Persuasive Writing

When it comes to writing persuasively, the basic concepts of persuasion hold true. Nonetheless, there are some different factors that you have to take into consideration when writing something designed to persuade. In fact, writing persuasively can be much more difficult than persuading someone in person or even over the phone.

First, as always, consider timing and audience. Depending upon what you are writing about and where your writing will appear, you may be able to make some assumptions about your audience. Unfortunately, this may not always hold true. Consider the example of a grant and proposal writer who receives an e-mail requesting that she submit a proposal to work with a non-profit organization. She may write a proposal that is full of industry jargon as she assumes that the organization is familiar with these terms; she may then find out that they are a new organization without much experience. In this type of situation, the organization may choose to go with a different writer who used more simplistic language. Alternatively, if she writes a proposal using simple language and the organization management is very experienced, they may interpret for lack of jargon as a lack of knowledge about the field.

In this situation, either the writer has little information to go on and must choose to take a firm approach on one side or the other or she may decide to try to work out a proposal on some middle ground. In some situations, playing it safe and going for the middle ground is a smart choice while in some situations, taking a big risk can have big rewards.

Another common challenge with persuasive writing is that in the written word, nuance may be hard to convey and detect. Most of us have been in situations where an e-mail or text message is taken out of context or misinterpreted as being serious when it was sarcastic, threatening when it was joking, and so on. When you write persuasively, it is best to be hypersensitive to this type of issue.


When you write persuasively, especially within a professional context, you also have to be extremely careful not to write anything that could be interpreted as coercive, threatening, harassment, or misrepresentation. While you certainly should not do those things when speaking to people either, if something is misinterpreted you certainly do not want it to be in writing which could then be used as evidence against you. Harassment in particular does not always have to be proven to have been threatening, if the recipient feels harassed, your remarks can be used against you even if they would not be interpreted as such by anyone else.

Timing is not always something you can control when it comes to persuasive writing either. Although you may submit a written statement or request at a certain time, it may not be read by your intended target at the time you assume it will be.

Depending on the subject matter, persuasive writing does offer many benefits. Infinitely more people that may be available to hear you speak can potentially read a document. Persuasive writing also allows you the opportunity to make your case without interruption or dissent (at least at the particular moment that it is first read). For people dealing with emotional or difficult situations, writing down their thoughts and opinions gives them a podium from which to speak, so to say, that they might not have or be with a particular audience or for a particular length of time.

Persuasive writing also allows for a more carefully thought out approach. When engaging in a dialogue, an effective persuader has to be fast thinking, confident, and preferably charismatic. However, when you write persuasively, you are given time to carefully construct your argument, evaluate the use of different techniques, and even have other people who agree with you read it and give you feedback. People with stage fright, people who are not particularly fast thinkers, people who become emotionally overwhelmed about the topic, and many other types of people find that writing persuasively allows them a better opportunity to succeed in their efforts.


Be sure that when writing persuasively, every word is carefully considered. In addition to protecting yourself from misinterpretation, you are also helping to protect your reputation and reinforce the idea that you should be taken seriously. Something as simple as an e-mail request to a coworker may travel all the way up the food chain to the CEO, and you would certainly want your intent and purpose to be clear, your ideas or feelings clearly expressed, and your e-mail to be composed of complete sentences and coherent thoughts. Despite the rise of terms and expressions used via text and internet, your attempts at persuasion will be undermined by use of terms like totes, bro, and roflmao.

There are many tips and tricks that you can use to be persuasive, regardless of what type of audience you have. Knowing your audience, timing yourself just right, and using the correct technique, can be highly effective. Remember to engage in ethical persuasion and catch yourself before you go too far.