“If you can think, speak, and write—you are absolutely deadly. Nothing can get in your way.” — Jordan Peterson.
When people ask me for content writing advice, nine times out of ten, it’s not their writing that needs improvement but their understanding of what constitutes “good” writing.
Like writing an academic paper, a business report, or a self-published novel — “good” could mean something entirely different depending on the context of what you’re trying to achieve.
In our case, the primary objective when it comes to creating content, is to convince people to adopt a particular belief or take a specific action.
In other words: persuasion.
Persuasion, in a nutshell, is how you change someone’s behaviour.
I like to think of it as breaking down preconceived beliefs and replacing them with something better.
You can see how dangerous this is right?
Anything and everything you learn that will contribute to your success in not only business but life in general is enhanced by your ability to persuade.
So how do we do it?
The 6 Principles of Persuasion
Before we learn how to write persuasively, we must learn how to think persuasively.
Writing IS an extension of thinking, after all.
To think persuasively, we need to throw out everything we learned in English class and replace it with a fundamental understanding of human nature.
Let’s start by breaking down the most common misconceptions.
People often think that:
- Facts alone persuade: Humans are emotional, not logical (this is worth writing down and underlining). While facts are important, people are more influenced by how they feel and will use statistics to justify their biases.
- Persuasion is a one-time event: Many see it as the final stages of solicitation (a direct ask). In reality, the process begins long before people even begin to consider a financial decision.
- Persuasion is always conscious: 95% of our cognitive activities are managed by the subconscious mind. Most of what influences us are the subtle, unconscious forces that shape our perception.
No one person can assess every single situation on its own merit: the flood of information would drive us insane.
Instead, we make assumptions so that we can fill in the blanks of our day-to-day.
A kind of mental shortcut.
Like seeing a long line of people and assuming there must be something valuable at the end.
These ‘mental shortcuts’ are what we call fixed-action patterns, and it’s these patterns that are most receptive to persuasion (either for good or for evil).
There are six principles of persuasion:
- Reciprocity
- Commitment / Consistency
- Social proof
- Likeability
- Authority
- Scarcity
Getting a grasp on these first gives us a foundation to work with when we start learning how to write persuasive content (next weeks topic).
Before we get into it:
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1. Reciprocity
There’s a reason we say “thank you” after receiving a favour.
The reciprocity principle tells us to repay others when they do something for us.
By giving value without expectation, people feel compelled to repay the ‘debt’ by returning the favour.
This can be something like sending a compliment, liking, or engaging with someone’s post.
Or it can come in the form of free giveaways, adding bonuses to your offer, or sending someone resources that helped you in the past.
The key here is being authentic about it.
People can and will smell out hidden motivations.
If they can sense that your act of kindness is actually a ploy for exploitation, they’ll put you in the “salesmen” category and avoid you like the plague.
In short, give and you shall receive.
2. Commitment / Consistency
People are stubborn creatures.
Once we’ve committed to something, we pressure and even justify to ourselves why we should continue doing what we already started.
I love a good bet.
I always find myself justifying why my wager should win even if I was 50/50 to begin with.
Our innate desire to stick to our guns is how we can entice people to make progressively larger commitments.
In the social media game, an entry-level commitment can be as simple as liking a post.
It’s super low friction and eases people up the commitment ladder.
Here’s a quick example of the commitment principle at play from low to high friction:
- Scrolling through the timeline on X
- Click the hook to read the entire thread
- Read to the end because they’ve already committed
- Click the link to download the lead magnet you plugged
- Enter their email address to receive the lead magnet
- Read/watch through the lead magnet
- Click the call to action to buy your service
- Fill out a questionnaire to qualify them for your service
- Get on a free call to learn more and ask questions
- Pay the invoice and become a client
Of course, a lot of this depends on how well you’ve positioned each rung on the ladder, as well as how persuasive you are at each touchpoint, but you get the idea.
One of the biggest turn-offs is when the gap between commitments is too large.
Like being proposed to on the 2nd date.
The trick is to let people make their own decisions by easing them into bite-sized commitments until they’re ready for the main course.
3. Social Proof
As individualistic as we are, humans are herd-like.
If everyone is doing or thinking in a certain way, then we assume it must be correct and worthy of imitation.
Modelling our behaviour on social proof is often valuable.
If the masses have come to a consensus then there must be some merit to it, and in most cases, it usually is the right thing to do.
But as with all fixed-action patterns, it can be manipulated, which is why things like mass propaganda can be so effective.
