Rhetoric, the art of persuasion, provides a comprehensive framework for moving your audience to change their mood, change their mind, and change their willingness to act. I’m writing a series of articles on the use of rhetoric in business-to-business Marketing. But sometimes with rhetoric it’s easy to focus on the trees and lose the forest.

This page will give you a view of the forest. It contains an outline of rhetoric based on the appendix in Jay Heinrich’s excellent book “Thank You for Arguing.”

Goals

• PERSONAL GOAL- What is your goal in making your argument? What are you hoping to accomplish by winning the audience over? In business-to-business marketing, the goal is usually to get the buyer to move to the next stage in the buying process; to get the buyer to accept your choice or do what you want the buyer to do.
• AUDIENCE GOALS – Ask your buyers to change their mood, change their mind, or change their willingness to act.
• Mood – The easiest goal to achieve with your audience. Make your buyers receptive to what you have to say by stimulating their emotions.
• Mind – This goal is harder. Ask your audience to make the decision that you want them to make.
• Willingness to act – The hardest goal of all. Engage the audience emotionally at a deeper level and show them that taking action is easy to do.
• ISSUE CONTROL – Argument can take place in the past tense, the present, or the future. Control the tense and you are more likely to control the argument.
• Blame – past tense, the argument of the courts, guilt or innocence.
• Values – present tense, demonstrative or tribal rhetoric, main topics are praise and blame.
• Choice – future tense, what we will do, the rhetoric of business, focus is on what is advantageous for the audience.

Ethos: Argument by appealing to character

The basis for this argument is the strength of your reputation. Main aspects are your virtue, your practical wisdom, and your disinterest.

• DECORUM – fitting in with your audience’s expectations about how to behave – the language you use and how you present yourself.
• VIRTUE – demonstrating that you share the values of your buyers.
• PRACTICAL WISDOM – showing the buyer that you’ve done it before and know how to do it again.
• DISINTEREST – conveying the impression that you are putting the interests of the buyer ahead of your own

Logos: Argument by logic

Some think that argument should be nothing but logic, but experience shows that argument also needs emotion and character to be persuasive. Logos doesn’t just follow the rules of logic, it builds on what the audience is already thinking.

• THE ADVANTAGEOUS – base your argument on what is good for the audience. Offer them a choice that is advantageous to them.
• THE COMMONPLACE – a belief, value, or opinion that is commonly held by your audience. The commonplace is the starting point of your logic. Persuade your audience by starting with something they already believe.
• DEDUCTION – argument by applying a general principle to a specific situation. Your premise (a fact or commonplace) is the proof of your argument. The choice you want them to make is the conclusion.
• INDUCTION – moving in the opposite direction, using an example to make a general point. Use examples (fact, comparison, and story) as your proof. The evidence can lead to a premise or a conclusion.
• CONCESSION – rhetorical jujitsu, conceding a point and using your opponent’s argument to your advantage.
• FRAMING – define the issue in a way that favors your argument. Control the boundaries or the language used in an argument.
• LOGICAL FALLACIES – learn how to detect them so others can’t use them against you (and so that you can use them yourself if the need arises).
• RHETORICAL FOULS – intentional offenses that prevent an argument from reaching consensus or conclusion – examples include switching tenses, humiliation, innuendo, and inflexible adherence to the rules.

Pathos: Argument by appealing to emotion

Appealing to emotion can cause a change in mood, make the buyer more receptive to your logic, and persuade buyers to feel an emotional commitment to the choice or decision you’d like them to make.

• SYMPATHY – showing your audience you understand how they are feeling
• BELIEF – invoke the past experience of your audience (e.g. through telling a story) or create an expectation; your descriptions will invoke the emotions you want your audience to feel.
• VOLUME CONTROL – toning down or ramping up an emotion to bring the audience along with you.
• UNANNOUNCED EMOTION – don’t reveal in advance the emotion you want them to feel; your audience will simply resist.
• PASSIVE VOICE – use the passive voice when you want to direct the anger of the audience away from you.
• BACKFIRE – overplay your hand to calm your audience when they might be angry.
• PERSUASIVE EMOTIONS – anger is persuasive, but short-lived; humor has a calming influence; appealing to the group’s identity is both persuasive and long-lived.
• FIGURES OF SPEECH – many figures have been invented that use language to influence emotion – e.g. by twisting cliche’s, swapping words, inventing words, and editing out loud.

Circumstance and context

The Greeks called this Kairos, choosing the supreme moment. It depends on timing and medium.

• PERSUADABLE MOMENT – waiting for the moment when the audience is most receptive to your argument.
• SENSES – using the right medium for the right sense:
  • Sight for character and emotion
  • Sound for logic
  • Smell, taste, and touch for emotion