
Are you a Wordie? You are if you LOVE words. You read a lot, pay attention to the writing on TV shows, and take note of online writing in all its forms. It's kinda like being a Foodie, but Foodies can be snobs (eat this, don’t eat that, cook it this way) and certainly they don’t promote playing with your food.Wordies, though, believe in having fun – in playing with words.
Think about it. Why describe your day as “Good” or even “Fabulous”, when you can say “Fantabulous” and capture more attention? And who can resist a word like “crap-tastic” that captures the bittersweet essence of life together with a dash of cynicism.
Sometimes you’ve got to stick to facts, stay professional. But when it’s OK to loosen up, why not have some fun, show some personality? Say ”fantabulous” instead of “good”. When you play around with words, it makes the listener stop and think. Maybe smile. Thinking and smiling are good outcomes.
The Internet is responsible for some wonderful new words and word mash-ups: netizens (denizens or citizens of the Internet), blog (web log), hashtag (from the hash symbol “#”). Plus there’s the “–ify” epidemic: Spotify, Hashtagify, and so on. You can change any noun into a verb by adding “ify” at the end. This trend is getting old, but the creativity that started it is stupendous.
Creative use of words gets attention. Fun gets attention. While kids go for any kind of attention, positive or negative, marketers want to get the positive recognition from the right people (their prospects). That takes market knowledge and writing skill.
If you want to add some fun to your marketing writing, contact me at claire.e.cunningham@gmail.com
Think about it. Why describe your day as “Good” or even “Fabulous”, when you can say “Fantabulous” and capture more attention? And who can resist a word like “crap-tastic” that captures the bittersweet essence of life together with a dash of cynicism.
Sometimes you’ve got to stick to facts, stay professional. But when it’s OK to loosen up, why not have some fun, show some personality? Say ”fantabulous” instead of “good”. When you play around with words, it makes the listener stop and think. Maybe smile. Thinking and smiling are good outcomes.
The Internet is responsible for some wonderful new words and word mash-ups: netizens (denizens or citizens of the Internet), blog (web log), hashtag (from the hash symbol “#”). Plus there’s the “–ify” epidemic: Spotify, Hashtagify, and so on. You can change any noun into a verb by adding “ify” at the end. This trend is getting old, but the creativity that started it is stupendous.
Creative use of words gets attention. Fun gets attention. While kids go for any kind of attention, positive or negative, marketers want to get the positive recognition from the right people (their prospects). That takes market knowledge and writing skill.
If you want to add some fun to your marketing writing, contact me at claire.e.cunningham@gmail.com