In the context of online business, social proof can be things like:
The metrics on a post
Likes, comments, shares, impressions, etc. When more people are engaging with a post, more will come. People flock to where the noise is and feel compelled to participate in some way.
It’s why you’re more likely to skip a reel that has 3 likes and 0 comments over a reel that has 31,254 likes and 5,033 comments — even if they’re the same video.
The number of followers
Earlier I made the example of a long queue. The number of followers works the same way. People automatically assume you have something valuable to offer since you’ve already been validated by x amount of people.
This is why growth at the beginning is the hardest, and gradually picks up as you build an audience.
The amount of testimonials
Same logic as above but with the proof of your competence, authority, and utility. You can write a 10,000-word sales page but it will almost always be outperformed by the one with fewer words but tons of social proof.
There are many forms of social proof outside of these three.
Pay attention and look out for when other people flex their credentials. Keep tabs on whether it feels genuine and authentic, or when it feels fake and superficial.
4. Likeability
You are more likely to comply and be persuaded by someone you like, know, and trust.
Familiarity breeds compliance.
Meaning that if people can relate to you they instinctively adopt you within a “tribe of familiarity.”
I rarely care about celebrities and their personal lives, but when I stumbled on a video of Henry Cavill (actor of Superman) building a PC—and as somewhat of a nerd myself—I instantly liked him.
Now whenever I see him in a trailer I’m much more open to giving it a watch (equivalent to buying his product).
This demonstrates the power of showing your genuine interests.
Something a lot of brands are scared to do because they think they have to promote their products 24/7.
A few more points on likeability:
- The cost of saying “no”: the social costs of saying “no” to an acquaintance are much higher than they are for a complete stranger. This is why we’re on our best behaviour at work because we see the same people every day.
- Liking (or hating) by association: you are much more likely to follow someone when they share “mutual followers.” It’s why you don’t do background checks on the +1 your friend brought to the party. The same logic applies to mutual enemies. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” as the saying goes.
- “You like me, I like you”: this one is particularly powerful. Simply by liking and showing interest in another person, they’ll return the favour (principle of reciprocity at play). You see these in social and even romantic relationships all the time.
In short: If you like the seller, you’ll like what they’re selling.
5. Authority
We are hard-wired to comply with accepted and acknowledged sources of authority.
In fact, the hard wiring is so strong, we even respond to the symbols alone (e.g. titles, uniforms, badges, etc.)
Think of teachers, doctors, police officers, CEOs, judges, and scientists, to name a few.
We naturally defer to these authorities because we assume they possess qualities worth following:
- Depth of expertise
- Width of social proof
- Achievements, accomplishments, and accolades
- Celebrity status
- Confidence and conviction
- Respect amongst a group
All of these can be displayed throughout our brand, content, and the products we put out.
Of course, as with all of the principles mentioned, authority can be abused.
There is a fine line between flexing your authority and in-your-face arrogance.
6. Scarcity
People are more afraid of losing something than they are enticed by the potential to gain something of equal value.
When something is scarce, we feel compelled to act out of fear of missing out (FOMO).
- Think of the toilet paper craze during the pandemic.
- Think of the panic buyers during Bitcoin’s rapid rise.
- Think of the frenzy during the Gold Rush of the 1800s.
Scarcity tells us that something is valuable — supply vs demand.
With the right strategy, scarcity can be baked into your content, marketing, and promotions—without going full salsey.
If you want to learn more about these principles, I highly recommend you check out Robert Cialdini’s book: Influence.
All of this may overwhelm you at first.
This is completely normal.
It takes time and patience to re-wire the way you think.
My advice is to use these principles as a lens to study, observe, and analyze how others try to persuade you in your day-to-day—both in the offline and online world.
Here’s a one-sentence summary of each principle for your brain to chew on:
- Reciprocity → I should repay the favour.
- Commitment → I should finish what I started.
- Social proof → It must be good if they think it’s good.
- Likeability → I like him so I’ll probably like what he’s selling.
- Authority → I probably should listen to the expert.
- Scarcity → It must be valuable if it’s rare.
Now that we’ve established a foundation, writing content becomes so much simpler. I’ll be diving into persuasive writing frameworks next week so look forward to that 😊
P.S If you’re a writer, creator, freelancer, or just someone who’s always wanted to build their own thing but don’t know where to start—I’ll be teaching all the fundamentals in a close-knit practical environment. Check out Project X to see if this is a good fit for you (currently 50% off)
As always thank you for reading and hope you have a fantastic weekend.
Mat.
