by Jeff Tippett
George Orwell’s 1984 has recently popped back into public discourse. If you aren’t familiar with it, the novel is about a man who fights the totalitarian power of government (i.e. Big Brother).
The book begins with a short, powerful sentence: “He loved Big Brother.” A longer, complex sentence wouldn’t have packed the punch that this simple, four-word sentence does.
Don’t be afraid to use short sentences. They’re crucial to your success in persuading others.
Do you know the shortest sentence in the English version of the Bible? It’s only two words: “Jesus wept.” That sentence packs in so many emotions: this all-powerful persona, God, is humanized. That a god would weep? That pulls me in. Tell me that Jesus wept, and I can start filling in the rest. I connect better than I would with the details. That’s why it works.
If you want to master the short sentence, check out Verlyn Klinkenborg’s book Several Short Sentences About Writing.
Or read a lot of Hemmingway.
If writing shorter sentences doesn’t put your freshman comp teacher into conniptions, this technique definitely will: Use only phrases, or even single words. Seriously.
Want a powerful way to create a linguistic zinger? Use a phrase as a sentence. The gods of writing won’t put a curse on you. There will be no voodoo doll with pins in it. I promise. Rather, your readers will instantly feel and understand what you’re trying to convey.
And here’s another tip: Repeat a short sentence. That’s right. Say it again. Your copy will be burned into your reader’s brain.
Say it again.
3. Ask your reader a question
Encourage your readers to pause, even slightly, and think. And if they’re thinking, they’re engaged. Try asking a question early on. It gets your users to pause and think. Any successful attempts to get them to slow down will likely keep them engaged into the next sentence.
4. Use a shocking quote
Howard Stern is often referred to as a shock jock, a reference to his willingness to say shocking things in his role as a radio host. He has a willingness to say just about anything about anyone—including the Pope.
Here’s what he said: “I’m sickened by all religions. Religion has divided people. I don’t think there’s any difference between the Pope wearing a large hat and parading around with a smoking purse and an African painting his face while praying to a rock.”
If you’re anything like me, that statement caught your attention. And likely, his quote has evoked some type of emotion in you. A shocking quote can definitely arouse curiosity, but it has to have meaning and relevance to both the audience and the subject matter.
A shocking quote has the potential to capture attention or evoke emotion. And if you’re really successful, it’ll do both.
5. Share a statistic
Toss out a mind-blowing statistic. For example, say you’re trying to persuade a potential client that email marketing is still effective. Try a statistic like this: Gmail alone has one billion users, and it is expected to grow beyond three billion users by 2020.
6. Share a fact
By definition, a fact is true. Sharing a fact makes you seem more credible. Just make sure the fact is powerful, relevant, and interesting. And factual. Sharing a fact may well also cause your reader to pause and ponder, and that’s a good thing.
Sharing a fact is especially helpful when you’re trying to persuade outside your area of expertise. Quote someone who’s an expert. How many times have you heard a statement like, “Four out of five dentists recommend . . .?” If that many dentists say it’s true, it must be true, right?
7. Invite your reader to imagine
Using the word “imagine” helps your audience form a mental picture of something that’s not present. And it also frees the mind to accept this reality with little evidence. You’re encouraging them to picture the situation in the way you want them to see it. This technique works because you set them free from the current circumstances and allow them to imagine an entirely different situation. And this different situation is the one you believe will move them.
Back during the 2016 presidential election, you might have heard something like this: “Imagine life under President Hillary Clinton. Your Second Amendment rights taken away forever. Donating to the NRA has never been more important.”
Do you think this content would capture the attention of gun-rights activists and have them pulling out their credit cards? For sure. And, in this example, the use of “imagine” is even more powerful because it’s coupled with loss aversion, something we’ll discuss in Chapter 8.
8. Disrupt your audience
Most of us are creatures of habit. We take the familiar, comfortable path. Want to capture someone’s attention very quickly? Break this path of comfort. Say something that disrupts normal expectations.
You have limited time to capture users’ attention, so every word must be crafted with purpose and care. Experiment with some of these techniques to quickly capture your readers attention. David Murray pointedly asks this question that applies to your ability to capture users’ attention early: “If nobody hears your strategic messaging, does it make a sound?
Ready for the next step? Let’s talk about how to craft a sticky message.
Questions for Reflection
What ways of capturing attention early have worked for you in the past?
What techniques for capturing attention would you like to try? Do they align with your brand?
At the end of Chapter 3, you crafted a simple message. How can you support that message in a way that captures attention? Which of the techniques in this chapter do you think will work best?
Rewrite your simple message and add in techniques to capture attention.
