8 out of
10 teachers state that parental interest improves student grades ..."
2. Appeal to the Emotions
We all know that people respond to emotional appeals more readily than to
intellectual appeals, so utilise this in your advertising. There are three steps to
follow:
First, arouse an emotion - anger, fear, resentment, envy, greed, sympathy.
Second, give a reason for the emotion - "your children are precious to you, don't
risk their future by ..."
Third, give your audience an appropriate course of action to follow - "Call now to
ensure your place in this new ..."
When appealing to the emotions, your most powerful tools are words - learn to
use them to create the desired effect on your readers.
Words can have literal meanings (denotation) and emotional meanings
(connotation) e.g. a 'house' is a building where people live, but a 'home' is
much more
Some words have strong emotive appeals 'built-in' e.g. 'chaos' implies
something much stronger than 'disruption'
Select your facts carefully - choose those that support your point of view
3. Rationalise
This is giving people good reasons to believe what you're telling them. We all do
this to ourselves everyday. How many times have you said something like this to
yourself, "My old car is going to start costing me money soon; I'd be better off
buying a new one now"?
Tell your would-be customers that they'll save money in the long run by spending
it now and you've given them a reason to act immediately.
Summary
Emphasise and repeat your key points
Be convincing in your presentation
Use plenty of emotional words and focus on the audience
Consider how you can use these persuasive techniques to sell your products or
services.
N.B. If the spelling of words like "utilise" in this article worried you, please read
this: http://www.write101.com/aus.htm
About the Author
Jennifer Stewart offers professional writing services for web pages, press
releases, advertising material, business reports, content for autoresponders,
technical booklets and articles for newsletters. For those who want their own
writing double-checked for accuracy, Jennifer offers proof reading or full editing.
Click now for her Fee Schedule:
mailto:wfees@SmartBotPRO.net?subject=Feesus Website:
http://www.write101.com