The Mystical and Magical Power of Words

"The secret of being boring is to say everything." - Voltaire

Their power is undeniable. They can be revered, despised, informational, thoughtful, influential or destructive. As the brilliant Voltaire pointed out, if you say them all, they lose their importance.  Either written or spoken, words are the most powerful force in existence.

The words we choose to use, or not use, is a defining characteristic for your business, your professional existence, your personal life... There isn't an area of life where words will not have an effect. The wonderful ways writers build sentences of splendor feels mystical and magical, like rays of sunshine on your skin while you nap under a tree of joy and contentment.

Of course, there are many variations to what I just described, but I prefer to be positive. Negativity serves no one and there are plenty of examples where words stoked fear, division, and sorrow.

When I talk about the magical power of words, there is always a darkside. Unfortunately, you may be more familiar with their powerful influence as we’ve witnessed over history, but especially these last 5 years, as those with ill intent transforming their words into strings, like villainous puppet masters, trying to influence and control large swaths of the public.

In our complex and extremely diverse world, they are always looking to strike the right chord with the right words to spur their followers into action. Whether environmental or social causes, both sides choose their words to rally the strongest support possible without taking a pause to consider how divisive, or offensive, those words are too.

This dark magic isn’t reserved strictly for politicians, though they make great examples. Businesses and confidence men (con men) employ the same tricks. For example, do you think all these rich and powerful people just handed their money over to Bernie Madoff without him saying a word? Sure, he had fictitious numbers to paint a pot of gold at the end of his “investment” rainbow, but he was a master of the dark arts. Madoff knew exactly how to choose the right words for the right marks (aka investors). He stole roughly $65 billion from tens of thousands of people, some that even worked in finance and investing, demonstrating the dizzying power of words.

Whether a person’s intention is noble or not, the words they employ have the ability to change the behavior of their audience. Sure, some people are more susceptible than others, but make no mistake, no one is immune to the potency of words. 

The words you utilize in marketing are of critical importance because they're, most likely, your first interaction with a potential customer. If your words aren't sharp or poignant, the likelihood of piquing their interest, or holding their attention, is extremely low.

How many words do you think you read every day?

The average clocks between 30,000 and 100,000. These are just words we read. If we throw in the number of spoken words plus the number of words we listen to, it's easy to see that our world and existence is built by words.

In this crowded daily word-scape, I'm going to provide a few simple and effective ways to boost the probability of your words being noticed and fostering action.

We begin here because while the marketing labyrinth is elaborate, ultimately…

Your Fate Rests in Your Words

"Don't ever diminish the power of words. Words move hearts and hearts move limbs."-Hamza Yusuf

It's true. Your fate rests in your words. This could seem scary, but I would much rather have my fate be determined by me than someone or something else. In fact, you should be stoked that words are key to your fate!

According to the Global Language Monitor, which tracks usage trends, the English language currently tops 1 million distinct words.  You have so many words to choose from!

Of course, there are weird ones, like chemical names or obscure items, but even after you remove even the weirdest terms, you’ll have hundreds of thousands at your disposal.

Words shaped, and continue to shape, our culture, our community, our world. From brilliant historical speeches to literary works that tickled our mind to expressing ideas that unite or divide us, words are the machinations of the engines that propel humanity forward.

Words also attach to our memories. Idioms or common phrases not only litter our memories, but can trigger them just easily. When I think about my life, there are always the parental colloquialisms meant to try and steer us down the positive path or the coach’s words before a game meant to inspire victory (or take a loss graciously) or the teacher attempting to deliver sage advice while translating old idioms into the newest language trends.

After discussing the immeasurable power of words, do you think all words are equal?

Does the four letter combination "L-O-V-E" have any greater significance or impact than "H-A-T-E?" They both have two consonants and two vowels which are in the same numerical positions for both. The last letter is the same for both. So I ask again, does either of those four letter assemblies have a more significant impact than the other?

No. Not even a little bit. But, as you read those words, I guarantee there were reactions to them.. The most common reaction is a positive towards "love" and negative towards "hate" and that's me simplifying two very, very emotionally charged words into a simple (+) or (-). However, these two words provide the first signpost along our journey.

All words are equal, they’re just not perceived that way.

