Critical thinking is a valuable skill that can help you communicate effectively, solve problems, and make informed decisions. But how can you craft an argument that addresses your audience's needs? In this article, you will learn some tips and strategies to create persuasive and respectful arguments that appeal to your audience's values, emotions, and logic.
Before you start writing or speaking, you need to understand who your audience is and what they care about. What are their goals, beliefs, preferences, and concerns? How do they perceive the issue you are arguing about? What are their expectations and objections? By knowing your audience, you can tailor your argument to suit their needs and interests, and avoid alienating or offending them.
In my experience, knowing your audience always starts by learning about their pain points and emotional values. Yes, everyone has their own sentimental level, yet emotions are an integral part that can’t be silenced all the time. I had a client who was an amazing motivational speaker yet he wasn’t surrounded by a big crowd. No one knew who he was, until we analyzed his target audience’s pain point. Only then he started speaking his audience’s language, and communicating to their needs rather than showering them with eloquence
The first step to crafting an argument is to listen to your audience. You want to first find out what they want. As the saying goes, "sell them what they want, and give them what they need." This quote is not suggesting that we pull a bait and switch. This quote suggests that we lead with their desire. Everybody knows that our audience doesn't know what they don't know. As an expert, we know that in order for our audience to attain what they want they have to get what they need. So when we share our program, we point to the thing that they need as the path to getting what they want.
I think knowing who you are and what you're offering is the main point; once this is known, you find your audience little by little, or, your audience organically finds you. Your message or product automatically addresses the needs. If your message is intertwined with who you are, then you instinctively know your audience and what moves them so there isn't a magic 'crafting' that has to go on. Just be real. Be focused.
One way to connect with your audience and gain their trust is to establish common ground. This means finding areas of agreement, shared values, or mutual interests that you can use as a basis for your argument. For example, if you are arguing for a policy change, you can acknowledge the benefits of the current policy or the challenges of implementing a new one. By showing that you respect your audience's views and experiences, you can reduce their resistance and increase their willingness to listen to your argument.
Everybody wants to be heard. So it is important to listen to our audience. Find out what they desire. This will usually be the "mass desire", or most superficial aspect of their desire. Most people are willing to listen if they feel respected. Acknowledge that you hear and understand what they are saying. Then delve deeper to find out what is their core desire. What is the greater motivator behind attaining the mass desire? When you know what their core desire is, point out how what you offer will fulfill this core desire.
Another way to strengthen your argument and address your audience's needs is to use evidence and reasoning. Evidence is the information that supports your claims, such as facts, statistics, examples, or testimonials. Reasoning is the process of explaining how your evidence relates to your claims and your overall argument. For example, if you are arguing for a product or service, you can use evidence to show how it meets your audience's needs or solves their problems, and reasoning to show how it is better than the alternatives or worth the investment.
After you have shown your audience that you understand them and what they want, you can use evidence to further demonstrate the value of your offer. For most people, this is just icing on the cake. By this time you have persuaded them that your product is what they are looking for. They have already decided at an emotional level. At this point, you are simply providing information that they can use to justify the decision they have already made. You give them the evidence they can use to satisfy their logical mind, which justifies the emotional decision they have already made.
While evidence and reasoning are essential for a logical argument, they are not enough to persuade your audience. You also need to appeal to their emotions, which are the feelings that influence their attitudes and actions. Emotions can be positive or negative, such as happiness, anger, fear, or sympathy. By using emotional appeals, you can capture your audience's attention, motivate them to act, or inspire them to change their minds. For example, if you are arguing for a social cause, you can use emotional appeals to show how it affects your audience or others, and how they can make a difference.
A successful persuasive speaker absolutely uses logic, emotion, and the credibility of their own character. There are three components beyond emotional appeal that are still needed. 1: Convince the audience that your point of view is the right point of view. If people you convince do nothing about it, doesn't help address their needs. 2: Actuation: A call to action, after convincing them you need to provide information regarding how they can do something about it. Still not enough. 3: Stimulation: You need to get the audience excited about doing what they have been called to do. This where M.L.K. jr. excelled. Not only were people convinced by his words and motivated to do something about it, they were excited to do it!
Finally, you can improve your argument and address your audience's needs by acknowledging counterarguments. Counterarguments are the opposing views or objections that your audience might have or encounter. By acknowledging them, you can show that you have considered different perspectives, anticipate potential questions or criticisms, and provide rebuttals or concessions. For example, if you are arguing for a change in behavior, you can acknowledge the difficulties or drawbacks of changing, and offer solutions or incentives.
Procatalepsis - addressing counter arguments before the counter argument can be made. i.e. "I know you think Lebron James is the best basketball player ever because he has the NBA scoring record. However, he has played for multiple teams that were built solely around HIM. On the other hand, Michael Jordan, while not having scored as many points, played primarily for one team and elevated his teammates to levels of performance THEY were never expected to achieve." PS: #JordanIStheGOAT