Walked into an Ace Hardware and the salesman wasn’t helpful?
[Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man]
Been sad at Disneyworld? [The happiest place on earth]
Found it difficult to navigate a Staples store? [That was easy]
Not been able to run a mile after eating Dunkin’ Donuts? [America runs on Dunkin’]
👉 Absolutist language is easy to write and hard to live up to.
While
B2B marketing teams aren’t usually responsible for brand slogans, what you are responsible for is your company’s positioning and the language used in your blogs, eBooks, white papers, and case study content.
It’s easy to be absolutist. But, absolute language corrupts absolutely. Here's why:
The B2B buying journey today involves 6-10 decision makers, each armed with 4-5 pieces of content they’ve gathered independently. More specifically, B2B buyers spend 27% of their time researching independently online and 18% researching independently
offline.
That’s nearly half their time learning all they can about your business and products through the content you put out.
The bottom line: The language you use teaches your prospects about the insurance industry and its products, more specifically what to expect and what they need to know.
When we’re absolutist, we give the wrong impression, potentially even poorly educating readers on something as concrete as coverage limits or terms.
👉 Instead of “insurance covers your costs for…,” consider “insurance helps cover…”
👉 Instead of “when businesses x, they reduce their risk of…,” try “Doing x may help reduce the risk of…”
👉 Instead of “The most effective way to minimize exposure…” consider “Minimizing exposure is possible to when…”
👉 Instead of “Instituting these best practices will ensure your business…” try “Consider the following industry-leading best practices…”
I have a client who forbids the
following words in any of their written content. Period. No exceptions.
Best
Ensure
Will
Always
You will
All companies
Is your copy absolutist?
Write back and let me know how you combat this across the marketing funnel.
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