It’s Not What You Say
“It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.”
That’s the punch line of Words That Work by Dr. Frank Luntz. He then goes on to write about how to craft your message so people hear it.
For those of you not familiar with his work, Luntz is a pollster who specializes in finding words and phrases that will help his clients sell their products or ideas. Luntz is best known for his work for Fox News and on behalf of Republican politicians. And he’s generated his share of controversy. There are many who disagree with the results of his work, although even his critics acknowledge he’s extremely effective.
I’ve had Words That Work on my reading list for a long time. It’s a fascinating book. I recommend it to anyone who makes their living with words and persuasion.
Here are Luntz’s 10 rules of successful communication:
- Simplicity: Use small words. “The more simply and plainly an idea is presented, the more understandable it is – and therefore the more credible it will be.”
- Brevity: Use short sentences. “The most memorable political language is rarely longer than a sentence.”
- Credibility is as important as philosophy. “Tell people who you are or what you do. Then be that person and do what you have said you would do.”
- Consistency matters. “Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Good language is like the Energizer Bunny. It keeps going . . . and going . . . and going.”
- Novelty: Say something new. “There’s a simple test to determine whether or not your message has met this rule. If it generates an ‘I didn’t know that’ response, you have succeeded.”
- Sound and texture matter. “The sounds and texture of language should be just as memorable as the words themselves. A string of words that have the same first letter, the same sound, or the same syllabic cadence is more memorable than a random collection of sounds.”
- Speak aspirationally. “Messages need to say what people want to hear. This is the one area where politicians often have the edge over the corporate community.”
- Visualize. “Paint a vivid picture. From M&M’s ‘Melts in your mouth not in your hand’ to Morton Salt’s ‘When it rains, it pours’ to NBC’s ‘Must See TV,’ the slogans we remember for a lifetime almost always have a strong visual component, something we can see and almost feel.”
- Ask a question. “‘Is it live or is it Memorex?’ ‘Where do you want to go today?’ (Microsoft) ‘Can you hear me now?’ (Verizon Wireless). ‘Got milk?’ may be the most memorable print ad campaign of the past decade. The creator realized, whether intentionally or not, that it’s sometimes not what you say but what you ask that really matters.”
- Provide context and explain relevance. “You have to give people the ‘why’ of a message before you tell them the ‘therefore’ and the ‘so what.’ Some people call this framing. I prefer the word context, because it better explains why a particular message matters.”
That’s my two cents’ worth. And, in this case, Frank Luntz’s. What’s yours?
Tags: frank luntz, language, media relations, message, persuasion, politics, words that work