“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.”

– George Orwell

Today I wanted to spend a second talking about what I call ”The 3 C’s” of persuasive communication

1) Clarity – How easy you make your writing to read

2) Character – The “avatar” or voice of your writing

3) Conviction – How strongly present your case

Let’s start with #1 – CLARITY

You have no higher aim than that of clarity in your writing and your overall sales message. It’s YOUR job as the writer to put in the hard yards and do the heavy lifting. You have to make it ridiculously easy for your reader to both consume and understand what you’re trying to say.

• Who are you?
• Why should I care?
• What are you selling?
• What will it do for me?
• What will my life look like after I do what you
• want me to do?
• What specifically do you want me to do now?
• How do I do what you want me to do?
• What will happen after I do it?
• What happens when I chicken out and wait?

Tips:

1) Economize on words. Strip away words wherever possible — rarely does it HARM the message, and often it makes it much stronger.

2) Don’t make assumptions about what the reader knows or doesn’t know — reinforcing what someone already knows or believes to be true cannot hurt you, but not establishing a baseline of understanding absolutely CAN hurt you. Big time.

3) Read your writing out loud. Pay attention to your cadence and your rhythm — the best writing usually ”reads like jazz”.

Now, let’s move to #2 – CHARACTER

John Carlton calls it your “avatar”, others call it your “voice” in the writing.

Let’s use a popular example of character driven sales copy — The Rich Jerk.

Does anyone doubt that ALL of the success of this product and promotion came directly as a result of the complete immersion into the character of “RJ”, The Rich Jerk?

Obviously KF/RJ was WAY over the top. That’s not easy to do well. The point is that the overall character of your message should be consistent and well voiced.

You do that by COMMITTING to it.

Don’t be wishy-washy about it. GO FOR IT. It’s what makes it work!

Lastly, let’s look at #3 – CONVICTION

Selling from a position of POWER comes down to how much you believe in what you’re saying.

Persuasive writing does not “sell from its heels” or pussyfoot around. It grabs readers by the throat and DARES them not to agree… It forces a position.

You’ve got to find the angle in your product or service that makes YOU excited and transfer that enthusiasm into your reader emotionally.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to appeal to everyone — polarity SELLS. So what if what you say might piss somebody off? If you aren’t stirring up SOME kind of emotion in your reader your writing lacks conviction!

Go out there and sell the damn thing, whatever it is…

I’d love to hear your thoughts about the 3 C’s. Just leave a comment below.