Chapter 9 & 10

1. Chapter 9 & 10 Writing Negative and Persuasive Messages

2. Writing Negative Messages • When writing negative message consider the following: • Will the bad news come as a shock? • Does the audience prefer short messages? • How important is the news to the audience? • Do you need to maintain a close working relationship? • Do you need to get the audience’s attention? • What is your organization’s preferred style? • How much follow-up communication do you want?

3. Direct vs. Indirect Approach • Use the Direct Approach when: • Firmness is needed • Bad news won’t come as a shock • Situation is routine or minor • Audience prefers bad news first

4. Direct vs. Indirect Approach • Use the indirect approach when: • Audience will be displeased • Audience is emotionally involved

5. A buffer is a neutral, non controversial statement that is closely related to the point of the message. A buffer establishes common ground with your reader. A buffer validates the request. Using the Indirect Approach

6. Giving Negative Performance Reviews • When providing a negative performance review: • Confront the problem right away • Plan your message • Deliver the message in private • Focus on the Problem not the person • Ask for a commitment from the employee

7. Persuasive Messages • When writing persuasive messages, all of the following will help: • Using simple language • Supporting your message with facts • Identifying your sources • Being an expert (or finding one to support your message • Establishing common ground • Being objective • Displaying your good intentions

8. Structuring your Persuasive Messages • The AIDA model organizes your message into four phases: • Attention: your first intention is to encourage your audience to want to hear about your main idea. • Interest: explain your message to your audience, paint a more detailed picture of the problem. • Desire: help audience members embrace your idea by explaining how the change will benefit them. • Action: suggest the action you want readers to make. (ie., “please institute this program soon.”)

9. Creating Appeals • Persuasive messages rely on appeals. • An appeal can either be emotional or logical. • Emotional appeals calls on feelings, basing the argument on audience needs or sympathies. • Words like: “freedom”, “success”, “prestige” all evoke feelings.

10. Creating Appeals • Logical Appeals call on reason; you make your claim and then support your claim with evidence. • Analogy: you reason from specific evidence to specific evidence. “circling the wagons” • Induction: you work from specific evidence to a general conclusion. • Deduction: you work from generalization to a specific conclusion…. Use surveys that support your case

11. Marketing/Sales Messages • Assess Audience Needs • Analyze Your Competition – sales messages nearly always compete with their competition. • Determine Key Selling Points – features/benefits. • Anticipate Purchase Objections

12. Develop a features/benefits chart that will assist you in developing your sales brochure: Features and Benefits

13. Purchase Objections • The best way to handle purchase objections is to handle them up-front and try to address as many as you can in your message. • If price is a major selling point, give it prominence in the message. • Words such as “luxurious” or “economical” provide unmistakable cues about how your price compares to your competition.

14. Applying the AIDA model • Getting Attention: • Your product’s strongest benefit- “Carry a tune or 2,000 – (for Apple IPOD nano) • A piece of genuine news – “Take entertainment to a whole new place” – (Verizon’s V cast service) • A point of common ground – “An SUV adventurous enough to accommodate your spontaneity.” • The promise of savings – “Right now, you can get huge savings..” • A solution to the problem – “ This backpack is designed to endure all a kid’s dropping and dragging.”

15. Building Interest: Use the interest section of your message to build on the intrigue you created with your opening. Applying the AIDA model

16. Increasing Desire: to build desire continue to expand and explain what it offers. On the Ipod nano page, Apple continues with more details about the features. Applying the AIDA model

17. Applying the AIDA model • Motivating Action: make sure to ask for the sale.