Test this on a potential audience to determine if your techniques worked. If not, try a different approach.
When I say to make certain your message is sticky, you’re probably scratching your head. How can messaging be sticky?
Have you ever stepped in gum? Of course. We’ve all been there. You’re walking along, and all of a sudden, there’s a slight drag on your shoe—not enough to stop you in your tracks, but definitely enough to notice. And, if you continue walking, you’ll sense the traction of this gum sticking to your shoe.
This is an analogy for what I mean when I say you need to craft a sticky message.
Consider this from Wilhelm Schnotz:
Americans are exposed to hundreds of advertisements, marketing efforts and websites each day. How many of those do people actually remember a few hours later? Marketers and advertising professionals refer to memorable ad campaigns as “sticky,” because they stick with audiences long after they’ve been exposed to them, and Web marketing gurus refer to websites that make visitors want to stick around instead of surfing as “sticky.” Developing sticky marketing requires a different approach than many advertisers take when developing their strategy.
Each day, we’re bombarded with messages, and our ability to absorb them—our bandwidth—is limited. Most of that messaging just slips away, as if off Teflon. You must find a way to make your messaging resonate. You must make it stick.
Stickiness matters for two primary reasons:
First, you want your message to remain top of mind. Something needs to trigger in the brain to keep your information front and center. And secondly, since it will likely take multiple times of your intended audience seeing your messaging before they’ll take action, you want people to remember this initial messaging so that making the connection with future ones will likely be more easily retrievable.
Generally speaking, people will need exposure to your content six or seven times before moving from awareness to action. And you’ll want to make sure they can see the connection with each new view.
In his book The Respect Effect, Paul Meshanko describes a successful ad campaign in order to explain why reposting is so important: “No matter how compelling the message, if it’s
played only once or twice, there’s very little chance of it influencing perceptions and intentions strongly enough to result in the desired buyer behaviors.”
Brands understand the importance of saying the same thing over and over. You may feel like it’s redundant and boring. But your audience needs the repetition. Check out this list of time-tested slogans Jeffry Pilcher pulled together. I’m willing to bet you’ll agree that well over half of these are “sticky”:
Got milk?
( used for 21 years, starting in 1993) Just do it.
( used for more than 26 years, starting in 1988) What happens here, stays here.
( used for more than 15 years, starting in 2003) Tastes great, less filling.
( used since the 1970s ) Good to the last drop.
( used for more than 97 years, starting in 1917) Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.
( used for more than 60 years, since 1954) Breakfast of Champions.
( used for more than 87 years, starting in 1927) Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.
(used for more than 43 years, starting in 1971)
Creating sticky messaging isn’t an elusive task. There are concrete devices you can use to make sure your messaging remains with your users. Here are a few to get you started:
Repetition
This device is pretty obvious: Repeat the same words within your core messaging. You can make a single word or multiple words much more impactful when you help your audience focus on what’s most important.
There are more ways to structure repetition than you probably realize. It can be more sophisticated than just repeating the same word multiple times. Consider these variations on repetition:
Anadiplosis: Repetition of the last word in a line or clause
Anaphora: Repetition of words at the start of clauses or verses
Antistasis: Repetition of words or phrases in opposite sense
Diacope: Repetition of words broken by other words
Epanalepsis: Repetition of the same words at the end and start of a sentence
Epimone: Repetition of a phrase (usually a question) to stress a point
Epiphora: Repetition of the same word at the end of each clause
Gradatio: A construction in poetry where the last word of one clause becomes the first of the next, and so on
Negative-Positive Restatement: Repetition of an idea first in negative terms and then in positive terms
Polyptoton: Repetition of words of the same root with different endings
Symploce: A combination of anaphora and epiphora in which repetition is both at the end and the beginning
Take a look at this literary example of epiphora from Shusaku Endo in his novel Deep River:
“Hatred was spreading everywhere, blood was being spilled everywhere, wars were breaking out everywhere.”
The word “everywhere” sticks, right? It’s especially effective at the end of the phrases because the punctuation creates a natural pause.
Or how about this example from Ann Patchett’s The Patron Saint of Liars. Notable in this instance is the repetition of a phrase: “So I said yes to Thomas Clinton and later thought that I had said yes to God and later still realized I had said yes only to Thomas Clinton.”
Are you ready to say “yes?” I sure am!
If there’s a single word or short phrase that’s important to your messaging, then consider using repetition. The frequency of use will give the word power, make it stick with your audience, and help drive home your point.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words—such as the two “M”s in Moonlight Madness. It signals to the reader that the words are important. It also often makes the words fun to repeat.
