How You Say, What You Say

February 26, 2010

Interview with Dr. Frank Luntz, author of the book Words That Work, Revised, Updated Edition: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear

_______________

Mike Carruthers:
Words can be tricky business: take the word "accountable" - it sounds strong, trustworthy and responsible - but in communication like advertising, research shows that accountable is deadly.

Dr. Frank Luntz:
If you tell me that the company is accountable, it must mean that they're doing something bad that they have to be accountable for.
 

Dr. Frank Luntz, author of the book Words That Work ... 

I don't want a cell phone company that tells me that they're accountable; I want them to tell me that they're reliable. Accountability is one of the most powerful words in the English language but don't ever use it trying to sell a new product because then it says that the product doesn't work.

Another interesting principle of advertising is best illustrated by the ads for Apple's IPod.

Apple figured out that every time you put a photograph in an ad, people look at that picture and decide whether or not they can relate to the individual. But if you use a silhouette, then everybody can relate. And so they've got an ad of a young woman - I don't even know if she's a young woman, she could be 16 or 46 - and everyone can see themselves in that ad.

How do you get a table at a restaurant that's all booked up? Dr. Luntz says it can all be in the words you use.

If you explain that this is a special date, that this is a meeting with the boss and you go into some detail about why that table matters, they're much more likely to give it to you. People want to engage in other people's lives and when you unveil a little of yourself you've created a relationship where they are now invested in helping you.