Archive: Persuasion

To Move Someone to Yes, Push Your Request into the Future

To Move Someone to Yes, Push Your Request into the Future

Mar 6, 2017 | Persuasion

If you want someone to help you with a task, one way to persuade them is to ask far in advance, because people usually don’t think clearly about future obligations. The issue is psychological distance. People have a different perspective if something needs to be done...
Persuasive Writing Tip: Buzzwords are Risky

Persuasive Writing Tip: Buzzwords are Risky

Feb 27, 2017 | Persuasion

The trendy words and phrases that we know as “corporate speak” tarnish any communication, but using them in a persuasive appeal can be particularly risky. For a persuasive message to influence an audience, people need to see or hear concrete language,...
Get Your Execs on the Op-ed Page: Help Shape Public Opinion

Get Your Execs on the Op-ed Page: Help Shape Public Opinion

Sep 19, 2016 | Persuasion

An opinion piece is a great opportunity to express an opinion or advocate for a cause, but you need to be able to structure an argument. Nearly everyone on the planet writes email, and many people write articles, stories, and news releases as a full-time or part-time...
Being Persuasive: It’s about the “we”

Being Persuasive: It’s about the “we”

Sep 14, 2016 | Persuasion

An important way to be more persuasive is to develop a sense of connectedness with your audience. Creating a connection with the other person (or people) based on what you have in common creates a powerful sense of “we,” says Robert Cialdini, the Arizona State...
Motivate People to Read Your Persuasive Appeal

Motivate People to Read Your Persuasive Appeal

Jul 13, 2016 | Persuasion

Persuasion requires that you first get people to read or listen carefully to your proposal. Just because you write someone a persuasive message doesn’t mean they will read it carefully. Several variables affect the amount of thinking people do when they read a...
Being Likable Can Make You More Credible

Being Likable Can Make You More Credible

May 4, 2016 | Persuasion

To be persuasive, you need to be viewed as credible, and one way people judge credibility is by whether they like you. Credibility is an audience’s evaluation of how believable you are, and the most common ways people gauge credibility are expertise and...