Feb
PR TIP-OF-THE-WEEK - BE WORD-WISE!
Most small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t understand the true power of words when it comes to creating a solid brand and identity. There’s a great section in the book Guerrilla Marketing that actually addresses words. The author, Jay Levinson Conrad, recommends thinking of words in two ways:
1. Those that appeal to people outside your business.
2. Those that appeal to people inside your business.
The PR Tip-of-the-Week focuses on the first point – words that have a strong impact with people outside your business. Those are the ones that are used on everything from the exterior and interior signs at your company to the words on your website, in your collateral, in your e-newsletter and even in your business name.
So, the PR Tip is Be Word-Wise to enhance your brand. Have you every really spent time thinking about the purpose of the words you’ve chosen? They should remind your audience of something, create a small impulse, sharpen your identity and state a brief but powerful message.
Psychologists at Yale University did a study and came up with a dozen words that they say are the most persuasive words in the English Language. They are:
YOU, RESULTS, LOVE, NEW
MONEY, HEALTH, DISCOVERY, SAFETY
SAVE, EASY, PROVEN, GUARANTEE
Jay Levinson, the author of Guerrilla Marketing, has come up with a dozen others he would add to the list:
FREE, WHY, SALE, ANNOUNCING
YES, HOW, NOW, BENEFITS
FAST, SECRETS, POWER, SOLUTION
How many of these are you using to promote your business identity and brand? And, do the words you’ve chosen truly reflect the identity you want to portray? Are they authentic to your business and create a vision for those who have never heard of you before?
The moral of the story…Be Word-Wise! Take the time to truly evaluate the words you’re using and make sure they are truly working for you.
Turn me on……Wednesdays 12-1pm PST on wsRadio.com
Erika
