Feb 3 (Ch 16): Persuasive Messages

Purposes

• Primary
  - To have audience act or change beliefs
• Secondary
  - To build good image of the communicator
  - To build good image of communicator’s organization
  - To cement a good relationship between communicator and audience
  - To overcome any objections that might prevent or delay action
  - To reduce or eliminate future messages on subject

Choosing a Persuasive Strategy

1. What do you want people to do?
2. What objections will audience have?
3. How strong a case can you make?
4. What kind of persuasion is best for organization and culture?

Building Credibility

• Be factual—don’t exaggerate
• Be specific—if you say X is better, show in detail how it is better
• Be reliable—if project will take longer or cost more than estimated, tell audience immediately

Three Persuasive Patterns of Organization

• Direct Request
• Problem-solving
• Sales

Why Threats Don’t Persuade

• Don’t produce permanent change
• May not produce desired action
• May make people abandon action
• Produce tension
• People dislike/avoid one who threatens
• Can provoke counter-aggression

Organizing Direct Requests

• Ask immediately for the information or service you want
• Give audience all the information they need to act on your request
• Ask for the action you want

Subject line:

• Request itself
• Topic of request
• Question

Organizing Problem-Solving Messages

• Catch audience’s interest
• Define shared problem
• Explain solution to problem
• Show that advantages outweigh negatives
• Summarize additional benefits
• Ask for action you want

Subject line:

• Omit request or use neutral
• Use common ground or audience benefit

Developing Common Ground

• Suggest you and audience have mutual interest in solving problem
• Analyze audience to understand biases, objections, and needs
• Identify with readers; make them identify with you

Dealing with Objections

• Specify time, money required to act
• Put time, money in context of benefits
• Show that spent money now will save later
• Show benefit about audience’s values
• Show need for sacrifice to achieve larger, goal
• Turn a disadvantage into opportunity

Reasons to Act Promptly

• Show that time limit is real
• Show that acting now will save time or money
• Show the cost of delaying action

Building Emotional Appeal

• Storytelling
• Psychological description
  - Create word picture for readers’ senses
  - Help readers imagine themselves doing, enjoying what you ask

Tone in Persuasive Messages

• Be courteous
• Give solid reasons for requests
• Make requests clear
• Give enough information for audience to act

Varieties of Persuasive Messages

• Performance Appraisals
  - Cite specific observations, not inferences
  -Identify two or three areas for improvement
• Recommendation Letters
  - Be specific
  - Tell how well/ long writer knew applicant
  - Give details about applicant’s work
  - Say whether writer would rehire applicant

Sales and Fund-Raising Purposes

• Primary
  - To motivate reader to act (send donation, order a product)
• Secondary
  - To build good image of writer’s organization
  - To strengthen commitment of readers who act
  - To make readers who do not act more likely to act next time

Organizing Sales/Fund-Raising Messages

Opener

• Makes reader want to read entire message
• Types
  - Questions
  - Narration, stories, anecdotes
  - Startling statements
  - Quotations
• Sets up transition to letter body

Body

• Answers reader’s questions
• Overcomes reader’s objections
• Involves reader emotionally.
• Content usually includes
  - Information any reader can use
  - Stories about history of product/organization
  - Stories about people who use product
  - Readers enjoying benefits offered

Action Close

• Tells readers what to do
• Makes action sound easy
• Offers readers reason to act now
• Ends with positive picture
• May recall central selling point

Using a Postscript

• Reason to act promptly
• Description of premium reader receives
• Reference to another part of package
• Restatement of central selling point

Writing Style

• Make text interesting
• Use psychological description: vivid word pictures
• Make message sound like a letter, not an ad

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Content attributed to Locker, Kitty O. and Donna Kienzler. Business and Administrative Communication, 9/e. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. 2010.