TM 10 :

Writing Persuasive Messages

PERSUASIVE LETTER /MESSAGE
• Explain how to use the indirect approach
effectively when conveying negative news, and
explain how to avoid ethical problems when using
this approach.
The indirect approach begins with a buffer, explains
the rea- sons, clearly states the negative news, and
closes with a respectful statement. If the bad news is
not unexpected, the direct approach is usually fine,
but if the news is shocking or painful, the indirect
approach is better. When using the in- direct
approach, pay careful attention to avoid obscuring
the bad news, trivializing the audience’s concerns, or
even misleading your audience into thinking you’re
actually delivering good news. Remember that the
purpose of the indirect approach is to cushion the
blow, not to avoid delivering it
Describe successful strategies for sending negative messages on routine
business matters.
For making negative announcements on routine business matters, the
indirect approach is usually preferred, unless the news has minor
consequences for the audience. For rejecting suggestions or proposals
when you requested input or it came from someone with whom you have
an established relationship, the indirect approach is the right choice
because it allows you to gently reset the other party’s expectations.
For refusing routine requests, the direct approach is usually sufficient,
except when the matter at hand is significant, you or your company have
an established relationship with the person making the request, or you’re
forced to de- cline a request that you might have accepted in the past.
When conveying bad news about transactions, you need to modify the
customer’s expectations, explain how you plan to resolve the situation,
and repair whatever damage might have been done to the business
relationship. Whether or not you should apologize depends in part on the
magnitude of the situation and whether you previously established
specific expectations about the transaction.
When refusing a claim or a request for adjustment, the indirect approach
is usually preferred because the other party is emotionally involved and
expects you to respond positively. Demonstrate that you understand and
have considered the complaint carefully and then rationally and calmly
explain why you are refusing the request.
LO 1: The three-step writing process
to persuasive messages.
Whether you’re convincing your boss to open a new office in Europe or encouraging potential
customers to try your products, you’ll 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 ex- ample) 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’s about letting audiences know they have
choices and presenting your offering in the best possible light.
• Step 1: Planning Persuasive Messages
In today’s information-saturated business environment, having a great idea or a great product is no
longer enough. Every day, untold numbers of good ideas go unnoticed and good products go unsold
simply because the messages meant to promote them aren’t compelling enough to be heard above
the competitive noise. Creating successful persuasive messages in these challenging situations
demands careful attention to all four tasks in the planning step, starting with an insightful analysis
of your purpose and your audience.
Analyzing the Situation
In defining your purpose, make sure you’re clear about what you really hope to achieve. The best
persuasive messages are closely connected to your audience’s desires and interests . To understand
and categorize audience needs, you can refer to specific information, such as demographics (the
age, gender, occupation, income, education, and other quantifiable characteristics of the people
you’re trying to persuade) and psychographics (per- sonality, attitudes, lifestyle, and other
psychological characteristics). When analyzing your audiences, take into account their cultural
expectations and practices so that you don’t undermine your persuasive message by using an
inappropriate appeal or by organizing your message in a way that seems unfamiliar or
uncomfortable to your readers. If you aim to change someone’s attitudes, beliefs, or actions, it is
vital to understand his or her motivation—the combination of forces that drive people to satisfy
their needs.
• Gathering Information
Once your situation analysis is complete, you need to
gather the information necessary to create a compelling
persuasive message.
• Selecting the Right Medium
Media choices are always important, of course, but these
decisions are particularly sensitive with persuasive
messages because such messages are often unexpected
or even unwelcome. For instance, some people don’t
mind promotional email messages for products they’re
interested in; others resent every piece of commercial
email they receive. Persuasive messages can be found in
virtually every communication medium, from instant
messages and pod- casts to radio advertisements and
skywriting. In fact, advertising agencies employ media
specialists whose only jobs are to analyze the media
options available and select the most cost-effective
combination for each client and each advertising
campaign.
Organizing Your Information
• The nature of persuasion is to convince people to
change their attitudes, beliefs, or actions, so most
persuasive messages use the indirect approach.
That means you’ll want to explain your reasons and
build interest before asking for a decision or for
action—or perhaps even before revealing your
purpose. However, in some instances, such as when
you have a close relationship with your audience
and the message is welcome or at least neutral, the
direct approach can be effective.
• Step 2: Writing Persuasive Messages
Encourage a positive response to your persuasive messages by (1)
using positive and polite language, (2) understanding and
respecting cultural differences, (3) being sensitive to orga-
nizational cultures, and (4) taking steps to establish your credibility.
• Step 3: Completing Persuasive Messages
The pros know from experience that details can make or break a
persuasive message, so they’re careful not to skimp on this part of
the writing process. For instance, advertisers may have a dozen or
more people review a message before it’s released to the public.
When you evaluate your content, try to judge your argument
objectively and try not to overestimate your credibility. When
revising for clarity and conciseness, carefully match the purpose
and organization to audience needs. If possible, ask an experienced
colleague who knows your audience well to review your draft. Your
design elements must complement, not detract from, your
argument. In addition, meticulous proofreading will identify any
mechanical or spelling errors that would weaken your persuasive
potential. Finally, make sure your distribution methods fit your
audience’s expectations as well as your purpose.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2
Describe an effective strategy for developing persuasive
business messages.

