Persuasive Communication: The Power Of Intention

Among the different types of communication that exist, persuasive communication has been loaded in recent times with a certain negative connotation. It is associated with manipulation of opinions, ideas and people.

It is true that it can be used that way, but we cannot ignore the importance that good persuasive communication skills can also support good initiatives and combat bad ideas or purposes. It is a type of communication that is trained in large organizations and a highly valued skill in high executive positions and in politics.

We live in the era of communication and, although we have not stopped to reflect on it, we are all communicators. Social media has provided us with a setting where we communicate daily with other people, from other cultures, with many different types of ideas and opinions.

In many of the cases in which we influence others we have no intention of doing so. Or that’s what we tell ourselves. But somehow everyone gives their opinion or point of view on something at any time of the day and everyone would want their opinion to be taken into account and accepted or discarded with reasons, at the very least.

What is persuasive communication?

Let’s look at two definitions of persuasive communication below:

• “Persuasive communication is the intentional use of communication to deliver an important message with the purpose of penetrating the audience. “

• “Persuasive communication is the intentional use of communication to manipulate the masses. “

Is it the same message? Is it the same intention? The message can be positive or negative, the intention can be good or bad. But for persuasive communication, a communicator, a message, a receiver and a channel are required. Let’s see how these four elements work:

• The communicator : there is a general tendency to accept or reject a message based on who communicates it, rather than based on the content of the message. Among the variables that are most successful in persuading is the credibility of the communicator and, oddly enough, their appearance.
• The message : it is easier to persuade other people when the message is novel, contains few arguments and is loaded with emotions (positive or negative) such as hope or fear. The message can be presented bilaterally, so that the message presents the pros and cons of the idea or opinion. They are more persuasive to audiences with more information and education. They can also be presented unilaterally or biased; when the message presents only the position of the intention of the message. These types of messages have more influence on people with less information.

• Receiver or audience:  the variables that most influence are intelligence and self-esteem. They are the two factors that make the difference between accepting a message or rejecting it. The higher the intelligence and self-esteem, the higher the level of analysis before accepting the arguments of others. Something curious is that the highest degree of persuasion does not have an immediate effect, but after several weeks. This is known in psychology as the sleeper effect .
• The channel : simple messages are more likely to convince if they are presented through audiovisual media. More complex messages convince better through print media.

Convince or manipulate?

We often confuse the meaning of these two terms. In reality, persuasive communication is all intention-oriented communication. That intention is often nothing more than the desire for other people to support our ideas and opinions. And in many cases they are good ideas. Ideas that can contribute a lot to the well-being of others, helping to improve our social or professional environment.

Not all people want to manipulate others for their own benefit. Everyone continually uses persuasive communication without knowing it. But this type of communication requires certain techniques that can be trained. The most important ones are:

• The logic. Many people defend their ideas or opinions based solely on emotions. Opinions based on emotions can defend the strangest things as true. But the lack of logic convinces little. Emotion is necessary, but combined with logic.
• Education, good education. People who try to impose their ideas based on insults and disrespect do not convince anyone. This is experienced daily on social networks. Presenting opinions with respect towards others is much more convincing.
• The sense of humor. This should not be lacking, especially to be able to refute the contrary arguments. It is convenient to train irony, not sarcasm.

Persuasive communication is an art

In reality, and based on the above, it can be said that persuasive communication is an art. Like all art it can be trained. At least it doesn’t hurt to have some control over it and make good use of this much-needed skill. Without persuasive communication there is no leadership, no important projects could succeed, and ideas that do harm could not be stopped.