200,000 Words
Welcome to the Why to Wow newsletter which is all about inspiring the hearts and minds of people worldwide with the Power of Differentiation. In the Why to Wow newsletter, I share my experiences over the last 40+ years helping leaders differentiate their brands and products. I hope it will inspire you to discover and share your own brand’s uniqueness with the world.
There are roughly 200,000 commonly used words in the English language, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to discover the right terms or phrases to describe your differentiation and brand. As Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “Words create worlds.” Your goal is to find the exact language that sets you apart from the crowd. Even if you fall a little short, you’re ahead of the pack that is producing uninteresting pablum for the world to digest.
We’ll focus on three points in this message:
Difference-maker #1: Retire the cliché.
While they may feel comfortable, clichés usually mean nothing and get little attention, even if they are somewhat true. “World-class,” “One-stop shop,” “We do it all,” “We go the extra mile,” “We’ve got you covered,” and “We provide solutions” are just a few examples to run far away from.
According to Wiki:
A cliché (/ˈkliːʃeɪ/ or /klɪˈʃeɪ/) is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work [that] has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being trite or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was meaningful or novel.
My team worked with a 40-year-old heavy equipment distributor whose slogan was, “We service what we sell.” Their leader was rather attached to it, but there was a problem. When it was established in the 1980s, they were the rare company that would have the wherewithal and resources to fix and repair the products they sold. However, over the last twenty years, it has become commonplace for distributors to do this. In effect, they were bragging about something that was of no value, a disconnect with their customer base. They moved on from that cliché and created a new slogan from the 200,000 words they had at their disposal.
Difference-maker #2: When in doubt, leave it out.
Mark Twain wrote, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” Your brand messaging must be as elegant as possible using the fewest words to tell your story. As Twain alluded, in my experience, it takes far longer to edit and refine a message than it does to create the first, inspired draft. My mantra is when in doubt, leave it out—create messaging that is succinct, clear, and moving. That applies to your slogan, social media, ads, or website copy. It takes time, but your brand deserves it.
Difference-maker #3: Choose the right word.
My company was hired by a healthcare furniture manufacturer. Their energetic president and founder told us, “I’m excited for you to learn about us and our brilliant design.” We conducted their Brand Assessment, asking distributors, customers, and employees what made the brand unique. We heard interesting and fairly shocking responses. Customers said the company was great to work with, but they were far behind the industry in design. They paired that with positive feedback on the engineering, which they felt was not simply good, but genius. It allowed for easy assembly and seamless fabric replacement—a significant advantage for them.
The president was stunned to hear this. “So, all along, I’ve been pounding my fist to make sure we trumpet our design in every ad and every speech I make. That message must have been a disconnect. I’ve always looked at engineering and design as being the same thing.” Words do create worlds. Claiming to be a design leader, while most viewed them as dated and old school made the brand look out of touch and allowed the competition to gain ground. This moment was a milestone for the team as they now realized who they were and moved forward celebrating and promoting their engineering differentiation. To the president’s credit, he didn’t just accept that their design needed work, he updated and modernized it to further enhance the industry-leading brand.
Choosing your brand’s lexicon is critical in setting it apart from the competition as well as attracting and motivating your employees and customers. Avoiding clichés and instead selecting the precise words you can “own” will help you differentiate. After all, there are 200,000 words to choose from.
I recently enjoyed hosting Chuck Surack on the Difference Talks podcast. In addition to being a long-time friend of mine, Chuck is the founder of Sweetwater, the world’s largest music equipment retailer, as well as a philanthropist and musician. We discuss his approach to building strong customer relationships and the principles he lives by every day. It’s a great way to spend 34 minutes! Listen to the conversation today.