If you don't want to be a starving artist read this

What separates the best creators from the average ones depends on their ability to persuade their audience.

Persuasion is the reason why accounts grow from those who don’t

Persuasion is the reason why accounts make a sale from those who don’t

Persuasion is the reason why accounts have their values heard from those who don't.

To say it in less philosophical terms, persuasion is your ability to convince someone to believe in something.

Everyone you talk to is trying to convince you of something.

It’s basic human evolution.

Humans used to reproduce as a way to survive and pass their genes.

But after the threat of nature has become non-existent—now humans ‘survive’ by convincing people about their ideas and beliefs.

I like to see persuasion as creating an argument for your ideas, beliefs, and perspective and seeing the benefits of doing the things you think are valuable.

5 Pillars Of Persuasion

There is a difference between persuasion and lying.

Your goal with persuasion is to deliver more value than what we receive.

With persuasion, you are trying to spark a positive behavior change in someone—you need to understand the different levels of awareness the reader is at to help them take action on the advice you give them.

Take a look at this thread I wrote. Can you see how I implicitly formed a persuasive argument?

1) Reciprocity

People feel pressured when they see you do them a favor without asking for anything in return.

If you compliment someone, they’ll feel pressured to compliment you too.

If I give you free value, you will feel like you need to do something for me.

This is why creators always talk about lead magnets.

They are free products, but after a person goes through the lead magnet, there is a small CTA.

They’ll feel pressured and then they’ll follow through with it.

Tip:

Don’t make a big ask too early, otherwise you’ll lose them.

Why?

This leads me to my second point...

2) Commitment

People feel forced to finish something after starting it.

That’s why we keep watching a show that we know is bad, It’s because of the commitment that we made from the beginning.

As a creator, your job is to give the reader a ‘low friction commitment’.

After one commitment, they want to follow through with their commitment — leading them to make bigger and bigger commitments.

Before you know it their ‘small commitment’ has snowballed into a big snowball that cannot be stopped.

Here’s a typical commitment snowball:

→Read long-form hook

→Click “show more” to see long-form

→ Read long-form (because they already started reading it and you kept them engaged)

→ Like + Follow (based on your call to action)

→ Signup for the newsletter

→ Read your newsletter

→ Click to see product

→ Read product page

→ Buy product

That person just went from not knowing you to paying you, and it all started with a good hook (that’s why everyone talks about hooks).

3) Authority

People trust authoritative figures much faster than non-authoritative figures.

Your authority is determined by:

• Level of expertise

• Amount of social proof

• Accomplishments in an area

• Speaking with confidence and absolutes (look at Andrew Tate)

• Known labels and symbols (Olympic winner, NYT bestseller, Grammy winner)

Social proof like testimonials, case studies, results, and word-of-mouth marketing is THE MOST powerful tool of persuasion you can think of.

Humans like to feel safe and following the crowd makes them feel safe.

You can apply all of these to your content, brand, and products with a little planning and creativity.

4) Liking

You are far more likely to be convinced by someone whom you already like than someone whom you hate.

If people love your personal brand then you have a powerful brand.

You will be able to guide people’s perception of you.

This is why some creators can compete with bigger brands (in some products) with no employees and money.

If you want people to like you, be interested in them first.

5) Scarcity

Aka, FOMO.

When a stock skyrockets, people buy out of emotion.

When a stock crashes, people sell out of emotion.

Experts know that this isn’t when you are supposed to be buying or selling, but we still do it anyway.

Scarcity shows how valuable something is—supply and demand

Designer brands do this every day.

They keep limited stock of their items to drive up their prices and have people rushing to their stores begging them to take their money.

If you want to apply FOMO in your writing ask yourself these 2 simple questions:

1. How can you make someone feel to act now?

2. Can you show them how time-sensitive the problem is?

Use as many of these pillars as you can and combine them with the:

• Downsides

• Upsides

• Process

And watch how your sales, engagements, and following skyrocket.

If you want to learn a monetizable skill that will pay dividends in the future, then I suggest you pick up Write To Impact.

In the course, I’ll hold your hand and teach you exactly how you should be writing on X to become an authority figure in your niche.

I’ll also be hosting a call for the next 5 people who pick it up.

Not sure if it’s the right fit for you?

Here’s what Arnie Ho the legend had to say about it:

Thanks for reading!

Next week I’ll share with you my experience having Kieran Drew roast the thread I wrote about running.

- Hussain

In case you forgot here is the link to Write To Impact again.