Powerful Persuasive Writing Tips You Should Know

When was the last time you saw an ad or read an article that persuaded you to buy something you didn’t even need? Well-crafted words can be powerful enough to influence your decisions. This writing skill is worth developing in your professional and personal life.

Here are some powerful, persuasive writing tips you should know to write copy to convince your reader to agree with you or buy from you. Let’s dive into the topic by defining persuasive writing.

What is Persuasive Writing?

Persuasive writing gets your reader to side with your point of view. To achieve this, you need facts, statistics, and other research from credible sources. When your point of view or opinion is backed up with strong and credible evidence, your reader is more likely to agree with you.

What Makes Persuasive Writing “Persuasive”?

Persuasive writing has three key elements. First, it will include the beliefs of a group of people or a culture. If the writer seems to understand the reader’s beliefs, then the reader is more likely to agree with the piece of writing. Second, the writer must appeal to the reader’s sense of logic by providing scientific evidence and facts. Lastly, the writing must appeal to the reader’s emotions and feelings.

If the piece of writing cannot appeal to the reader’s beliefs, sense of logic, or emotions, then it will be difficult to persuade the reader to agree with the point of view presented.

How Can You Use Persuasive Writing at Work?

If your job is to influence people through the written word, then persuasive writing will be an extremely handy skill to have.

Persuasive writing will persuade your audience to follow your social media channels because people value the insights they get from your blog posts or articles. 

Persuasive writing persuades customers to buy products and services. Advertising and marketing copywriters, for example, write copy for web content, email campaigns, marketing brochures, ads, and corporate brochures.

Persuasive writing skills are also needed for press releases, copy for fundraisers, and articles about government policies.

How Can Persuasive Writing Help Your Business?

Persuading your customers and clients to invest in your products and services is key to your business’s success. Dr. Robert B. Cialdini’s research on the psychology of persuasion has had a tremendous impact on marketing.

One concept he has proven is the principle of reciprocity. Humans naturally want to return favors and pay back debts. An example of this in marketing is a business that gives advice to website visitors in the form of free blogs, training courses, and PDF downloads. The informative, free content increases the likelihood that people will pay for the company’s products and services in the future.

Another principle is social proof: whatever most people do, someone joining the group will do the same, even if the behavior doesn’t make logical sense. Consider how a worker may work a little longer just because everyone else in the department works late. And think of the last time you decided whether to give a new restaurant a try because of how busy it looked. If you read about a popular trend with your age group, you’ll be more likely to try it.

Scarcity is another persuasive tactic. An ad for “the last available room,” “30% off your purchase today only,” and “offer ends at midnight tonight” will create a fear of missing out (FOMO).

Persuasive writing will give people the push they need to decide to subscribe to your email list, buy two for the price of one, sign up for a course, or invest in your consulting services.

How Is Persuasive Writing Useful to You?

Persuasive writing can help you to get a job when you’re writing to a prospective employer. It can help you to get a promotion or raise.

Persuasion is also critical when speaking during an interview or conversation for a promotion. Whether spoken or written, words can be used to appeal to others and convince them to agree with your point of view.

Key Takeaways

Persuasive writing uses psychology to give people that nudge to make a decision now. It wins you over with logic and appeals to your emotions. It may even play to your fears (FOMO) or convince you to make a purchase because of the free value you have already received. Persuasive writing creates action through the power of words.

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Online Publishing: Watch Out for Google’s Upcoming Changes

An article by Forbes announced new changes to Google that affect how the search engine presents results using artificial intelligence. This news is for you if you publish your work online, such as blogs and articles.

The new change will mean that when you provide Google with a query, it will generate an answer created from all the material that it can find online. This means Google search users don’t need to visit the original pages that contain the information, resulting in fewer eyes on the web pages of content creators.

You can read the original article here.

Best Types of Companies for Remote Work

Remote work has been around for as long as we’ve had the technology, but 2020 made work from home (WFH) a household word. Before the worldwide pandemic that forced businesses to close their doors, many startups already offered remote work. Without a physical office, expenses were reduced. Remote work also offers many other advantages to certain types of companies. Let’s take a closer look at five types of companies that offer remote work.

1 Technology Companies

Technology companies (tech) are great for remote work because they tend to have the latest technology. Tech companies include software development companies, IT companies, companies that sell electronics, artificial intelligence or computers, and website development companies. These companies have the ability for their employees to communicate through virtual meetings and communications applications such as Slack. 

During the pandemic, tech workers were more easily able to make the transition to performing work tasks from home, since the majority (if not all) of their tasks were completed using technology. 

2 Customer Service Companies

Customer services companies that offer services via online platforms such as chatbots are suitable for remote work. Customer service workers must be familiar with technology and have internet access to perform the tasks. Many businesses that hire customer service workers have customers from multiple time zones. To provide 24/7 service to these customers, they hire employees from different time zones to cover a wide range of work shifts. Similar to tech companies, customer service employees can communicate with supervisors or coworkers with communications software.

3 Education Companies

Education companies and companies that provide online education are perfect for remote work. These companies provide e-learning platforms for companies and educators. The course content is designed electronically, and IT programming is also handled online. Educators who use these platforms to design courses or offer tutoring work remotely to provide the content. The education is available at any time to anyone anywhere in the world with internet access. 

