Are You Persuaded Yet?

Blog No. 7

By Marcus Coates @homeinriyadh, 29th October 2020

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“Let’s keep the conversations flowing with mindful content!”

Is that persuasive enough?

If you’ve read this far, then you’ll have noticed that the above paragraph was all about appealing to you to subscribe to my blog via my website using a type of coercive writing style. If it worked, then I have used the power of persuasive language and gained a new member to my site … and if it hasn’t, well, I need to work on the subtleties of my persuasive technique a bit more. So, where do I start in order to do that?

What is persuasive writing?

According to masterclass.com, persuasive writing presents logical arguments with an emotional appeal to sway readers to a particular point of view and differs from an argumentative essay in that only one side of the debate is clearly represented. And if a persuasive essay does include the opposing view, it’s normally to discredit it.

Here are some differences between an argumentative essay and a persuasive essay:

Argumentative essay

• Appeals to a wider, reflective audience

• Evenly weights both sides of an argument to allow reader judgement

• Utilizes rhetorical structures to give perspective to both sides of an argument

• Emphasizes that different perspectives are possible

Persuasive essay

• Zeroes in on the ideal avatar (avatar is marketing-speak for the ideal customer!)

• Declares a singular stance

• Is aware of the counterargument in order to refute it

• Utilizes rhetorical structures to enforce one perspective and weaken the other

• Emphasizes a singular message

Analysis of a short piece of persuasion

If you glimpse back to my initial opening paragraph (you know - the one, where I try to convince you to subscribe to my blog), you’ll notice that I employ all of the above techniques in a succinct paragraph. I state my ideal reader (blog lovers), I declare what I want you to do (subscribe to my blog), I take in the counter-argument (there are other blogs out there), I included a rhetorical structure (subscribe today) and emphasize there is no need to look elsewhere (all your blog needs in one place), and the message is singular (I think it’s clear I’m looking for you to subscribe!).

A little clunky, perhaps, but I’m certainly not alone in trying an emotional message to coerce a reader to perform an action. And in my defence, I’m not asking a reader to part with money - unlike most of the professionals listed below - who are masters of the art of trying to get you to loosen the purse strings and spend cash.

Who Uses persuasive language?

Advertisers are masters of persuasive writing:

[Interior - Camera follows] A lean and well-dressed man strides out of a hectic business meeting - and clearly agitated - exits the building [Exterior] he walks down a crowded street as rain pours down. Suddenly, he pauses and the crowds cease to matter. [Close up] A smile plays across his face. [Cut to] A cream sports car, glistening in the rain. [Cut to] The man points a key fob. [Cut to] The sports car’s headlights flash and the driver’s door opens smoothly. [Cut to] The man sits in the driver’s seat (all external noise has disappeared) and runs his hands approvingly along a leather dash. [Extreme close up] He starts the engine by touching his finger to an automatic recognition starter and the instrument panel lights up like the cockpit of a jet engine. [External shot of the sports car]

A cool rock song plays out loud progressive rock as the businessman tears down the urban street, scattering pedestrians left and right. [Caption on screen flashes up] "Life is better when you're rich and own a fancy sports car. 0% APR for the first 7 days."

It’s you, isn’t it? It’s me? It’s all of us? And for the female version swap out the man for a woman and have the same scenario or have her leaving a yoga studio wearing yoga pants and sipping on a spinach and chia seed smoothie if you want to go the stereotypical route.

Marketers utilize persuasive techniques in their marketing copy:

In my opinion, marketers are really psychologists turned rogue. Whereas a psychologist investigates your subconscious mind to free you of negative desires or repressions, marketers tap into the same subconscious mind to capitalize and monetize on desires you never realised you had until they were pointed out to you!.

ecommeceCEO.com has a great article written by Darren DeMatas called 19 Tips to Write a Persuasive Product Description That Sells (click on the link to find the article) – a quick warning though, being a marketing page, you’ll have to battle past a couple of annoying pop-ups before reading the tips … but it’s worth the effort to see the psychology utilized to sell to your subconscious desires.

Travel companies know how to reach your wallets:

The basic structure of a thousand and one holiday campaigns is as follows:

[Camera pans to] A family looking miserable as they walk home through any of the following – torrential rain, gusty wind, a snow blizzard, etc. [Cut to] family crowding around a computer with mugs of basic tea staring at a holiday bargain from one of the big holiday providers. [Cut to] Family all smiling in an exotic resort holding lurid cocktails and wearing Hawaiian-type clobber and straw hats.

This was pre-Covid of course … Travel Companies now have to work a lot harder these days to convince anyone to just go up the road, let alone visit an exotic locale.

Sales professionals use it to get you to buy their wares:

Do you remember that car advertisement you saw above? And the time when you went to the car showroom to ‘just take a quick peek at the latest models’? Remember how you came out, slightly dazed and with empty pockets, with a brand new prestige car – full options – and on a wonderful five-year payback scheme at 30% APR? (That Danny-boy, our number one salesmen, he could sell ice to Eskimos, he’s that good!)

Politicians are fluent in it:

I’m not one to bang on about politics, but for us UK citizens, it appears the dawning reality of Brexit is certainly nowhere near as appealing as when those persuasive folks in charge sold the idea to us a couple of years ago. Can you recall if the language used to convince voters to exit Europe was based on factual or emotional appeal?

Children subconsciously master it from an early age:

Son/daughter: “Dad, I need an iPhone 12, absolutely everyone at school has got one. I’ll be a social pariah if I’m stuck with this old iPhone 8. Is that what you want? For me to be shunned by all my classmates? To be a social outcast? To be psychologically damaged for my entire youth and beyond?”

Dad: “But Billy … you’re only nine years old."

The Final Try ...

Persuasive language is all around us and used by just about anyone trying to sell us a product, a service or who are just trying to get their way! How do you deal with it? Is it acceptable? Is it just inevitable? Should I avoid everyone forevermore so as not to be persuaded and go hide under a rock? Well ... being aware of it helps.

Oh, and by the way, did I overuse the phrase subscribe today to my blog?

All images are taken from Unsplash: 1 - Jonathan Francisca (Hand in Glove), 2 - Zane Lee (Sports Car), 3 - Obi Onyeandor (car interior), 4 & 5 - Barbara Kusulin (holidays), 6 - Patrick Fore (Masked Child)