Prior to making a career move to public relations, I worked in academia for six years as an English teacher and tutor. Though the parallels might not seem obvious at first glance, both careers are rooted in creating narratives that persuade an audience. The act of teaching is itself a performance designed to persuade an audience to learn. My experiences teaching analysis and argumentation have given me a unique understanding of how persuasion operates in PR.

PR professionals can spot a persuasive pitch from a mile away, but what exactly renders a pitch persuasive? Academics have sought to define why many arguments fall flat while others move people to action. Far from being subjective, Aristotle suggested that there are three components an argument must have in order to truly persuade its audience. PR professionals should consider Aristotle’s tenants of argumentation to hone their persuasive prowess.

Aristotle’s Modes of Persuasion

Credibility (Ethos)—Aristotle argued that established credibility must precede any attempt at persuasion. PR at its core is about helping clients achieve earned media, which helps build credibility. But establishing our own credibility first can take us far in helping our clients succeed. Before jumping to catch an audience’s attention, truly persuasive people consider how to build credibility with their audiences.

In PR, we can appeal to ethos by showcasing excellent writing skills, outperforming client and journalist expectations, following through on deadlines, reaching out to journalists about their work before sending a pitch, and consistently acting with moral and ethical character. Not only does each of these actions help agencies achieve business objectives, but they aid PR professionals in persuading key audiences.

Emotion (Pathos)—Too often, we dismiss the power of emotion in favor of objective logic, but emotion has its place in persuasion. Understanding what matters to our audiences—and making that a key part of our message—helps us be more persuasive. However, Aristotle did not intend for individuals to play on others’ emotions – there is a difference between persuasion and manipulation! – but he understood how deeply emotion is tied to our decision-making.

In PR, we can appeal to pathos by empathizing with our clients, writing with connotative language to provoke a desired emotional reaction, showing genuine interest in the well-being of our clients and coworkers, and demonstrating we understand and care about others’ values. Each of these actions goes a long way in helping PR professionals persuade.

Logic (Logos)—Though it is common knowledge that solid evidence is at the heart of a persuasive argument, Aristotle argued that we need to consider using evidence that helps us appeal to our audience’s sense of ethos and pathos. Certain types of evidence could harm a writer’s ethos and be ineffective at appealing an audience’s pathos.

In PR, this is highly relevant to how we pitch stories or write contributed content. For example, statistical evidence may not be as persuasive to a journalist that focuses on human interest stories; instead, a personal story with quotes or a case study would likely serve as far more effective evidence. Similarly, sending heaps of statistical data to a human interest writer could damage the PR professional’s credibility.

Applying the Modes of Persuasion to PR

When writing a pitch or creating a presentation for a new client, consider how it appeals to ethos, pathos and logos. The strongest arguments appeal to each, though not necessarily equally, depending on the needs of the audience. Understanding Aristotle’s modes of rhetoric provides PR professionals with a tested framework for how to persuade key audiences effectively, enabling us to build our clients’ ethos.