In order to achieve the final objective of all promotional writing, which is to make people take action, you need to make them feel upbeat about the prospect of doing or having something. If you are going to spark that feeling in them, that feeling must be in you, or at least in what you write. You must look at whatever it is that you are trying to "sell" and seize on its most attractive aspects, then find appropriate language in which to describe them.If you are trying to promote a product that is a good-looking or beneficial product or one that performs its function well, the task should be fairly easy. If you are trying to promote something that is not obviously attractive, such as a cleanup at the clubhouse, more careful thought may be required.Experts, such as Suzanne D. Sparks, author of The Manager's Guide to Business Writing, who write about the best ways to use language for purposes of persuasion generally suggest three important steps toward winning people over:- Establish common ground
- Identify a problem and present a solution
- Stress rewards
Although you may not wish or need to use these three actions as steps in a process, they provide useful hints as to methods of showing things in a positive light. People need to feel that they are directly involved, that they are not being drawn into something that has nothing to do with them. People like tackling problems as long as they feel that the problems are soluble. They particularly like the feeling that they have solved a problem themselves. And, of course, everyone likes a reward. But none of these means will be fully effective unless you can present it in positive language.Here is an example of an attempt to present something in positive terms from a few chapters back:An essay is, or ought to be, more than a test. It is an opportunity and a vehicle for you, your talents, and your ideas. An essay is a means of self-expression. It uses the words opportunity, talents, ideas, and self-expression to try to press happy buttons in you, the reader, and stress the rewarding aspects of the task.In the context of the club cleanup example, it might be accurate to say,If we don't do something about the clubhouse soon, it will become totally unusable. but it would probably produce a better response to ask,Wouldn't you like to see the clubhouse restored to its former glory? There is a problem, and you could make it seem like a real problem:Nobody ever steps forward in this club when there is any real work to be done. That tactic, however, is unlikely to produce any volunteers, whereas the following just possibly might:The members of this club are capable of fantastic efforts. All they need to do is to get over their shyness and volunteer. You could attempt to press people's guilt buttons:Are you really going to stand by and let the clubhouse go to rack and ruin? But you might be better advised to take the persuaders' advice and stress the rewards:Two weeks from now we shall be sitting in a sparkling clubhouse congratulating ourselves on what a good job we did. It is not difficult to distinguish upbeat, encouraging words, from downbeat, discouraging ones. The former are the words you want. Find them and use them.
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