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<strong>WWDCD?</strong> Learn to move people to act from the master of persuasion. <a href="https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/perfect-target-gm181075181-25601095"><em>Image by kickimages</em></a>

Learn reader-centered business writing from Dale Carnegie

Take a tip from the author of How to Win...
Persuasive writing / Reader-centric writing
<strong>Don’t leave the me out of the What’s In It For Me?</strong> How do you keep young people from smoking weed? Not by threatening their sex lives. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/photo-pretty-nice-sweet-lady-holding-1724691877" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by Roman Samborsky</em></a>

Use WIIFM marketing to persuade

Focus on what the reader wants If you wanted to...
Persuasive writing / Reader-centric writing
<strong>What’s the problem?</strong> Use this story template to make your next case study, testimonial or narrative more dramatic and powerful. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/investor-lawyer-executive-speed-urgency-delay-1050029477" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image from Roman Samborskyi</em></a>

How to write a case study [example]

Zimmer Inc. uses the P-S-R format Roz Chast's "Story Template"...
Channels / Content marketing / Persuasive writing / Storytelling / Storytelling / Templates / Writing structure
Arousing fear can backfire if you don’t offer a simple way to reduce risk. This four-part model overcomes that obstacle to move readers to act. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/young-man-painted-skull-on-his-2094013162" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em>Image by pixel-shot</em></a>

How to develop fear appeals in persuasion

Avoid losing readers with these 4 steps Fear appeals persuade....
Persuasive writing / Reader-centric writing
<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...
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....
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...
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%...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Persuasive writing / Skim, scan, read
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