I recently put out a post on LinkedIn talking about the power of words, and how they can make us feel a multitude of things.
We’ve all been there, you need some inspiration and a message comes through from a friend or loved one and you say to yourself ‘That’s just what I needed to hear.’ Or you’re driving down the road and your favourite song comes on and transports you to a specific memory, giving you feelings you felt all those years ago.
Words resonate and can evoke powerful emotions. As children, we were told stories that allowed us to imagine incredible, fantastical pictures, transporting us into different worlds. The power of the words wasn’t just in the story itself but in the way it resonated with the younger version of you.
As we grew up to be teenagers a poem – or more likely a goth band – would have captured our feelings of angst and confusion, validating our moods, giving us a sense of belonging, and maybe even inspiring us to explore a route of creativity.
In modern business, we consume words daily, through emails, news stories, product descriptions and so much more, and those words, both positive and negative will stick with us. Whether the experience is good or bad will often come down to our interpretation of words.
The way we read something, and just as importantly how it’s written, can determine how we feel and ultimately how we share/respond to whatever it is moving forward. Why do you think people often add a load of emojis in their messages to you? They’re worried that what they’re saying will come across as too strong, so they add in some emojis to ‘soften’ it.
But words aren’t just about grand gestures, 1,000-word statements, or life-changing linguistics. They can be the short message you send to a friend (how are you?) or the note you leave for a loved one. In business people often argue that you can say more with less, that being concise is better than waffling and that’s so true. Short, impactful statements about you and your business can attract more people than a long introduction piece, regardless of how full of impressive information it may be.
That’s why I often work with businesses to help tell their stories – taking 1,000s of words and turning it into snappier, punchier, prose. The attention span of people nowadays is terrible, and people want to ingest their information as quickly as possible.
If that’s something you struggle with then come and chat with me. I can, at the very least, advise you on the best ways to say what you need to in the most impactful way.