Words and language matter. The power of language to mobilise, inspire and reimagine new tomorrows is undisputed and revered. Conversely, negative words demoralise and increase anxiety.
It also matters that small businesses differentiate themselves in their market. But the duplication of trite and lazy language blurs into a pit of dull unoriginality.
The overwhelm of trauma language
The start of 2023 saw an onslaught of media stories of Australian tragedies and pain. I cannot recall such volume in a short space of time.
This was on top of a 2022 of devastating international war atrocities, mental health deaths, COVID, and environmental, economic, and weather disasters. We have been overwhelmed with a newsfeed full of combat and trauma-filled language and images.
And then further trauma and destructive language is pervasively replicated in marketing campaigns and business dialogue. Online business language is awash with phrases that induce more stress with gruesome narratives.
The research
There is a lot of research on the impact of words. Dr Maria Richter for Science Direct reported that her scientific studies actually show that positive and negative words not only affect us on a deep psychological level, but they have a significant impact on the outcome of our lives.
There’s also evidence to show that words affect perceptions of circumstances.
In 2022, Dr Debra Wilson on Psych Central reviewed a 2016 study. It was found the context of words matters and people naturally import perceptions of certain words into new situations that are neutral.
Researchers called this “semantic prosody,” where the precise meaning of a word comes from where it occurs in language.
Where trauma language manifests
Clickbait headlines, media articles, lead magnets, social media posts and email subject lines are breeding grounds for phrases such as:
Business suicide, killer pitch, shooting the competition, career death, killer email, killing social media, career suicide, gun person, war on talent, war on media.
It’s not smart or creative to use such phrases, but lazy and unimaginative marketing.
I’m not one for the magnification of woke discourse or outrage reactions at every turn. The world has gone mad with umbrage.
But the purpose of marketing language and communication is to inspire and build an emotional and solution connection of relevance.
It’s not about being timid, crouching behind safe weasel words and being scared witless to be different. Ditching trauma and pain language is a call to go far higher and bolder.
And it’s a call and commitment to reduce the imagery of hurt and trauma in any way possible. Marketing and communications hold such opportunity here.
Doing better
Fall in love with the Thesaurus – so many synonyms to find different and appropriate words.
Be creative, congruent and responsible. Congruent to the topic and responsible in avoiding inappropriate language is key.
If the subject is:
- not about health, cancer and mortality – don’t use ‘killer’
- not about humans taking their own life – don’t use ‘suicide’
- not about military activity – don’t use ‘kill’ or ‘gun’
- not about war – don’t add ‘war’ to other words
- not about murders – don’t use ‘shooter’
- not about actual military combat – don’t use ‘war’.
There are far more interesting and formidable words and phrases to use to create compelling marketing messages and conversations.
Whether you give a hoot or not about the impact or use of these phrases, I’m sure you will care about attracting more business and standing out from the competition.
In a sea of content and marketing overwhelm, in 2023 focus on building more positive language associations and powerful outcomes.
DARE Group Australia is a valued content partner of Inside Small Business
