More Than Just Words
Posted On: 2007-01-08
Are you really sending the right message with the words you're using?
Words are everywhere - literally. At the moment I'm sitting on the back patio at home and the kids next door are in the pool talking to one another ... and there are words. I've just finished scanning GFY ... and there are words. I'm writing this piece and so there are words on the screen in front of me.
Just like you, I'm surrounded by words ... I'm even thinking in words. So everywhere we look and are, there are words. They're all around us and, unless your business involves words, those words can quickly lose their impact. Because we live with them all the time we accept them as they are and don't pause to think that some words pick up some hidden meanings that can change their impact totally.
Once again, because those meanings are hidden, because they have a subconscious impact on us, we don't realize the effect they are having on us. Sometimes that effect can be positive but more often than not we could be sending the wrong message because the impact of the words we use is actually moved from positive to negative.
The idea that some quite innocent words can subconsciously send the wrong message started to occur to me earlier this week. Among the services offered by my text writing business are press releases and slogans and the person who writes those is Steve.
Even though he may tell you that he's not very good at writing press releases and slogans I have to tell you that the opposite is much closer to the truth. He really is very good at what he does and he often spends hours contemplating one single line of text in a press release or slogan to make sure he gets it right. So when a client hit me up last week and asked for a slogan for a new program I went to Steve.
I explained to him what the client wanted and mentioned that the client wanted the word ‘bomb' included in the slogan. To my surprise Steve nearly blew a fuse and told me in no uncertain terms that if the client wanted the word ‘bomb' in their slogan then perhaps they should find someone else to write it.
Why should such a simple word bring such a negative reaction from Steve? After he explained it to me I began to see his point. Think about the word ‘bomb' for a moment and perhaps even do a little free association of that word with others and see what you come up with.
In the time it had taken me to mention the word that the client had wanted Steve's mind had instantly spun up ‘car bomb' ‘roadside bomb' ‘Bali bomb' and ‘suicide bomb'.
Now if you were trying to sell a new program to webmasters would you want them to think either consciously or subconsciously about those dreadful blights on modern society? I know I certainly would not want those thoughts getting in the way of my program's message.
Obviously people who might see that word in a slogan for a new program may not instantly and consciously associate that word with all those bad things. But there may well be a subconscious connection, a general feeling of unease or an unwillingness to stay looking at what the program might have to offer. Subconsciously that word may actually make people feel so uncomfortable that they want to leave the site rather than stay and have a look around.
Of course it might be hard to assess just how negative an impact a word like that could have but if you're launching a new program do you really want to take the risk of turning people off because of one word?
But wait, don't rush away thinking that, just because you're a Webmaster who makes money through affiliate marketing what I've just said doesn't apply to you.
Remember at the start of the column I said, '... unless your business involves words ...'? Well if you're involved in marketing anything in any medium then your business involves words. That means that this message is for you too.
What words are you using in your sales pitches that might seem innocent but are actually sending the wrong message? What words are you using that, instead of attracting buyers, are actually making them feel uncomfortable and are turning them off?
You may think that identifying those words might be rather difficult but if Steve could get an attack of the horrors in just a second or two because I mentioned the word ‘bomb' then it shouldn't take you long to spot any words that might send the wrong message.
So there's something to think about for the start of the week. I'm actually in Brisbane today on a buying spree for our new business venture. No, I'm not hitting the dress shops or the bookshops - I'm hitting wholesalers who sell geeky stuff instead.