Types of persuasive writing

Would you like to attract more customers with your digital content? Do you know the different techniques in persuasive writing? What’s the difference between content marketing and copywriting? And between branded content and storytelling? Are they different terms or do they have the same meaning? 

If you are not aware of the different techniques of persuasive writing or you simply think that they are all the same, today, I am determined to clarify all your doubts. The thing is, it’s crucial that you understand the big differences between all of them.

So, does this mean that there are some techniques better than others? Not at all, quite the opposite. If you work with all of them you will be able to get better results. Remember that there is strength in numbers!

If you want to discover the different types of writing and learn how to work with all of them to conquer your potential customers, take note of all the things that I am going to tell you next.

Persuasive writing techniques: Persuade and conquer

When should you use a specific technique in persuasive writing? Since each of them have a very specific objective in mind, you should use the one that fits better with your goals and your “ideal customer”. You might have a teenage audience that perceives better storytelling or you might want to create a viral campaign and opt for branded content. 

Practice exercise, ask yourself the following questions:

❓ Do you have an online store and you want your user to click on the “Buy Now” button? 

❓ Do you want to increase the number of readers of your blog?

❓ Would you like to promote your brand image or branding of your company?

❓ Who is your “ideal customer” and what type of content do they consume?

Once you have answered all these questions, you will have a clearer idea about the goals you want to pursue and therefore, it will be easier for you to find the ideal writing strategy.

REMEMBER:

Persuasive writing techniques are very similar, they are not incompatible with each other and you can combine them perfectly as far as you keep your goals clear.

To achieve a better understanding of how each persuasive technique works, let’s have a look at each of them:

Copywriting

Copywriting is a persuasive writing technique especially designed to guide users to take a specific action. This technique is direct, gets to the point, puts the user in the center of the message and talks about benefits and added value and also, clarifies doubts or problems that your customer might have. Finally, to finish off the task, it uses a clear and direct call-to-action.

WHAT’S TAKING A SPECIFIC ACTION? Buying, downloading a digital product, signing up a program, downloading an app, subscribing a newsletter, sharing content on networks, etc.

We can say that this persuasive writing technique is the most direct way to sale. That is, it helps to give the final push that your users need to buy or take any specific action. I can give you a simple example so you can understand it even better: Imagine that you sell chocolates. How would the copywriting technique apply in this example? In this case, the ideal would be to get directly to the point, to talk about benefits and advantages.

You could speak to your audience like this: Do you want to make your mouth water? Would you like to satisfy your taste buds? Buy these chocolates! As you see in this hypothetical case, the content used would be brief and direct. A technique to encourage users to take the action that you want them to take.

Content Marketing

If copywriting is the most direct content and it incites users, content marketing is the technique that beats around the bush before taking any action. This technique consists of creating valuable content in relation to your brand, offering interesting information to your potential customers at the same time.

 Content Marketing is a great technique to position you as a professional or model of any specific sector.

Going back to the example of selling chocolates, you should create content related to this product but make sure at the same time that you catch the attention of users. It’s as easy as creating content about:

The benefits of having a chocolate a day. How to prepare chocolates at home. Are chocolates a substitute for sex?

Types of content marketing

What type of content can you create using this technique? There are four fundamental points that you can use to get more interactions:

✅  Entertainment:  It’s about creating content whose main goal is to entertain your users.

✅  Informative: Providing your potential customers with valuable information works well. I am talking about content like “How to do something”, “a tutorial or mega guide for”, “create your own”, etc.

✅ Educational: If your thing is training, you can also use content marketing to offer what you do best.

✅ Inspirational: If your brand has something to do with motivation, you can opt to create this type of content. Inspiration is a great content marketing technique to attract readers. The positive language is a great tool to capture a larger number of people. Who doesn’t like to be talked to with love and  good vibes? 

Branded content

You have probably heard about this type of content before but, you might not know exactly what it is and what you can use it for. So, what’s branded content? It’s an important type of content without the traditional advertising aspect that has been mainly created by a brand that wants to increase its audience and connect with it.

In this type of technique, the brand takes a secondary place while the values associated with it are highlighted. What does this mean? It means that the content is created for a page or business but the brand doesn’t want to be the center of attention.

You might understand it better this way: Following the example of selling chocolates, a perfect prototype of branded content would be:

Creating a new webpage or website where they talk about health habits or how to combine chocolate with your diet, etc.

As you can see, the brand remains in the background for this type of content. If you want to get more information about it, I recommend you to read this post that talks about branded content more thoroughly. Branded Content or How to Highlight a Brand in the Background

Storytelling

When users reach your webpage, they first try to find answers to their queries or solve a problem. They don’t want to be openly sold a product or service. So, what can you do to attract your potential customers without them noticing that you are trying to sell them a product? Connect with them through stories, that is, through storytelling.

This writing technique is defined as the art of telling a story to connect with your target audience. That makes it one of the most powerful techniques in existence today. But, why? The persuasive power of stories is very strong.

So then, what do you have to do to create a story that capture the attention of your readers? It might seem an easy task on the surface but it actually requires time. This is why, it is important that you take the time you need to create a story with a clear beginning, middle and end that gets users hooked from the onset.

Next, you can see an example where two techniques in persuasive writing are combined: storytelling and branded content. Hopefully, it will help you to know better how to apply these techniques to your content.

Now that you have learned the different types of persuasive writing, it’s important that you start combining them in your day to day. What persuasive technique do you use for your content? I’ll be happy to read your comments.

Isabel Romero , 29 September 2020