A Minute On Marketing - 7 Killer Marketing Words

Some say, the pen is mightier than the sword and in marketing there are key words that can motivate the reader or customer to take action. In this article we explore seven words and phrases that are proven to boost engagement with prospects.

1. You

This is the most powerful word in marketing. Your reader doesn’t care about your point of view or your company. They only want to know ‘what’s in it for me’. To create effective marketing copy you need to address the needs, frustrations and problems of your target audience. Speak to them directly about their needs and the basic rule is to use the words “you” and “your” at least twice as many times as words like your business name, “we”, “us”, “ours”, “me” or “I”.

2. Guarantee

When you can back your product or service with a guarantee, especially a 100% money back guarantee, you provide your customer with a sense of security. By minimising the risk you can prompt customers to proceed with their purchase on the grounds that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by purchasing from you.

3. Free

Although the impact of the word ‘free’ may have diminished in recent years it is still an effective marketing word. The impact of the word has fallen when linked to things which are obviously free such as a ‘free quote’ or a ‘free consultation’. If you can articulate the value of what you are providing for free, that adds real spice to the offer. Approach your free offers by ensuring that they provide something of value to the customer and then evaluate how effective that word becomes in your marketing.

4. Instant

In today’s fast-paced environment your customers have short attention spans and expect instant gratification. Most people want instant results with just about everything, so providing an instant element to your offering, such as immediate access, instant download, fast delivery or immediate results means you are more likely to engage with today’s impatient customers. Just be careful that you can deliver on your promise and if there is a chance that you (or one of your suppliers) cannot fulfil the ‘instant’ promise, leave it out altogether.

5. Easy, Quick or Shortcut

Again, that desire for instant gratification means customers will look for whatever is required to speed up the process or make the process easier. If your product has the ability to make your customer’s life easier then spell it out. Make it clear that it’s a specific benefit of your product or service. Perhaps you can provide the shortcut to what they’re looking for and deliver what they want in record time. The easier and quicker something is, the more desirable it becomes in the mind of your customer.

6. Never

The word ‘never’ is specifically for use when outlining potential negative benefits of your product or service. Negative benefits are things that your customer would like to avoid. Examples might be ‘never miss a payment again’ or ‘never scrub your toilet again’. Obviously this depends on the type of business you are in but the key to the use is to make the negative benefit realistic, important and relieve them of a frustration or fear.

7. Proven

A little over used these days but having a track record of achieving results helps to eliminate the risk and removes the fear of buying from you. By being able to prove that you can deliver on your promise adds credibility to your message. You would need to outline exactly how and why it is proven or draw on testimonials and case studies to show that it is proven.

So, there’s the list of 7 key words to use in your marketing collateral and they are particularly important when you draft the headline for your next advertisement or article.