4 Creative Agencies

Creative agencies offer remote work for those interested in graphic design, advertising, marketing, and content creation. Work is completed through online collaboration and communication tools. Some agencies hire employees from the same city, while others hire freelancers from other cities in the same country or around the world.

Key Takeaways

Work from home has become possible because of the collaborative platforms and communication applications that we now have available to us. Many startups start as remote work companies, saving on the costs of having a physical office. In particular, companies that work with technology, customer service, and education, as well as creative agencies are well suited for remote work.

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Money and Power: the Ambition Penalty

If you’re interested in the “ambition penalty” that working women face and haven’t heard about Stefanie O’Connell, I recommend listening to and reading her work. She reveals research results about gender roles and gender stereotypes in the workplace.

Some of the topics that she discusses:

The “motherhood penalty” and the “fatherhood bonus” 

For every child a woman has, her income drops by percent. In contrast, for every child a man has, his income increases by six percent. Women are penalized (the motherhood penalty) because they are less likely to be promoted and held to a higher standard, while men are held to a lower standard. For example, they are more likely to be excused if they are late for work and they have children.

The “ambition penalty”

Successful women in traditionally masculine roles (such as leadership) face professional, personal, and social penalties. There is workplace unpleasantness in how they are treated by management and their peers.

Changes to traditional roles

Women who outearn their male partners (significant others) will notice an effect on their relationships. A housework gap exists as women still take on much of the housework. They also face increased stress levels, higher divorce levels, and increased cheating incidents from their partners.

Men who are married to wives in “traditional marriages,” meaning the wives don’t work, are more likely to have a negative view of women in the workplace. For example, they perceive an organization with mostly women workers as running less smoothly.

Perception of discretionary spending

What is considered a worthwhile expense? Men spend money on their vehicle, video games, or golf clubs. Women spend money on clothes, handbags, or skin care. However, it is women who are perceived as wasting money because of the expectation that women should be spending money on others, such as their children. 

Wage reduction

When more women are represented in a specific occupation, the average wage for both men and women in that occupation decreases over time. The conclusion is that the gender of the workers changes the wages of the work.

For more fascinating facts

If you’re fascinated by these research findings and want more details, check out her IG account.

Should You Quit Your Job and Become a Freelancer?

Taking control of your work schedule and workload and becoming your own boss has its appeal, but is that life for you? Should you become a self-employed freelancer?

If you’re undecided about starting a freelancing business, ask yourself the following questions. You may surprise yourself with your readiness to take your career in a new direction. Or you may need more time to re-evaluate your options. Either way, these questions will help you decide if freelancing is for you.

What are the challenges of freelancing?

If you’ve always been an employee, the sudden income instability may be frightening. Before you start, ensure that you have three to six months’ savings to pay your bills. You’ll be taking risks that you didn’t when you had a job.

As a freelancer, it’s your responsibility to find work for yourself, either by networking or creating a profile on a gig platform such as Upwork. When you begin working on your own, you’ll need to manage your time and goals wisely. Even if you have a job that lasts three months, you’ll be looking ahead to line up the next gig to start four months from now. Otherwise, when your contract finishes, you could find yourself without an income when your contract finishes.

As a freelancer, you may experience months with several clients and projects and months with a lot of free time on your hands. Setting aside savings will help with unforeseen expenses during these dry months.  

Some people prefer to ease into freelancing gradually by working in the evenings and on weekends while working full-time. Others work a part-time job while supplementing their income with freelancing. They may choose to freelance full time only after they have an established, steady client base.

What skills do you need?

Your success as a freelancer will also depend on your skill set. Most people start freelancing in the same industry where they worked for an employer. Others train for specific skills and look for freelancing contracts. If you’re building your skill set, you’ll be charging lower rates than someone with years of experience. 

Other factors determining how much work you get as a freelancer and how much you make include:

  • Whether your skills are in high demand. If many clients need someone with your skills, then you will find many opportunities.
  • Whether your skills are general or niche. Writing, for example, is a general skill. If you have a niche, such as writing grants or writing for tech companies, you will be in higher demand by clients that need more specialization.
  • Quality of your clients. Your relationship with your client as well as their financial situation will determine how much you can charge for your services. For example, if you are just starting, you may accept a contract with a small company that hasn’t been in business very long. Their budget would be limited, but you would be able to gain some work experience.

What is your business mindset?

The most important factor to consider about freelancing is your mindset. You’ll be setting your work hours. You can sleep in on a weekday and work nights or only work three hours a day. Those are some of the perks.

It also means you need a lot of self discipline to complete projects by the deadline, especially if projects fall behind schedule and you’re suddenly juggling multiple deadlines for reasons out of your control. People you know may discourage you from freelancing because of the risks. They’ll tell you to stick to the stability of having a job with holiday pay, sick leave, and a medical plan.

As a part-time or full-time freelancer, however, you’ll be able to decide what projects and work you want to take on, and you’ll be able to negotiate your rates. You’ll experience clients who treat you badly and clients who are a dream to work with. It’s a learning process, and as you gain experience, you’ll have better strategies for nightmare situations. When you become highly experienced and in demand, you can even turn down jobs to do only the work you enjoy.

Key Takeaways

Freelancing, either part-time or full-time, can be a dream come true for those who want to make extra income or take on new work opportunities. The ability to work where and when you please has its appeal. However, freelance work isn’t for everyone. You need mental discipline and a desire to aways improve your skills.

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