The Power Of Argument Structures In Copywriting

[Raydal]

As a University freshman, one of the general courses I had to
take involved learning the ‘fallacies of argument’ and the
textbook was the well-known Straight and Crooked Thinking by
Robert H. Thouless.

Debunking arguments was the most exciting part of this course for
me as I uncovered the ‘tricks’ politicians and marketers use to
‘fool’ people into agreeing with them. The only other book, in my
estimation, that came close to Thouless’ was Influence: The
Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini.

Then, I was mainly playing on the defensive as the consumer. Now
I find myself on the offensive as a copywriter trying to persuade
people to take action. This doesn’t mean that I’m trying to dupe
people by using fallacious arguments, but I still must be aware
of these strategies.

One of the most effective ways to start a sales letter, and which
I often employ, is by using an “If / then” statement, such as:

“If you are thinking about hiring a copywriter (protasis), then
this may be the most important message you ever read (apodosis).”

The “If” is followed by a condition and the “then” is followed by
a benefit.

Another example of this type of statement as used in a headline
is:

“If you give me 5 minutes I’ll show you the most powerful way to
get free traffic to your website.”

This statement is very powerful because it bypasses the reader’s
critical filter. (And I just used the same technique in this last
sentence.)

And here’s why: The statement is structured in a logical way and
therefore the reader accepts it without much probing or doubt. In
other words, if the statement looks logical then it must be. And
this of course is a fallacy.

So an inferential statement that is STRUCTURED logically can
easily sneak under the reader’s radar as being truth.

It’s similar to, “We both know that …” “therefore”, “implies
that”, “obviously” and “because”. You state the data as though it
is a well-known fact and the person accepts it without question.

Now, by definition a deductive argument is made up of three
important parts:

1. premises
2. inference
3. conclusion

A proposition is a simple statement of ‘fact’ which could be true
or false. For example, “Texas is the largest state in America.”
(A false proposition.) The building block of any argument is its
propositions.

Now the premises are the assumptions on which the argument is
built or the reason for accepting the argument. A conclusion in
one argument can turn up as a premise for another argument.

Needless to say, in any argument you must always state your
premises. Read through any written argument and you’ll see these
statement introduced by words such as “obviously”, “since”,
“because” and “assume”.

Now that we have the premises in place then we can move on to our
step-by-step process called inferences. Once one proposition is
accepted, then you can follow to show how it leads logically to the
acceptance of the other. Some of the inferences will be valid and
some invalid.

The final proposition will be the conclusion of the argument,
which you are trying to prove in the first place.

Now the danger here is that you can construct a valid argument
from false premises and reach a true conclusion! (You may need to
read that again.)

For example:

* Premise: All the best copywriters live in Florida

* Premise: Ray Edwards is a copywriter who lives in Florida

* Conclusion: Ray Edwards is one of the best copywriters.

But on the other hand, you cannot start with true premises and
use valid deductive inferences to reach a false conclusion. In
other words, a valid argument doesn’t make a valid conclusion
because the initial premises could be false.

If this all sound confusing to you it’s only because of the
language we are using but this method is the basis of all
mathematical arguments. So you are accustomed to reasoning this
way while doing Math but just using different symbols.

Since we are so accustomed to this structured logic in arguments
we become less critical when we read statements with this
familiar STRUCTURE. It’s the brain’s way of saving energy. Rather
than going through the tedious task of analyzing these statements
we simply accept them.

Just think about it: You don’t question whether a stop sign is a
stop sign while driving. You automatically stop without
consciously processing the meaning of the sign.

And that’s the real power of “If … then” statements and
headlines. People read them and accept them because the brain is
too lazy to do otherwise.

I mean who wants to go through each proposition, premise, and
inference and then evaluate the validity of the argument? Don’t
underestimate the power of laziness to persuade the mind.

So be sure to use the “If/then” formula and may all your
conclusions be as valid as your arguments.

-Ray Edwards

[Aster Brittan]

Interesting post Raydal, words are indeed powerful. I heard of a study at Yale where in the top 10 most powerful words used in advertising. "you" and "your" were at #1,#2. Because your listener is only interested in "whats in it for me" . Using "you" is talking direct to the potential customer. I have never taken a debate class. I can see where learning how to convince someone to agree with you can be benefical. As long as you stay true to yourself.

