7 Persuasive Writing Tips to Strengthen Your Writing

Persuasive writing is the art of trying to convince others of your point of view using the written word. The goal of this is persuade someone to do something or think a certain way.

While you can use elements of expository and creative writing, it’s almost a category on its own because the goals are different. If you’re not trying to persuade someone, then it’s not persuasive writing.

If you haven’t written any persuasive writing in quite some time, you may be a little rusty on how to write it and what to include.

Let’s talk about what persuasive writing is and isn’t, and we’ll give you seven persuasive writing tips to help you put together a strong piece of writing.

Table of Contents

What is persuasive writing?

Persuasive writing is writing that tries to convince the reader of something, usually the writer’s opinion.

You can use a wide variety of writing styles, but you must have the goal of persuading the reader to be considered persuasive writing.

Persuasive writing can come in many forms, from advertisements to articles. He will often spend time throughout the piece acknowledging the other side’s arguments and combating each of the opposite side’s arguments.

Someone writing a piece of persuasive writing must know exactly what they are talking about. Sure, some types of persuasive writing will use made-up facts or arguments that don’t work logically.

It is important to always double check the facts when writing persuasive writing.

Examples of persuasive writing?

Persuasive writing should be used any time you need to convince someone of your argument.

This could be in opinion pieces, on social media, on blogs, in advertisements, or more. It could even be as simple as trying to convince her family why they should go to a city she loves for the annual trip.

When you understand how to use it, you will also be able to see it around you. It’s in ads, movie trailers, on social media, etc.

No matter what you’re using persuasive writing for, there are a few things you should use every time, which we’ll dive into below.

An example of persuasive writing that you can easily imagine is a product review. Go to Amazon and look at almost any review for any product. You will see persuasive writing that will push you to buy or not buy that product.

7 persuasive writing tips

Now that you know what persuasive writing is and when you should use it, let’s look at some ways you can make your writing more persuasive.

#1 – Find your best argument

The first thing to do is find the best argument you want to make or find the main angle of your writing.

Many people try to be persuasive by bringing each good point they have in their arsenal. That’s the opposite of what you want to do.

While it’s helpful to have the main facts and supporting facts, throwing a thousand pieces of new information at someone will only overwhelm them instead of helping your argument.

It can help to lay out all of your main arguments and highlight the strongest ones that would persuade your reader. Only after solving them and presenting them to your reader can you dive into their supporting points.

#2 – Know who you are writing to

You can’t create persuasive writing if you don’t know who your audience is.

When you know who your audience is, you can choose particular words and thoughts that will resonate with that audience.

Depending on the platform you’re using for your persuasive writing, you’ll need to narrow down who the people you’re writing to are (or just one person if it’s something like a college paper).

This helps you form your arguments because you understand who the reader is and what matters to them.

#3 – Keep them intrigued

If you want someone to keep reading your argument, you’ll need to keep them interested enough to keep reading.

You will need to meet the reader where they stand with their understanding of your topic. You don’t want to start a persuasive piece of writing by being petty and pushy trying to prove your point.

Instead, you’ll want to show that you understand their perspective on things, but guide them in understanding your perspective and why you believe in the things you do.

It is important to do everything possible to keep them reading. if you lose the reader and are no longer interested in what he has to say, you have lost your point of persuasive writing.

#4 – Prove your point

Now is the time to bring all the facts and experiences you can to prove your point.

You’ve done enough work to guide them through your thoughts, facts, and perspective, but now it’s time to pound it out and highlight your best points.

Ideally, choose just a handful of main points, as you don’t want to overwhelm them. You want to keep your main points focused and on topic.

Take the time to dig into each point you have, and use supporting facts to back up what you’re making.

#5 – Overcome their objections

Once you’ve laid out your arguments, the reader will often have quibbles in their minds about why you’re not right. They may not always be full objections, but they could at least have reservations.

You will need to describe what they are and take a moment to get past them. You don’t need to dance around what they are, you can tackle them head on.

Address them head on and it will only make your writing that much stronger.

#6 – Incorporate emotional elements

Whether you want to use narrative or facts, you need to irritate their emotions. This doesn’t mean manipulating or lying to them, but when you put emotions into it, you can connect with them in a different way.

Of course, you want to use facts to support your main arguments, but this isn’t journalism, it’s persuasive writing.

Telling stories and writing ideas that stir your emotions is not always a bad thing. Humans love stories to connect and understand things better.

You don’t want to go overboard with emotions, because then your writing won’t seem grounded, but a few here and there is a good idea.

Social proof is essentially making sure you show how the point you’re arguing is working for other people.

Few things will strengthen your argument like showing how other people feel or think about your topic. It’s a great way to back up your argument with a real life example.

This is why health supplement companies and gyms use “before and after” photos to show what people have done with their product or service.

The social proof that you bring to your argument needs to have that kind of impact.