Your customers aren't machines. They aren't automatons. They are complex, multicellular beings with unseen and unknown (to you) personal histories and are (partially) ruled by their emotions.

I don't say that as a bad thing. I'm human. You're human. There's always an ongoing war between listening to your head or your heart. The proverbial tug-o-war that happens during any form of decision making. We do it all the time whether it's relationships, purchases or even during Friday night movie night being torn between watching a new movie or one of your favorites for the umpteenth time.

Words aren’t immune from this eternal feud of emotion vs logic, head vs. heart. Even though words can have extremely similar meanings, certain words can carry baggage whether it’s of a personal nature or a societal perception. As you continue to work on your writing, keeping your finger on the pulse of culture and choosing to lead with empathy (more on this later) will assist in better word choices.

What word is perceived as more powerful: think or feel?

What’s your perceived difference between “I think that…” or “I feel that…”? Which one resonates with you more?

These are important questions because the words are, technically speaking, equal. We’ve all done this, expressed a thought as a feeling. The thought evokes an emotion, but instead of expressing the emotion, we express the thought that triggered the emotion.

For marketing and copywriting, this trend, and it’s been trending over the last two decades, is a good thing. The goal is to get them to emotionally connect with you. Thoughts are great, but people are much more likely to change their mind than their feelings. Even if there is clear, logical evidence contrary to their feelings, humans are more likely to dig their heels in and defend their emotions.

There’s no better example than sports fans. In fact, the term “fan” is believed to be a shortened form of fanatic. At the beginning of every season, every team has the same chance of winning the championship. If you know any sports fans, they’ll be claiming this year is their year. But, by mid-season it’s very clear which teams have no chance of winning. However, ask those teams’ fans who the best team is and without pause, they’ll say their team. Even though all data points in another direction, they will vehemently defend their feelings, logically explain where it went wrong, and explain how it could’ve been different while boldly predicting that next year is their year.

Just like sports fans, people follow the same playbook when it comes to brands.

“People buy on emotion and justify on logic.” – Zig Ziglar, legendary sales trainer

Your marketing copy needs to appeal to their emotional side because, as logical as we can be, emotions take top billing. Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman framed the emotional vs. logical as the difference between fast thinking and slow thinking. In his work, he describes fast thinking as being affected more by your emotional state; whereas, slow thinking is not as emotionally charged.

Tapping into your hero’s fast thinking is quite important since your words will only be a single raindrop in that day’s word monsoon. For your raindrop to be noticed, your words need to convey an empathy for your hero’s struggles while striking at their emotion.. Your marketing copy needs to appeal to their fast thinking in order to make a strong enough connection that their slow thinking can’t sever it, but will ultimately reinforce their decision.

To identify words that will resonate with your heroes, in a positive way, I want you to think about their lives as a whole instead of the little sliver your product will impact. When thinking of your hero, employ a holistic approach.

In my opinion, the term “holistic” is overused, just like synergy was in corporate America over the last decade or so. ”Holistic” has its own connotations and can invoke visions of a traditional healer living off the land, finding an herb for every ailment, and focusing on energy healing. This term isn’t for everyone, but when it comes to copywriting, the holistic approach to word choice opens your aperture so you can consider words that, while not initially relevant to your product, are relevant to your hero’s existence.

Holistic is "characterized by the belief that the parts of something are interconnected and can be explained only by reference to the whole." When you’re writing marketing copy, you need to consider how your product fits within their life and not simply a solution to a specific problem. Combine this thought process with empathy and you're no longer writing to simply appeal to consumers or make a sale, but you are writing with the genuineness to help humans.

Words are equal, but not equitable. Don’t rush into a word choice without thinking about any of the perceptions and feelings associated with it. Most importantly, look at the big picture of the hero's life and always, always make empathy the foundation for your choice.

Now that we’ve talked words, we need to discuss their delivery.

An Active Voice or Nothing at All

I was composing ad copy for a marketing course. The course is designed for entrepreneurs and businesses to effectively move their marketing in-house instead of hiring a marketing agency. There are a lot of reasons why I think this is a good idea, but that discussion is for another day.

