Persuasive writing

How to craft reader-focused writing

Stop it with the ‘At XX, we …’ construction

At Wylie Communications, we believe that writers should write and that approvers should check the facts and leave the headlines alone.… Read the full article

Learn reader-centered business writing from Dale Carnegie

Take a tip from the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People

I was coaching a communicator for a California health insurance plan the other day.… Read the full article

Use WIIFM communication for news release leads

Move from event to impact to engage readers

Screenwriter Nora Ephron long remembered the first day of her high school journalism class.

Ephron’s teacher announced the first assignment: to write the lead for a story to appear in the student newspaper.… Read the full article

Use WIIFM marketing to persuade

Focus on what the reader wants

If you wanted to keep teens from smoking weed, what message might you communicate?

One health organization, reports Guy Kawasaki in his book Enchantment, used the message that young people who smoked weed were five times more likely to engage in sex.… Read the full article

Steal from this What’s In It For Me example

‘Say goodbye to the 60-hour workweek’

You know that the topic is never the topic: The reader is the topic.

You’ve acknowledged that readers don’t care about “us and our stuff”; they care about themselves and their needs.… Read the full article

Answer What’s In It For Me (WIIFM)

Position your message in the reader’s best interest

Too often, communicators think the topic is the topic. But the topic is never the topic. The reader is always the topic.… Read the full article

7 persuasive writing techniques to try

‘Make ’em sick, make ’em well’ & 6 other ways to move people to act

Start with the problem.

Communicators are often too eager to rush in with the solution — the product, service or idea.… Read the full article

Write headlines for your PR target audience

Write about the reader, not about us and our stuff

Front-loading your headlines with your topic word just makes sense if your readers are going to encounter those headlines in online lists — a search engine results page, for instance, or your online newsroom.… Read the full article

Promises, promises

We want to act consistently with our commitments and values

Social scientist Anthony Greenwald and his colleagues asked potential voters on the eve of an election to predict whether they would vote and why.… Read the full article