Persuasive message are written with the intent to change a reader’s attitude, beliefs, or action in your favor. In business, persuasive messages may involve requests regarding products and services (sales situations), or other non-sales situations such as requests for claims and adjustments, requests for change in policy, for change in performance, or requests for personal contribution. This paper explores the similarities in the recommended techniques for writing persuasive business messages, irrespective of the overall discipline for which the messages are written.
Perhaps the most pervasive discipline in business in which persuasion is required is in sales. The bedrock of sales is persuading your audience to purchase your product or service.
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The University of Washington declares that understanding one 's audience is one of the most important elements of effective communication (Audience Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://faculty.washington.edu/ezent/aaaa.htm). Ergo, if you misjudge your audience, crafting winning communications and strategies will be rendered quite difficult, if not impossible. The tailoring of the subsequent tactics all flow from the results of your audience …show more content…
They go on to say, “Although the present study has examined the theory of schema correspondence in one particular setting (advertising), this theory is applicable to any type of persuasive context or message.” So, while audience analysis and adaptation do not guarantee absolute success or eliminate the possibility of errors in judgment, it helps to ensure better choices in topic, language, style of presentation, and other aspects of your message. And these choices result in greater persuasiveness in every domain.
Moreover, Wrench, Goding, Johnson & Attias (n.d.) profess that writing persuasively is, by necessity, a shared activity that involves interaction between writer and audience. In the most successful messages, the writer or speaker creates a relationship with their audience. In addition, Sprague, Stuart & Bodary (2010) take it a bit further by declaring, “Speakers do not give speeches to audiences; they jointly create meaning with
There are three methods of persuasion when speaking or writing to an audience: Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. Ethos uses a type of socially recognized authority as its voice. Logos uses logic and reasoning as its tool. Lastly, Pathos uses emotional attachment. For instance, the advertising industry primarily utilizes Ethos and Pathos reasoning and qualities, particularly a Matthew Mcconaughey Lincoln Motor Company commercial, and a Safe driving bonus check Ally Insurance commercial.
In his essay “Rhetoric,” he states “to reason logically, to understand human character and goodness, and to understand the emotions”(182). The audience should always be one of the top concerns for the speaker. When a speaker is trying to convince their audience to accept a different perspective, they should keep in mind that not everyone will accept it. The audience should not feel like they are forced to accept something instead they should feel a sense of willingness for the different perspective that the speaker discussed. Furthermore, Aristotle concludes “persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character”(181). In other words, the way a speaker portrays themselves during a speech will make an impact on the audience. The audience will be more convinced if the speaker has integrity because that will result in a built trust and respect between the two. If the speaker lies about something to the audience, not only is the interest lost but so is the willingness to believe anything that they
This discussion brings about an interesting view on similarity in relation to persuasion as expressed by O’Keefe (200), “The belief that greater similarity means greater effectiveness is an attractive one and is commonly reflected in recommendations that persuaders emphasize commonalities between themselves and the audience.” O’Keefe concludes
Authors and speakers alike use some type of persuasion on their intended audience. They often try to make you agree with their argument before considering other factors. Persuasive writing often has a copious amount of logical fallacies, defined by the Perdue Online Writing Lab as “errors in reasoning that will undermine the logic”, despite that they tend to have success with sympathetic audiences. Wendell Berry’s essay “The Whole Horse” is an example. Berry is likely to persuade his conservationist audience because of his use of emotive language.