If you’ve paid any attention to national politics in the past few years, you’ve probably heard this short phrase: “Repeal and Replace.”
It’s been everywhere, right? House Speaker Paul Ryan once suggested that every Congressional Republican runs on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. Audiences typically respond instantly and passionately. Why does it work? One reason is the use of alliteration in those action verbs makes this a strong, memorable phrase. It’s solid.
Rhyming
For those of you who love order and symmetry, this device will likely make your list. Rhyming gives structure, often cadence, and definitely helps people remember the message. This section on rhyming is not designed to be exhaustive. There are textbooks that go deep into the various forms of rhyming. Rather, I want to offer a few options that could easily be implemented into your sticky messaging.
I grew up on nursery rhymes; I think we all did. This particular rhyme is probably the most familiar in the English language:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men...
Can you say the final line? Of course, you can. In fact, you probably can’t restrain yourself from saying, “Couldn’t put Humpty together again.”
Or how about this tagline? Heard it? “Bounty—the quicker picker-upper.”
I don’t think I can even say “Bounty” without adding that tag. Are you the same?
Rhyming copy will help your message stick. And there are so many forms of rhymes that you can find what really works for you and perhaps add a bit of nuanced sophistication. Take a look at these variations and options:
Perfect rhyme
Perhaps the most well-known of all types of rhyme, the perfect rhyme is:
exemplified by homonyms, such as bear/bare or wear/ where;
one in which different consonants are followed by identical vowel and consonant sounds, such as in moon and June.
General types of rhyme
The term “general rhyme” refers to a variety of phonetic likenesses between words. Here are four examples:
Syllabic rhymes: Syllabic rhymes are words in which the last syllables sound similar but without a stressed vowel. Examples are bottle/fiddle, cleaver/silver, pitter/patter.
Assonance: Assonance rhymes (also known as slant rhymes) are words that have the same vowel sound— like slow/road and shake/mate—and can be placed in such phrases as, “Try as I might, the kite did not fly.”
Imperfect rhymes: Imperfect rhymes are rhymes where either the vowels or the consonants of the stressed syllables are the same. They can also be referred to as off rhymes, oblique rhymes, near rhymes, and half rhymes. Some examples are moon/run, hold/bald, eyes/light, years/yours.
Eye rhymes: Although I don’t recommend using eye rhymes, I do want to bring them to your attention. Also called sight or spelling rhymes, this type of rhyming has words that “look” like they rhyme but are pronounced differently. These are words like food/flood, cough/bough, laughter/slaughter, love/move. . . I think you get the picture. I don’t prefer these in copy because they don’t ring out. And our goal here is to be memorable and stick.
Often, there’s a bonus to rhyming: cadence. Cadence is derived from the Latin word cadentia, which means “a falling.” Linguists refer to this as the prosodic pattern. Check out this example from a recent political activist’s sign:
Can’t build a wall. Hands too small.
Know what this sign is referencing? Know who it is referencing? I bet so. And what a catchy phrase, the epitome of a sticky message.
Again, your goal is to make sure your messaging sticks to your reader as part of the process of moving them to responding to your call to action. I encourage you to try several of these techniques. Find what works for you and your message. Get out of your comfort zone a bit. Have some fun, and craft a message that will last.
You now have plenty of creative ways to make your messaging sticky. Which leads us to one final question: How do you determine which words to select? Which words should you repeat?
Although the
re are numerous ways to approach this question, perhaps the simplest way is to ask yourself which words…
Are most important?
Help to emphasize your main point?
Help to make an emotional connection?
Connect with an already known/experienced fact?
Ready for the next step? Let’s talk about how to help others find their win.
Questions for Reflection
What sticky messages come to your mind?
What characteristics of those messages cause them to remain in your memory?
Look back at the simple message you crafted in Chapter 3 and the techniques in this chapter. How can you write your message in such a way that it remains top of mind for others?
Try a different approach. Rewrite your message using a different technique for making it sticky.
Sometimes, in trying to create a cute, sticky message, we break from our brand standards. Reviewing your sticky messages, do they stay true to the brand you’re creating?
The challenge was daunting, but achievable. It was consequential and had the potential to create a lot of money. And although critics said it could never happen, I believed it could.
I’m talking about a grassroots campaign I led: The North Carolina Brunch Bill. The state’s Blue laws prohibited restaurants and other venues from selling alcohol before noon on Sundays. The rationale was that we had to protect the church, and Sunday church service ended at noon. So before noon, no alcohol. After noon, go for it.
I was hired by a national organization to build a grassroots coalition to support the lobbyists for the restaurant industry and a statewide association as they carefully, and with precision, navigated the North Carolina General Assembly.
