First, arouse an emotion - anger, fear, resentment, envy, greed, sympathy.

Second, give a reason for emotion - "your children are precious to you, don't risk their future by ..."

Third, give your audience an appropriate course of action to follow - "Call now to ensure your place in this new ..."

When appealing to emotions, your most powerful tools are words - learn to use them to create desired effect on your readers.

Words can have literal meanings (denotation) and emotional meanings (connotation) e.g. a 'house' is a building where people live, but a 'home' is much more Some words have strong emotive appeals 'built-in' e.g. 'chaos' implies something much stronger than 'disruption' Select your facts carefully - choose those that support your point of view

3. Rationalise

This is giving people good reasons to believe what you're telling them. We all do this to ourselves everyday. How many times have you said something like this to yourself, "My old car is going to start costing me money soon; I'd be better off buying a new one now"?

Tell your would-be customers that they'll save money in long run by spending it now and you've given them a reason to act immediately.

Summary

Emphasise and repeat your key points Be convincing in your presentation Use plenty of emotional words and focus on audience

Consider how you can use these persuasive techniques to sell your products or services.

N.B. If spelling of words like "utilise" in this article worried you, please read this: http://www.write101.com/aus.htm

When reading a piece of correspondence from someone you have not met face-to-face, though, none of these factors are present. You have only one thing with which to form an impression of them -- their WRITING.

So, in this twenty-first century world of increasingly faceless communication, your writing is more important than ever. I say again: you are judged by way you write, so write well.

End of rant.