[Raydal]

Originally Posted by Aster Brittan

Interesting post Raydal, words are indeed powerful. I heard of a study at Yale where in the top 10 most powerful words used in advertising. "you" and "your" were at #1,#2. Because your listener is only interested in "whats in it for me" . Using "you" is talking direct to the potential customer. I have never taken a debate class. I can see where learning how to convince someone to agree with you can be benefical. As long as you stay true to yourself.

Yes, for sure there are many other disciplines from which you can
learn copywriting principles. Speech writing is another. The way
you structure your speech meant to convince your audience of
a certain point of view is basically the same way that you structure
a sales letter.

-Ray Edwards

[Aira Bongco]

Nice copywriting tips there Raydal. I have always believed that sales copies should reflect the needs of the buyers but you have laid out the steps in here nicely. I have always used "if" and "imagine" to address those. I like how you explained it. This only shows that I still have a lot to learn.

[Mark McClure]

You can see Ray's an excellent copywriter, can you not?

;-)

Great post, Ray - and thx for the book ref.

[MrCopy]

Great post,

If your into NLP or Eriksonian stuff, you'll recognize the If / then language as one of his patterns as well.

Speaking of Speech writing, I noticed that Obama uses the phrase "I stand here before you" a lot in his speeches. Let me ask you this, in a carefully planned political speech where every word has an intended effect why say something like, "I stand here before you."

It's verbal pacing. He is giving you an obviously true statement in order for you to begin agreeing with him. The next stage is to say "and..." and then fill in with a statement that he wants you to agree with.

His speech writers are really good, they use repetition, pacing, and a whole host of other very powerful persuasive techniques.

[miyachi1]

Originally Posted by ncub8

Great post,

If your into NLP or Eriksonian stuff, you'll recognize the If / then language as one of his patterns as well.

Speaking of Speech writing, I noticed that Obama uses the phrase "I stand here before you" a lot in his speeches. Let me ask you this, in a carefully planned political speech where every word has an intended effect why say something like, "I stand here before you."

It's verbal pacing. He is giving you an obviously true statement in order for you to begin agreeing with him. The next stage is to say "and..." and then fill in with a statement that he wants you to agree with.

His speech writers are really good, they use repetition, pacing, and a whole host of other very powerful persuasive techniques.

The other day I came across a 60+ page report on how Obama's speeches use hypnosis techniques, much of the pacing and argument structure talked about here.

The question I have is...how do you draw the line between writing good copy and misleading people?

It's true that having a grasp of argument structure will help, but I think ethics should always remain.

[Raydal]

Originally Posted by miyachi1

The other day I came across a 60+ page report on how Obama's speeches use hypnosis techniques, much of the pacing and argument structure talked about here.

The question I have is...how do you draw the line between writing good copy and misleading people?

It's true that having a grasp of argument structure will help, but I think ethics should always remain.

I don't know about "hypnotic" because I don't believe anyone should
be manipulated or tricked into doing what they wouldn't do if they
knew what you were doing.

BUT at the same time you can't write persuasive copy if you don't
understand how people think and what makes people act. You have
to study human mind, emotions, responses ... basically what makes
us tick.

For example consider these four motivators (products)

1 - Products that alleviate the prospect's pain.

2 - Products that solve a problem.

3 - Products that give or enable pleasure.

4 - Products that prevent a problem or condition.

Their appeal could be ranked (highest first) 1,2,3,4.

If you are selling products that alleviate pain, you're more likely
to make the sale than a product that prevents pain. And that's
why PREVENTION products are very difficult to sell.

In fact, if you are selling a prevention product you must position it
as a pain relief product.

Is this "hypnotic" or understanding human nature.

By the way this ranking agrees with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Again I don't believe in manipulating people in any way but in order
to persuade I must understand how people think and adopt my
message accordingly.

-Ray Edwards

[giwu]

Yes Raydal, you got it right. Actually, people would rather satisfy their most present need than their wants. Like in your example, if you're in pain, you urgently look for something that can stop it. After the pain is gone, only then you'll look for something that will prevent it from coming back. Thanks a lot.