Your success as a businessperson is closely tied to your

ability to encourage others to accept new ideas, change
old habits, or act on your recommendations. Unless your
career takes you into marketing and sales, most of your
persuasive messages will consist of persuasive business
messages, which are those designed to elicit a preferred
response in a nonsales situation.
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, and anticipating
objections.
Common Examples of Persuasive
Business Messages

• Persuasive Requests for Action : Most persuasive

business messages involve a request for action.
• Persuasive Presentation of Ideas : Sometimes the
objective of persuasive messages is simply to
encourage people to consider a new idea
• Persuasive Claims and Requests for Adjustments :
• Framing Your Arguments
Many persuasive messages follow some variation of the
indirect approach. One of the most commonly used variations
is called the AIDA model, which organizes your message into
four phases: ■ Attention. ■ Interest. ■ Desire. ■ Action.
• Balancing Emotional and Logical Appeals
Few persuasive appeals are purely logical or purely emotional,
and a key skill is finding the right balance for each message
(see Figure 9.3 on the next page). An emotional appeal calls
on feelings or audience sympathies. For instance, you can
make use of the emotion inspired by words such as freedom,
success, prestige, compassion, free, and comfort. Such words
put your audience in a certain frame of mind and help people
accept your message. Many marketing and sales messages
rely heavily on emotional appeals, but most persua- sive
business messages rely more on logic. And even if your
audience reaches a conclusion based on emotions, they’ll
look to you to provide logical support as well. A logical appeal
uses one of three types of reasoning: Analogy, Induction,
Deduction.
• Reinforcing Your Position
After you’ve worked out the basic elements of your
argument, step back and look for ways to bolster the
strength of your position. Are all your claims supported
by believable evidence? Would a quotation from a
recognized expert help make your case? Next, examine
your language. In addition to examining individual word
choices, consider using metaphors and other figures of
speech. Beyond specific words and phrases, look for
other factors that can reinforce your position. When
you’re asking for something, your audience members will
find it easier to grant your request if they stand to benefit
from it as well.
Anticipating Objections
Even compelling ideas and exciting projects can
encounter objections, if only as a conse- quence of
people’s natural tendency to resist chance. Anticipate
likely objections and address them before your audience
can bring them up. By doing so, you can remove these
poten- tially negative elements from the conversation
and keep the focus on positive communica- tion. Note
that you don’t need to explicitly mention a particular
concern.
If you expect a hostile audience that is biased against
your plan, be sure to present all sides of the situation. As
you cover each option, explain the pros and cons. You’ll
gain ad- ditional credibility if you mention these options
before presenting your recommendation or decision.10 If
you can, involve your audience in the design of the
solution; people are more likely to support ideas they
help create.
Avoiding Common Mistakes in Persuasive
Communication
When you believe in a concept or project you are
promoting, it’s easy to get caught up in your own
confidence and enthusiasm and thereby fail to see
things from the audience’s per- spective. When
putting together persuasive arguments, avoid these
common mistakes
• Using a hard sell.
• Relying solely on great arguments.
• Resisting compromise.
• Assuming that persuasion is a one-shot effort.
3 LEARNING OBJECTIVE Identify the three most common
categories of persuasive business messages.
Throughout your career, you’ll have numerous opportunities
to write persuasive messages within your organization—for
example, when suggesting more efficient operating proce-
dures, asking for cooperation from other departments,
pitching investors on a new business idea, or requesting
adjustments that go beyond a supplier’s contractual
obligations. In addi- tion, many of the routine requests you
studied in Chapter 7 can become persuasive messages if you
want a nonroutine result or believe that you haven’t received
fair treatment. Most of these messages can be divided into
persuasive requests for action, persuasive presentation of
ideas, and persuasive claims and requests for adjustment.
• Persuasive Requests for Action
The bulk of your persuasive business messages will involve
requests for action. In some cases, your request will be
anticipated, so the direct approach is fine. In others, you’ll
need to introduce your intention indirectly, and the AIDA
model or a similar approach is ideal for this purpose
• Persuasive Presentation of Ideas
You may encounter situations in which you simply want to
change 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 reexamine long-held
opinions or to admit the possibility of new ways of thinking.
• Persuasive Claims and Requests for Adjustments
Most claims are routine messages and use the direct
approach discussed in Chapter 7. How- ever, consumers and