On the main page, there were several lines that said, "Marketing agencies won’t tell you this…." Of course, there's nothing wrong with that line. I was identifying the agency as villainous because they were withholding information from their client. However, "won't" is a contraction of "will not" and while that seems dastardly enough, this is a negation for the future.

The problem with a negation for the future is we reside in the present. The future is completely unwritten. It's nothing more than a figment of our imagination. I was passively telling the heroes (customers) that their marketing agency could, possibly or probably, do this at an unknown time in a yet to be determined future.

Just review that previous sentence and see how infuriating it is. Completely non-committal. It wavers more than a giant holiday flag in a gentle breeze.

As I sat there considering how my statement lacked the impact and immediacy I desired, the simple change of a single letter delivered a significantly improved impact, while graciously providing me with an invaluable lesson. If you're a fan of baseball, it's the difference between a change-up and a hall of fame fastball. There's nuance and technique in a change-up (which only some might appreciate or understand), but everyone comprehends the magnificence and potency of a 100-mph fastball.

All I did was change the "w" to "d."

"Marketing agencies don’t tell you this…." Before, the marketing agency had the potential to be a villain in the future if they did this, but now, they are the villain because they're actively doing it. "Don't" is a negation in the present which is the only moment any of us perceive. By changing the tone from passive to active, I changed the immediacy of the problem.

There's a time and place for passive voice, but marketing copy is not it!

The active voice is practically ordained by the language gods, or in this case the University of Purdue's Writing Lab, for marketing because its benefits are:

• Makes your meaning clear to your readers
• Keeps sentences from becoming too complicated or wordy (aka shorter)
• More concise, requiring fewer words to express action.

If those benefits weren’t already enough for you, there is one more benefit. This benefit might be even more important, especially as an entrepreneur.

The active voice is authoritative.

When someone utilizes active speech, they announce themselves as an authority on the matter. This can be uncomfortable for a lot of people. I understand why and empathize with your concern. People tend to shy away from the active voice because they don't want to come off as arrogant or a know-it-all.

Yes, there is real concern with being perceived as either of those, especially at the lightning speed that the court of public opinion can render a devastating verdict. As these courts continue their proceedings under banners such as Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram or Twitter, a lot of people hesitate due to the fear of making a statement that results in the verdict: canceled. In today’s society, dealing with being canceled is almost tougher to reverse than identity theft. At least identity theft has procedures. I don’t think the court of public opinion holds sessions for appeals.

While that is a potential danger, it’s a danger for someone that works the drive-thru window at a fast food chain that somehow views themselves as an expert on macroeconomics, universal healthcare or national security.

However, the danger is significantly reduced. Why? You are an expert. You are authoritative. This is your business, your product, your life, and no one, absolutely no one, knows more about it than you.

Active voice in your marketing conveys unwavering belief in yourself. And why would a person consider welcoming you into their life if you don’t have unshakeable confidence in your knowledge or business’s benefits?

Remember, your customers are your heroes and they're looking to you for guidance. In any crowded industry, your heroes shouldn’t have to decipher anything. You respect them, their time, and their decision. If you waver in message through passivity, your heroes will move on and look for a stronger guide.

Active voice and word choice are extremely important, but in marketing and copywriting you’re not reading to your audience. As magical as having them all come to the carpet for reading time, like a whimsical throwback to child-like wonder, they’re reading your words which means you need to account for their inner narrator.

Empathy is the Key to Their Inner Narrator

We all have an inner narrator. Whether it's our conscience or an invisible childhood friend (no judgment, we all need someone to talk to), when we read to ourselves there's a voice. Now, a true narrator is just telling the story, like Sir Anthony Hopkins in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. They provide mood and context through their voice inflection and the information they provide.

Well, in a perfect world everyone's inner narrator would work in such an easy, efficient manner. BUT, humans are not easy, nor efficient, most of the time. We are complicated and our inner narrator epitomizes our complexity.

Our inner narrator is the tone in which we read. Tone is extremely important and, unfortunately, completely unpredictable. The tone in which we read can be heavily influenced by our emotions, our past, our imagination, our present, our biases, our... humanity. The tone in which your hero reads your words might not match the tone you envisioned when you wrote them.

