Sunday, April 3, 2011

Persuasion









Words and pictures can really get the point across.


I’ve been thinking about persuasion lately. Not the plaid-jacketed, fender-pounding used car salesman variety, but writing as if you mean it.


As we get busier and time becomes more precious, I continue to realize that everything we write should be clear, to the point, and purposeful.


Otherwise we are wasting our time writing and wasting the time of our readers as well.


There is so much bad writing out there - good for us, I suppose because it keeps us in business - but everywhere you look you will find passive voice, unnecessary words, confused organization, and ignorance of the basics of memorable, persuasive writing.


Bad writing makes us want to read less, and that’s too bad.


So, in this post, I’ve included three good books on writing memorably and persuasively.


Check them out or talk to us - because good writing is good for everyone.


Everything you write should have some element of persuasion - to believe facts, to take action, etc. If not, why are you writing in the first place?


Over the years, I’ve assembled ideas from several people on how to write more persuasively. After all - that should be one of your purposes every time you start to write - whether its a memo, a report, a brochure, a letter - everything you write.


Ever wonder why jokes and urban myths are so easy to remember? Because they are sticky.











Stickiness is when your writing is memorable and Chip and Dan Heath recommend six powerful techniques to help make that happen:

1. Simple

2. Unexpected

3. Concrete

4. Credible

5. Emotional

6. Storied


With lots of examples and some good solid reasoning, all of us can learn to write more memorably.


The North American guru of persuasion is Dr. Robert Cialdini.

Once you get by the tackiness of his book covers, you will find some incredibly useful information.


For example, the one persuasive technique we all try to use - logic- is absolutely the weakest of the ten identified persuasive methods and is probably a waste of time unless you are writing a scientific paper.





Cialdini talks about seven persuasive techniques:

1. Gratitude

2. Because

3. Imitation

4. Likability

5. Authority

6. Shortage

7. Repetition


and I add three more:

8. Logic

9. Reason

10. Credibility.


All can be used to to make your writing more powerful.


Finally, the power of stories to mobilize, excite, and persuade has been recognized by many different authors, foremost among them is Steve Denning.


In this one book, Denning describes how to use stories to meet the most important leadership challenges of today, including motivating others to action, building trust, transmitting values, getting others working together, and sharing knowledge.


If you want your writing to have more impact, buy these books and follow their advice, or check out our workshop on Writing Irresistibly.




We would be glad to work with you.


Contact us at moorepartners@gmail.com if you have any questions.