27 Powers of Persuasion by Chris St. Hilaire

Author:Chris St. Hilaire
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

POWER #13

Use Emotional Language

You don’t sell newspapers by writing about an accident. You sell newspapers by writing about a tragic accident. That’s the power of emotional language. Emotional language creates a picture in people’s minds, and that helps them connect with your idea on a deeper level than if they just agree with the facts. Politicians and marketers are old hands at using vivid language to tell their story, and journalists do it even when they’re supposedly presenting an objective report. If a journalist wants to jolt the public into caring about a case of misdiagnosis, he or she will write something like, “A fist-size blood clot was developing.” That factual yet gruesome description will grab readers’ attention much more than “a five-inch blood clot.” Good trial lawyers are skilled practitioners of emotional language too—ironic, since lawyers are also the folks who brought you legalese.

Using emotional language is a way to get your audience not only to understand your argument but also to feel it. A few years ago I was involved in a campaign for a bill to fund an extra lane for a local freeway, and the county wanted to run promotional ads for the bill promising to “improve our roads” and “reduce commute time.” Folks might like the idea of that, but they won’t necessarily bother to leave the house to go vote for it. People don’t care about traffic unless they are stuck in it and missing their children’s soccer practice. A better approach was to run ads asking, “Wouldn’t it be nice to get to your child’s practice on time for once?” or, “Wouldn’t you like to get home early enough to have dinner with your family every night?” That helped voters picture exactly how the expanded freeway would improve their lives.

Emotional language is specific. If I told you, “Cloverdale Enterprises gave $10,000 to the community,” you’d probably think, “That’s nice,” and if you pictured anything it would be $10,000 disappearing into the black hole of city government. But if I said, “Cloverdale Enterprises handed out bottled water at the city’s 10K, repaved the high school’s tennis courts, and sponsored a holiday food drive at the elementary school,” you’d instantly visualize the Cloverdale folks handing water bottles to thirsty runners, followed by images of tennis-playing high schoolers and cute third graders loading up food boxes. Those things together may not cost $10,000, but they paint a picture. It’s personal, it’s specific, and it’s meaningful. Whenever you want to use emotional language, you need to ask yourself, “What is the most basic and specific way this issue can affect the average person’s everyday life?”

Using emotional language sometimes sparks the accusation that facts are being “spun.” But in every situation, each side has its version of the truth. Attorneys have an obligation to talk about the truth in a way that benefits their client. Likewise, anyone who hopes to persuade an audience has an obligation to explain his or her version of the situation in language the audience will understand, remember, and care about.

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