Yes, it's a perilous moment that you have absolutely no control over. Your words are tiptoeing the unmarked minefield of your hero's mind in the hopes of making it through to the lush fields of their positivity to sit down and have a drink with them.

To understand how easy this can happen, think about the misunderstandings that have occurred when sending a text message to a friend, significant other, parent... well, basically any other human. The most innocuous message, such as "What's for dinner?", can be interpreted as a simple inquiry, a demand or a call-to-arms. Plenty of relationships have suffered the misconstrued SMS message.

In fact, take a moment and think about a time in your history where your intended meaning was misinterpreted by someone else. If you're like me, you'll probably be able to think of several.

What went wrong? When you spit out the message and hit send, did you consider how many different ways the message could be interpreted? Did your word choices accurately reflect the meaning? Did you proofread the message before you sent it? What was your mindset? Were you emotionally charged?

This is a common issue whether we're talking about personal or professional communications. If the problem wasn’t tough enough in one-on-one communications, marketing is multiplying this critical issue by the number of people that will interact with your words.

Honestly, it’s impossible to account for everyone’s inner narrator. Also, it’s unrealistic to make you think it’s possible, but there’s a tool that will decrease the chance of their inner narrator being offended.

Empathy. This wonderful tool, which continues to make appearances in this text, is your greatest ally to combating a potentially malicious inner narrator. Sure, you don’t know what your hero’s mindset will be when they see your marketing, but if you’re doing your absolute best to empathize with their life, again “the big picture,” they’re inner narrator is denied the space to interpret your meaning or infer your tone.

Unfortunate for them, but fortunate for us, there are some good examples of marketing that didn’t employ empathy properly and the audience's inner narrator interpreted a different intent.

While there are many examples, Peloton’s infamous 2019 holiday commercial tops the list. There were a lot of missteps in this commercial, but the most significant were not clearly identifying their commercial’s hero and demonstrating a clear lack of empathy for their hero. In the commercial, a woman receives a Peloton bike from her husband for Christmas, even though she didn’t know what it was or request it. The commercial proceeds as a timeline of her trying Peloton, documenting her progress, and enjoying the product’s benefits.

To be fair, Peloton offers a great at-home workout solution. There are a multitude of online live classes. The bike is easy to store when not in use, it tracks your metrics so you can customize your training needs, saves time by eliminating your gym commute, and saves money on gym fees, parking, etc.. Peloton made their product’s benefits the hero of the commercial instead of the user and, well, they paid for it.

Peloton didn’t create this advertisement using empathy. Well, perhaps their empathy was misplaced with the faceless husband that decided this was a thoughtful gift. If they had thought about empathizing with women, perhaps, they could’ve seen the underlying negative emotions associated with a husband giving his wife exercise equipment.

How would you feel if your significant other (or someone very close to you) gifted you a Peloton? Would the first question be, why do you think I need this? Are you saying I don’t look good or am lazy?

Peloton was skewered and roasted in the media and on social media. Their ad was viewed as insensitive to women and another example for the persistent undercurrent of sexism within society. They didn’t identify their hero in the commercial as a woman, but wanted their product to be the hero. Had they stopped to empathize with their female protagonist, and the commercial lead I might add, they would’ve seen the pitfalls and dangers associated, not with their product, but the optics of their product as an unexpected, unrequested holiday gift from a husband to a wife.

Peloton could afford a misstep without destroying their business, but take a moment to learn from their errant ways: no matter how specific your product is, no matter how many amazing features there are, you need to focus on empathizing with your heroes, also known as your customers. In Peloton’s case, they should’ve considered who the actual hero of the commercial was and empathized with her which could’ve provided better context for the gift. They could’ve made an excellent holiday commercial, instead they have a lasting example of what not to do.

In an amusing turn of events, Ryan Reynolds’ Aviation Gin utilized Peloton’s errant choice to highlight how to empathize with the true hero. The same actress from the Peloton commercial is sitting at a bar with two of her friends, one at either side. She has the thousand yard stare as she nurses a drink and her friend says, in a very quizzical yet clearly negative tone, “A Peloton?” The genius of capitalizing on the Peloton dumpster fire in progress was a bold move, but the genius of the commercial was born by empathizing with a woman whose husband thought a Peloton was the perfect gift that she never asked for.