Persuasion is the intentional action of a person to influence another person’s mental state through communication with outcomes either being positive or negative (Lyttle). Persuasion is seen throughout our daily lives whether it be at school or at work. In particular, persuasion in the business field portrays persuasion in higher levels because of the interests of people whether it be for money, passion, fame, etc. Persuasion in the field of business is an important skill to acquire allowing one to be successful with their business as well as dictating the pace of growth for one’s business. The usage of different nonverbal techniques in persuasion from tone usage, persuasion knowledge to the importance of appearance and trustworthiness allows
...an is capable of persuading his audience into accepting his simplistic views of the world. He makes it easier to rationalize with his stance by his strategic use of sentence structure and word choice. When analyzing a past speech or interpreting a speech as it is given, upmost priority should be given to analytical tools for analyzing persuasive symbols and language. Whether the topic at hand is motivated by great emotions as it is here or not, the audience can easily be swayed in one direction surprisingly based only on universal comprehension.
that are pleasing to the senses. The central route is used to reach people who are more motivated and analytical, while people who are less analytical and less involved aremore likely to be influenced by the peripheral route. In advertising a combination of the two is common and effective. Computer ads relyprimarily on the central route, because their target audiences are perceived as highly analytical. Promotion for alcohol and tobacco products employ the peripheral route because they wish to draw attention away from thepossible negative effects that they are, in reality, associated with. To truly understand the effects of persuasion it is necessary to break the actdown to its smaller components. The for elements of persuasion are 1.) The communicator, 2.) The message content, 3.) How it is communicated, and4.) The receiver of the message. The content of the message is important but also whoever gives the message has an effect on people¹s acceptance ofit. The major determinant of the communicator¹s success are his/herperceived credibility and attractiveness. Credibility, or believability
In closing, Persuasion is a powerful tool, both in trying to persuade others and being
Persuading helps us everyday. AT&T might persuade you that they are way better than Verizon. A friend might persuade you into thinking Flaming Hot Cheetos are way better than regular Cheetos. You might persuade your teacher that your side of the story is the truth, not the other kid’s. Persuading has a major impact on society.
Persuasion is an important aspect of communication, certainly a significant business activity. Regardless of whether this comes in the form of a sender influencing a party or the receiver itself is being influenced. Typically, this could come in the form of a salesman or, even a manager communicating with key stakeholders, such as potential investors.
My interest in social psychology was sparked by a class on persuasion close to a decade ago when I encountered the works of Robert Cialdini. He is currently the foremost authority in this area and has written some of the most popular books in the field. Highest ranked amongst them being Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. He breaks down the persuasion principles that lead to compliance into six distinct types. Uncovering Bernays work and my understanding of Cialdini’s principles has reinforced my belief that the thorough understanding of people is key to successful communication campaigns.
Over the recent four months in Communication 1402 class, I have addressed three formal speechs and completed a number of chapters in the corresponding textbook “Communication Works”. This course of Communication aims to provide general information what public speaking is and how to address a public speaking. Recalling back the experience during the processes of completing the Speech to Imform, Speech to Persuade, and Group Presentation, I will draw a conclusion about this course and these three presentations in five aspects, comprising my previous perception of public speaking before this course; learning from the Speech to Inform; the goal and evaluation of Speech to Persuade; learning from the Group Presentation; the most important thing learned from this course.
In this week's material , we discuss the process and strategies for writing negative and persuasive messages thoroughly. The 3-step writing process was a highly significant factor in creating both negative and persuasive messages. As stated in the chapters, it is important to be clear and honest and provide evidence to build credibility whether one is giving bad news or persuading someone. The material also touches on ethics and etiquette and proper ways of handling situations such as rejections, negative information, faulty logic, and credibility.
Making a successful public presentation or speech to an audience was a very big task for me before I joined the public speaking class. I was always frightened and very nervous. Since then I now understand the process of making a speech or a presentation including coming up with a topic and from this topic develop the main points of the speech, research, organize my points, revise them, edit and make a magnificent presentation to any audience. People in the audience might sometimes agree or disagree with my opinion or points, it was therefore necessary to communicate my information clearly to the audience without making any judgments since every person was entitled to a different opinion and views about things.
According to psychologist Robert Cialdini the best way to succeed while persuading an audience is to follow six principles, which we are going to discuss this week. The six powerful and effective principles of persuasion are reciprocity, scarcity, authority, commitment and consistency, consensus, and liking. (McLean, 2010, 538)