It can be challenging to find an effective way to communicate with your target audience. However, if you can find the right words, you can easily get their attention and even start to engage them in conversation. Words are powerful marketing weapons, and understanding how to utilize them can go a long way towards boosting your business’s brand.
Various businesses have tried several marketing techniques through the years in an effort to better communicate with their target market.
The most effective marketing strategies are often filled with high-quality content to attract potential customers and provide them with something of value.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s easy to forget what’s at the core of these quality pieces of content: words.
When you think about it, the effect of words on people is usually taken for granted. People know that words can affect how you feel, but they don’t notice until the words are better organized to form phrases, sentences, and longer content.
However, the use of a single word can be a powerful marketing tool as long as you know exactly when and how to use it.
If you’re looking to boost your brand and increase your visibility in the market, here are a few ways to utilize the power of words, together with a list of examples that you can use for marketing purposes:
Table of Contents
Words That Can Tap Into Emotion
Using words to tap into the emotions of your audience is an effective way to convince them to complete a particular purchase or investment.
People typically buy things to make someone happy, be it himself (or herself) or another person.
You would buy your significant other his favorite object because you love him (or her) and want nothing but his (or her) happiness.
You buy yourself a new set of clothes because you want to be happier by feeling better about yourself.
If you’re trying to tap into a person’s emotions, the following words can help you better reach out to a person’s feelings:
- Unsurpassed
- Confidential
- Daring
- Create
- Bold
- Tempting
- Unconventional
- Obsession
- Surging
- Astonishing
- Imagine
- Discover
- Polarizing
- Epic
- Secret
- Unusual
- Inspirational
- Explosive
- Pioneering
Words That Can Tap Into Fear
In the same way that you can use words to convince someone that they’re doing an action to make someone happy, you can also use words to motivate a person by tapping into his (or her) fears.
Fear is a strong emotion that can cause people to be irrational. For instance, children who fear the dark sometimes claim they can see monsters lurking in the shadows, causing them to be afraid of the dark even though they are in the safety of their own home.
People who fear making mistakes tend to develop obsessive habits of rechecking everything.
When used in the right context, words can help instill fear in a customer so that he (or she) feels there is no better option than to engage with your brand if they want to serve their best interests.
If you’re looking for words that can incite fear in a potential client, this list should provide you with a number of options:
- Devastating
- Heartbreaking
- Hoax
- Avoid
- Scary
- Costly
- Assault
- Backlash
- Frantic
- Hazardous
- Untested
- Prison
- Revenge
- Risky
- Fooled
- Alarming
- Beware
- Blinded
Words That Can Make People Feel Safe and Comfortable
Trust is an important part of communication.
If your customers trust you, you’ll have an easier time making them believe that what you’re saying is the truth.
If you want people to trust your brand, you need to make them feel safe and comfortable while doing business with you.
Words can help a client build trust by using terms that focus on security and certainty.
The following words are excellent options that you can use in your marketing content to increase customer trust:
- Lifetime
- Tested
- No-Obligation
- Authentic
- Verified
- No Questions
- Endorsed
- Certified
- Forever
- Proven
- Moneyback
- Protected
- Privacy
- Backed
- No-Strings Attached
- Secure
Words That Create a Sense of Urgency
People are more likely to pay attention to what you’re saying if they know that you’re not going to be there forever.
To make your audience feel the urgency to engage with your brand, you can incorporate time-sensitive words to show them that what you’re offering is only available for a limited time.
Here are a few examples of words that can strongly imply a level of urgency for your product:
- Limited
- Limited-time
- Limited-edition
- Immediately
- Instantly
- Scarce
- Temporary
- Rare
- Hurry
- Now
- Exclusive
- Only
Words That Can Convince People of Your Value
Getting your customer’s attention is the first step in boosting your brand.
The second and more important step is to continue your engagement with the customer until he (or she) understands why they need your product and ideally complete a purchase from you.
To increase your business’s chances of successfully engaging a client, it’s essential to communicate your value to them through the power of words.
You need to provide your customers with reasons on why they should continue to engage with you.
To show your target audience the value of engaging with your business, you can try to use the following words in your marketing strategy:
- Affordable
- Convert
- Essential
- Proven
- Unbelievable
- Bargain
- Double
- New
- Remarkable
- Professional
- Best-Selling
- Lucrative
- Guaranteed
- Unique
- Improved
- Advanced
- Results
- Effective
- Immediately
- Bonus
- Massive
- Impactful
- Increase
- Free
- Lifetime
- Highest
- Lowest
- Expert
- Tested
- Easy
- Detailed
- Better
Words to Avoid Using in Any Marketing Strategy
The power of words can go both ways: they can effectively boost your marketing presence, or they can also destroy it in an instant. Knowing which words to avoid using can help you build a better business brand by avoiding marketing pitfalls.
Avoid: words that can make you sound completely untrustworthy
First, there are words that can make you sound completely untrustworthy.
As a business, people expect your brand to carry a professional message, regardless of how casual you want your tone to be. Therefore, you should avoid using any slang or informal language in your marketing content.
Here are a few examples of words that can lose you considerable points with an audience:
- LOL (laughing out loud)
- Bae
- Dab
- Chill
- Fo’ real
- Peng
- I can’t even
- On fleek
- Lit
- Turnt
- Freakin’
- Totes
- Fam
Avoid: words that nobody believes to be true
Next, you have to avoid using words that nobody believes to be true.
Regardless of how confident you might be in selling your product, if you use superlatives and over-the-top adjectives to describe your items, there’s a good chance that your audience will grow disinterested and even disappointed if they think you’re trying to fool them.
Using the following words to describe your business or your products is highly discouraged:
- Miraculous
- Once-only
- Visionary
- Transformative
- Jaw-Dropping
- Groundbreaking
- Armageddon
- Always
- Apocalypse
- Impossible
- Spell-binding
- Game-changer
- Once-in-a-lifetime
- Revolutionary
- Perfect
Avoid: words that appear to be overused
Finally, you want to cut down on using words that appear to be overused by every other company.
You want your business to be unique so that they can better remember your brand, and using the same words that your competitors have repeatedly milked for their marketing campaigns is an absolute mistake.
The following are some of the most overused words in marketing, and you should avoid them at all costs:
- Customer-oriented
- Innovative
- Seamless
- Robust
- Disruption
- Holistic
- Granular
- Actionable
- Learnings
- Viral
- Snackable
- Paradigm
A Final Thought on the Power of Words in Marketing
Words can strongly influence a person’s behavior towards you.
It is crucial for any marketing team to understand and learn how to properly use words to build a better relationship with your audience.
Your word usage should pull your target market closer to you and not drive them away.
Words can elicit strong feelings from your customers, and it’s up to you to make sure that those feelings are beneficial for your brand and business.
