Persuasive writing is writing that tries to convince the reader to believe an idea or to do something, such as buy a product. It works through three appeals that Aristotle described: credibility (ethos), emotion (pathos), and logic (logos).
Dave is in a pinch. His boss wants him to write a sales pitch for the company's new product, the DroneWhackinator. But nothing he writes is compelling enough to make buyers take a second look. He has no idea how to be persuasive.
Persuasive writing is indeed hard. This article explains what it is, the types of persuasive writing, and the three ways to persuade, and then it helps Dave with his pitch.
What is persuasive writing?
Persuasive writing is a type of writing whose goal is to convince the reader to do something or to believe in an idea.
Types of persuasive writing
You often see persuasive writing in these forms:
- Advertisements
- Product reviews
- Persuasive essays
- Blog posts
- Speeches
- Newspaper editorials
That is not all, of course. Any time a piece of writing tries to make you agree with something or act on it, that is persuasion. Types of persuasive writing looks at the forms in more detail.
The 3 modes of persuasion
You may have heard of ethos, pathos, and logos. Aristotle described them in his Rhetoric, and writers often call them the three artistic proofs.
Ethos is the ethical appeal. It is all about showing your credibility. Who are you, and why should readers believe what you say? Show your credentials up front, so people know what you are made of. This is especially important when you write a proposal for a board of directors or for investors.
Pathos is the appeal to emotion. This is what writers focus on when they write ad copy, because many people make buying decisions on an emotional whim rather than by logic. For instance, people know that drinking a certain brand of soda will not make them more outgoing and cheerful. Yet that is exactly what soda advertisements focus on.
Logos is the appeal to logic. When you back your arguments with facts and sound reasoning, you can persuade people that you are right. Persuasive essays put a lot of focus on this. Logic matters even more in argumentative writing, which differs from persuasive writing in a few important ways.
Persuasive writing tips
Back to Dave, then, and his ad copy.
The first thing Dave needs is a clear audience and a clear purpose. His audience is people who are tired of drones flying over their property. The purpose of the DroneWhackinator is to solve exactly that problem by tracking pesky drones and whacking them out of private airspace.
Dave could start his sales pitch with something like this:
"Tired of pesky drones trespassing on your airspace and invading your privacy? Try the DroneWhackinator and consider your problem solved!"
The next step is to appeal to the audience's beliefs and expectations. The DroneWhackinator's target market believes that nobody has the right to trespass on private property, whether on the ground or in the air. They expect other people to respect their boundaries. And for those who don't, the DroneWhackinator offers a hassle-free solution.
Dave can then add this line to the ad copy:
"The DroneWhackinator protects your property around the clock, with almost no maintenance required."
That's about it. If Dave feels the need to add more arguments to make the pitch more persuasive, he can add them as he sees fit. Those two lines, however, are already a good starting point for a longer ad.
Now Dave only needs to make sure that no spelling mistakes slip into his ad copy. A typo would not bode well for anyone: readers might think the product is as sloppy as the writing. To catch misspellings and grammar mistakes, Dave can run his copy through the Spell Checker before it goes out.