Empathy is the key. When you write your marketing copy, you need to write in the voice of your heroes. Your inner narrator has to think about the problem (or problems) they're struggling with and how your solution will improve their lives now.

This is a delicate balance because while you know you can help them, if your tone comes off as too aggressive, a common concern when using active voice, they won't want your help. You won't come off as a mentor or guide, you'll have the sleazy used car salesman, Wall Street shark vibe.

This is how I avoid that tone. Now, I'm confident in my selling ability, but I also know other natural sales people too. An idiom that, for one reason or another, frequents the sales community is, "I/he/she/they could sell water to a drowning person." Now this is meant to be a mark of their selling prowess, but doesn't it seem cruel? If you're so good at selling, why are you trying to kill your customer instead of saving them?

I consider the mark of a superb sales person their ability to look at their hero and provide the best solution to their troubles. In fact, I consider the ability to truly empathize with a person far more important than making the sale itself.

I want you to consider this question when you're writing your ad copy: Are you trying to sell your product or help your hero?

They can be one in the same, but this is about your priorities. By making empathy the foundation of all your writing, you're prioritizing your hero while significantly increasing your own chance for success.

So along this voyage, remember your empathy is your creative North star.

Simplicity Doesn't Mean Simplistic

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci, in my opinion, was one of the top minds in all human history. If you've never read Walter Isaacson's biography on him, I highly recommend it. Through a life of immense creativity and knowledge, from his engineering prowess to his anatomy studies and sketches, which remain the foundation of our anatomical knowledge today, this gem of wisdom will be eternally relevant.

In regards to your words, simplicity really is crucial. Academia might not agree, as their power appears to reside in writing so only they can interpret, or someone with their exact level of education, the meaning.

Marketing copy is the opposite of academia. So if you're used to writing to impress a potentially pompous professor, take a deep breath and forget about it.

Simplicity is defined as "the quality or condition of being easy to understand or do." Along with empathy, simplicity should be another brick in the foundation of your writing. Your hero should always understand you. They should never, ever have to try and decode your message or wonder what your purpose is. There are moments where being cryptic can be an asset, but your marketing copy is not it!

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of U.S. adults 16-74 years old - about 130 million people - lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. In 2022, 21% of American adults are illiterate.

While those two statistics are a travesty, and a blatant education failure, they highlight the importance of keeping your copy easy to digest and act on.

However, there's a potential trapdoor I've witnessed writers drop through. While keeping your writing easy to read and understand is the goal, you need to ensure it doesn't come off as simplistic. Again, it’s similar to simplicity, but far, far from equitable.

Simplistic is defined as "treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler than they really are."

Life is complex. No matter how simple we try to distill it, your life, my life, your hero's life, is altogether complex. Humans are the most complex of species and, even with a low literacy rate, a person knows when they're being talked down to or that their feelings don’t appear important to you. By working to make your copy easy to understand and act on, do not make the fatal mistake and think because it seems simple to you that everyone else feels the same.

We all experienced this situation at school. It’s unfortunate how this has happened across generations. When a kid struggles with a problem and the teacher says, “Oh, that’s easy.” The teacher makes the critical error of not empathizing with the student. Yes, other students might grasp the concept immediately, but that doesn’t mean it’s simple for every student. Instead of trying to explain the process in another easy to understand way, the teacher loses rapport with the student because their words framed the problem as simplistic when for the kid it was quite complex.

As an adult, we experience this regularly when the media discusses topics lik the economy. Politicians, CEOs, the talking heads (aka “experts”) on the news, they all act like there are only a couple of factors that influence the economy. The economy is unbelievably complex with tons of factors affecting it. Instead of leaning into empathy and simplicity, they make it seem simple which alienates most the population from being involved because they feel just like they did as a kid in the classroom.

We’ve all been conditioned to spot this. We’re attuned to the feeling because it’s something we’ve experienced in our lives, throughout our lives.

Always remember, empathy is critical. If you write with a simplistic tone, you're demonstrating a lack of empathy. What might seem very straightforward to me or you, could be the exact opposite for your hero. There's no quicker way to shrink your audience then making them feel stupid, whether that was your intention or not.

So when in doubt, always defer to Signor da Vinci.