Nicole Bianchi

Writing, Copywriting, & Marketing Strategies

How to Use the Four Modes of Persuasion to Make Your Writing Irresistible

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How to Use the Four Modes of Persuasion to Make Your Writing Irresistible

This is the view from my new writing desk in my new home in Raleigh, North Carolina.

My family and I are loving Raleigh. The house we’re renting is surrounded by woods that are so beautiful and peaceful. I’m torn over whether to go out exploring or stay here in my new writing space typing away.

After several weeks of not having a permanent address, I’m happy to finally have a place to call home. And to once again have a desk to write at!

As I wrote in my last post, I had to get rid of many belongings and pieces of furniture during my move from New York. My desk was one of the things that I ended up giving away, and I never could have imagined how difficult it would be to replace it.

If you’ve ever hunted for furniture before, you know that there are hundreds of decisions to make.

What’s your budget? How big of a desk can fit in your space? What type of a desk? A traditional design of solid wood or a contemporary design of metal and glass? One with a computer drawer? Or maybe you’d like to try a standing desk?

I visited several furniture stores but didn’t see anything that I liked. So my hunt for a desk ended up involving many hours of searching online. I read countless product descriptions, which are really advertisements in disguise. Each one tried to convince me that this was the perfect desk for me.

Of course, my eyes started to glaze over as I read so many product descriptions, but some stood out from all of the others. Those were the ones that had my cursor hovering over the “add to cart” button.

What made those descriptions different from all of the rest?

In a nutshell, they expertly employed four powerful rhetorical strategies known as the modes of persuasion.

These four persuasive techniques are essential for making any argument compelling.

You can use them in a blog post, in a speech, in an essay, or even on your website’s homepage – anytime you’re trying to persuade your reader to take action, form a new opinion, or take a big step that will change their life.

Read on to discover the four modes of persuasion and how you can use them to make your writing more effective. [Read more…]

I’m Moving! (Here’s What It’s Teaching Me About Writing)

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Photo by Congerdesign

These past few months I haven’t had a chance to write on the blog because I’ve been preparing for a big adventure. I’m moving to North Carolina!

It still feels strange to write that though the moving date is now days away. I’ve lived in New York my whole life so it hasn’t quite sunk in yet that I’ll soon be calling another state home.

But I’m excited for what the future holds, and I can’t wait to get past the craziness of moving.

This move so far has felt like a crash-course in becoming a minimalist. My parents are selling their house and moving to North Carolina too, and we simply can’t take everything with us.

So we’ve had garage sales, given away or donated furniture and books, and thrown out everything else that won’t fit in the moving truck. [Read more…]

A GDPR Compliance Checklist For Your Email Marketing

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A Super Simple GDPR Compliance Checklist For Your Email Marketing

Want to connect with other writers? Make sure to get your invitation to my private writing community on Facebook!

Over the past several weeks, the blogosphere has been buzzing with talk of a new EU privacy law called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will go into effect on May 25.

When I first heard about the law, I thought, “Well, I’m not in the EU so I guess this doesn’t apply to me.”

Wrong. I soon found out that if I had any email subscribers who were EU citizens, the law applied to me as well. That means it probably applies to you too if you have EU subscribers on your email list.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of conflicting information out there about GDPR and what actions to take to make sure your email marketing is GDPR compliant. [Read more…]

Use this Strategy to Craft Captivating Blog Post Introductions

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Use this Strategy to Craft Captivating Introductions For Your Blog Posts
Photo by Christin Hume
Want to connect with other writers? Make sure to get your invitation to my private writing community on Facebook!

When I was a little kid, I fell in love with a book and read it so many times that I nearly memorized the first page. Here’s the book’s opening line:

Where’s Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

Do you know what book it’s from? It’s the first sentence of the children’s classic Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White.

Now go back and read that opening line again. It really grabs your attention, doesn’t it?

It certainly grabbed mine when I was a kid. Just like Fern, I wondered why in the world her dad was heading out with an ax. Was he going to chop down a tree or, heaven forbid, kill someone? [Read more…]

How to Write in a Conversational Style That Will Connect with Your Readers

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Photo by Pablo Heimplatz
Want to connect with other writers? Make sure to get your invitation to my private writing community on Facebook!

The other day, I was checking my email when I came across a suspicious looking message. It began with the line, “Dear Sir/Madam”.

The first paragraph read,

Please pardon me if I intrude into your privacy, and may I humbly solicit your confidence in this transaction. I came to know about you in my private search for a reliable and reputable foreigner to handle this confidential transaction.

Wow, that writing sounds like something straight out of a Dickens novel. I quickly clicked delete, suspecting that this was a phishing scam.

You’ve probably received emails like this too. And maybe you’ve also chuckled at their standoffish, overly formal tone. It seems to be a trademark of these types of spam emails.

However, not too long ago, no one would have laughed at that style of writing. It’s the style most people would have used if they wanted to come across as polite and professional.

In fact, your English teacher probably taught you a similar academic style when you were in school. Flowery language. Long paragraphs. Precise grammar. No contractions.

And then came the Internet. Over time, everyone from bloggers to big corporations realized that a conversational style of writing is a much more powerful way to engage and connect with your audience. [Read more…]