business professionals sometimes encounter situations in
which they believe they haven’t received a fair deal by
following normal procedures. These situations require a more
persuasive message.
The key ingredients of a good persuasive claim are a complete
and specific review of the facts and a confident and positive
tone based on your right to be satisfied with every trans-
action. Begin persuasive claims by outlining the problem and
continue by reviewing what has been done about it so far, if
anything.
believe they haven’t received a fair deal by following normal procedures.
These situations require a more persuasive message.
The key ingredients of a good persuasive claim are a complete and
specific review of the facts and a confident and positive tone based on
your right to be satisfied with every transaction. Begin persuasive claims
by outlining the problem and continue by reviewing what has been done
about it so far, if anything.
The recipient might be juggling numerous claims and other demands on
his or her attention, so be clear, calm, and complete when presenting
Use these tips to make every persuasive message more effective. If you
are using your case. Be specific about how you would like to see the
situation resolved.
Next, give your reader a good reason for granting your claim. Show how
the individual or organization is responsible for the problem, and appeal to
your reader’s sense of fair play, goodwill, or moral responsibility. Explain
how you feel about the problem, but don’t get carried away and don’t
make threats. People generally respond most favorably to requests that
are calm and reasonable. Close on a respect- ful note that reflects how a
successful resolution of the situ- ation will repair or maintain a mutually
beneficial working relationship.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4
Describe an effective strategy for developing marketing and sales messages,
explain how to modify this approach for social media, and identify steps
you can take to avoid ethical lapses in marketing and sales messages.
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 transac- tion. Although the terms marketing
message and sales message are often used interchange-
ably, there is an important difference:
Marketing messages usher potential buyers through the
purchasing process without asking them to make an
immediate decision.
Sales messages take over at that point, encouraging
potential buyers to make a purchase decision then and
there. Marketing messages focus on such tasks as
introducing new brands to the public and encouraging
customers to visit websites for more information,
whereas sales messages make an explicit request for
people to buy a specific product or service.
 Planning Marketing and Sales Messages
Everything you’ve learned about planning messages applies in general to
marketing and sales messages, but the planning steps for these messages have
some particular aspects to consider as well:
Assessing audience needs.
Analyzing your competition.
Determining key selling points and benefits.
Anticipating purchase objections.
Writing Conventional Marketing and Sales Messages
Conventional marketing and sales messages are often prepared using the AIDA
model or some variation of it. (See the next section on crafting messages for
social media.). Here are the key points of using the AIDA model for these
messages:
Getting the reader’s attention.
Building interest.
Increasing desire.
Motivating action.
Writing Promotional Messages for Social Media
The AIDA model and similar approaches have been
successful with marketing and sales messages for
decades, but in the social media landscape, consumers
are more apt to look for product information from other
consumers, not the companies marketing those
products. Consequently, your emphasis should shift to
encouraging and participating in online con- versations.
Follow these guidelines:
Facilitate community building.
Listen at least as much as you talk.
Initiate and respond to conversations within the community.
Provide information people want.
Identify and support your champions.
Be real.
Integrate conventional marketing and sales strategies at the right time
and in the right places.
Maintaining High Ethical and Legal Standards
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, a way to align their
own interests with what is best for their audiences. They influence
audience members by provid- ing information and aiding understanding,
which allows audiences the freedom to choose.
As marketing and selling grow increasingly complex, so do the legal
ramifications of marketing and sales messages. In the United States, the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other federal, state, and local
authorities can penalize advertisers that violate standards for truthful
advertising and other regulations. All marketers need to understand these
basic legal aspects of promotional communication:
• Marketing and sales messages must be truthful and nondeceptive.
• You must back up your claims with evidence.
• “Bait and switch” advertising is illegal.
• Marketing messages and websites aimed at children are subject to special
rules.
• Marketing and sales messages are considered binding contracts in many states.
• In most cases, you can’t use a person’s name, photograph, or other identity
without per- mission.