What to Say

Old ideas are carried by old words.

New ideas are carried by new words.

Old words keep you inside the box.

New words help you escape it.

If you want to remain inside the box and fall behind the pack, just keep talking about target customers, demographics, gross impressions and unique selling propositions.

Do you want to keep up with the times, get ahead of the curve? Grasp the new ideas. Learn the new words.

These are the new ideas. These are the new words:

Felt need: A desire in the heart of the customer. To speak to an unfelt need is to answer a question that no one was asking.

Relevance: A message has relevance to the degree it speaks to a felt need.

Credibility: A message has credibility to the degree it is believed.

Impact quotient: Relevance + Credibility.

Competitive environment: an objective assessment of (A.) the market and (B.) your place in it. Your strengths and weaknesses compared to the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, including location, reputation, selection, product lines, unaided recall (brand awareness,) etc.

Limiting factor: anything that’s holding you back.

Unleveraged asset: an ace you forgot you had up your sleeve.

Core competence: what you’re all about, really.

Market potential: the total dollars available in your business category in your marketplace. Easily measured if you know your NAICS code.

Share of voice: An advertiser’s percentage of all the advertising done in their category. Location visibility, signage, word-of-mouth, etc. are included in this metric.

Share of mind: The mental real estate an advertiser owns in the mind of the public. Share of voice x impact quotient = share of mind

Share of market: An advertiser’s percentage of the total business volume done in their category.

Authenticity: Being what you say you are.

Transparency: showing your dirty laundry; admitting a downside rather than ignoring it. Transparency increases credibility.

Personal Experience Factor: Buzz is triggered by personal experience. If the experience of your customer – the word on the street – does not line up with your message, your message has no credibility. Unscripted, unedited, unpolished testimonials have credibility because they carry the credentials of personal experience and the markings of authenticity.

Ad-speak: Cliché’s, empty phrases, unsubstantiated claims and hyperbole – the language of yesterday’s advertising. Words without weight, having neither relevance nor credibility.

Curse of knowledge: The blinders that come with expertise.

Brandable chunks: vivid, recurring phrases used by an advertiser to help position and define the brand. Slogans and taglines are out. Brandable chunks are in.

Black words: empty words that fail to contribute to a colorful mental image. The objective of every good writer is to remove the black words so that the others shine more brightly.

Were you waiting for me to discuss metrics, unique visitors, page views and the other jargon of digital media? No need. Those things are already being discussed as much as they need to be.

The 4 keys to a rainbow future are these:

1. Relevance

2. Credibility

3. Speak to a felt need.

4. Be what you say.

That’s it, really. The rest is just bookkeeping.

Roy H. Williams