Write a paper on the Persuasive business communication is the foundation of any successful organization, regardless of size, industry or location. You will try to persuade people throughout your career. To do so effectively, you must ask your readers to recognize the benefits of your ideas and act on your requests, even when they initially resist your direct or indirect “ask.”
For this assignment, you will write one of two types of persuasive messages, a persuasive request, or a sales message. You may choose one of the following four prompts, or develop one of your own (which must be approved by me):
Persuasive Request for GrowHealth (Prompt #1)
Sales Message for the SDCCU Aztec Proud VISA® Card (Prompt #2)
Persuasive Request for Dress for Success (Prompt #3)
Sales Message for Momentum Investments Retirement Plans (Prompt #4)
You will find descriptions and specific instructions in the Persuasive Messages Prompts handout in the Persuasive Message Module on Canvas. We will go over each prompt in class.
Audience
Your awareness of the message’s audience is key to this assignment, since your goal is to persuade someone to act using tools (strategies) in order to make the appeal that you think will motivate them. A comprehensive understanding of the target audience leads to insights into your readers’ interests, but also identifies any potential objections they might have to your message. If you don’t have specific information about your readers, take the book’s advice and rely on your own sense of “logic and imagination” (pp. 169-70).
Organization
Your strategy for organizing the persuasive message will depend on three choices: (1) the type of message you select (requests or sales messages); (2) the “central” appeal you focus on in the message (ethos, pathos, logos); and (3) the evidence you provide when you make the case. The discussion in our text, and its samples, will help you. In addition, you’ll probably organize the persuasive message using the indirect approach, so follow the general indirect organization plan we reviewed in class during our discussion of bad-news messages.
Resources
We will rely heavily on Rentz for this assignment, especially Learning Objectives 7.1 through 7.5. I strongly suggest you review the concepts there, including tangible, intangible, intrinsic and extrinsic benefits, scenario painting, the “you viewpoint,” and especially “central” rhetorical appeals.
