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Persuasive writing

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<strong>Better sorry than safe? </strong>Arousing fear can be more effective than promising rewards at moving people to act. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closeup-man-mexican-calaveras-makeup-wearing-497335528" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Image by nito</em></a>

What’s the effectiveness of fear appeals?

Why accentuate the negative? Fear appeals work. Better sorry than safe? Arousing fear can be more effective than promising rewards...
Persuasive writing / Reader-centric writing
<strong>Easy as 1-2-3</strong> Here’s how to write a how-to story — aka a tipsheet or service story. <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/make-the-first-step-gm504908890-83414357" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by IvelinRadkov</em></a>

Try this how-to story template

Tips for writing a tipsheet Service stories aren’t news articles. Which means that the inverted pyramid isn’t the right structure....
Channels / Content marketing / Persuasive writing / Templates / Writing structure
<strong>Top tips</strong> How-to stories — aka tipsheets and service stories — move people to act.

Why write how-to stories?

Tipsheets get read, shared, used and acted upon What makes people share information? Top tips How-to stories — aka tipsheets...
Channels / Content marketing / Persuasive writing / Writing structure
Just adding an anecdotal lead increased readers and reading in an A/B test by Groove HQ. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pl/image-photo/man-hand-holding-three-sizes-brown-1821549473" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Image by Boonlert Saikrajang</em></a>

Why is structure important in writing?

Groove HQ: Features increase reading by 520%, readers by 300% The feature-style story structure attracts 300% more readers and increases...
Persuasive writing / Writing structure
Today, more than 25 years of research tells us that the inverted pyramid does not work well with humans. <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/human-crowd-forming-a-pyramid-symbol-hierarchy-concept-gm1138151668-303746654" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Image by MicroStockHub</em></a>

Think Outside the Pyramid for good writing structure

Master a writing structure that outperforms the traditional news format Here’s the good news: You already know a structure that...
Persuasive writing / Writing structure
examples-of-puns-in-headlines

Examples of puns in headlines

4 ways to write plays-on-words headlines When edible marijuana consumption spiked, the Omaha World Herald came up with this headline...
Skim, scan, read / Storytelling / Wordplay
Try these techniques — from alliteration to single-syllable words — for creating catchy headlines. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/row-newspapers-179149739" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by qvist</em></a>

Catchy headlines for feature articles

Coin a word, go graphic and more Stuck for a catchy title that will make people read the article? Try...
Skim, scan, read / Storytelling / Wordplay
<strong>Warning label</strong> Label headlines communicate the topic — but nothing else — about the story. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/newspaper-cutout-headlines-reporting-on-trade-1445832230" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Image by sweeann</em></a>

Avoid writing label headlines (Examples!)

Don’t just slap the topic on top of the story Note to self: “Label headline” is not a headline. Warning...
Persuasive writing / Skim, scan, read
<strong>A picture is worth a thousand words — but not without a caption</strong>. Captions can be workhorses of communications — but only if you use them and use them well.

How to write a good photo caption

Cutlines get 16% more readership than text Too often, communicators crank out captions (aka cutlines) in the 15 minutes before...
Persuasive writing / Skim, scan, read
Call out to readers using callouts, aka pullout quotes or pull quotes.

How to use pull quotes and why

They attract attention, make messages memorable Pull quotes — aka callouts, breakout quotes or pullout quotes — are “the print...
Persuasive writing / Skim, scan, read
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