Persuade and engage from the word ‘Go’

Ways to attract and keep attention

It’s often the difference between success and failure, or ‘yes please’ and ‘no thanks’ – naming a product, naming a team, naming a project, naming whatever.

kay white
Image via Shutterstock

Giving something a name which is compelling, inviting, something that people either want, want to aim for or find interesting.

Advertisers and marketing specialists are constantly looking and listening for, words that compel, attract, persuade and interest us. You only have to think about how ads draw us in, give us the ‘why’ and the ‘what’s in it for us’ as they persuade us to buy:

  • Coca Cola – the real thing;
  • Levis – Freedom to move;
  • Adidas – right here, right now

Multi-billion pound industries thrive on finding exactly the words to motivate us into action.

Think about it: which projects in your business would you rather be a part of:

  • Getting It Right’ or ‘Avoiding Mistakes’
  • ‘Maximising Our Income’ or ‘Cutting Spending and Costs’
  • ‘Online to Win’ or ‘ 2017 – Less Downtime’

I’m pretty sure you, like me, would want to be part of the first ones – the first ones are all “towards” driven. They give us the suggestion, the hint of what the outcome is, what we’re going or aiming for. The second ones in each case are all “away froms things to avoid or things to fear. Whilst “away froms” are great influencers – we all want to avoid pain in whatever form it takes – to get people to attend an event or a meeting that only speaks to their pain is far less attractive. Talk about the outcome, name it something interesting or compelling.

It reminds me of when I heard the name a client’s company had given to a special new project, designed to bring teams together at lunchtime with in-house experts sharing their knowledge over a sandwich. They called it HELL. Loads of time and energy had gone into creating a special Educational Lunchtime Learning project and the company’s name began with H so apparently the boss said ‘let’s have a bit of a laugh’ and they called it Project HELL. “Who’s going to HELL at lunchtime?” or “I can’t make it today, I’m going to HELL”.

The point here is that after the initial giggle or smirk that it brought, no one wanted to go to such a meeting. Attracting people to become involved or be a contributor to a HELL lunch was a struggle from the word go. The project ultimately flopped within a few weeks and was scrapped. It could just as easily been called “Listen, Lunch and Learn” or “Meet and Eat” – both more enticing, hooky and interesting whilst everyone knows that the essence is still the same, the actual names of things are so critical to their success. They have to attract us.

Just as we need to carefully consider how influential and attractive the language is we use to write emails, send out proposals, leave voicemails and all the myriad of ways we’re communicating everyday – we also must have our radar tuned to the actual name we give to things – it makes the difference between HELL – and Heaven.

 

About the author

Kay White is our Show Up & Sparkle blogger. Known as the Savvy & Influential Communication Expert for Ambitious Women in Business, Kay shows professional women how to attract promotion, recognition and rewards at work without feeling they have to ’sell their soul. Kay shows her clients, who are corporate career women at all different stages of their careers, how to naturally attract more income and opportunity all while being true to themselves. Combining strategic moves with influencing skills plus compelling and assertive language and powerful mindsets, Kay draws on her own 20+ years corporate career in the very male-dominated world of London insurance broking. She started at 18 as a Secretary and left as a Director to start her own business. Hosting an annual 3-day Event for corporate women “Show Up; Sparkle & Be Heard LIVE” Kay encourages and shows women how to be the best, most valuable version of themselves. Kay is author of the Number 1 Best-Seller “The A to Z of Being Understood” and you can connect and find out more from Kay at : www.kaywhite.com.
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