Writing cracker-jack copy would be a lot simpler if every potential client thought in the same way. But in reality, they don’t.
The good news is that by understanding the various ways people think, you can appeal to all personality types in your copy. And by doing that, your responses will dramatically improve.
People process information using different senses. Some people are great listeners but lousy at visualising a concept. Others can’t truly grasp what you’re talking about unless you draw pictures on a whiteboard.
The teachings of Neuro Linguistic Programming state that there are three main information processing methods. They are visual (sight), auditory (sound) and kinesthetic (touch). The others are through thinking, smelling and tasting.
By using a combination of words that relate to each of the senses, you’re covering all bases by appealing to all types of people. Here are some examples of words that relate to various senses.
Visual (sight)
.. appears to, see, look, blind, bright, brilliant, clear, colourful, crystal clear, draw, enlighten, focus, glance, horizon, illustrate, imagine, dream, insight, it looks like, light, mirror, outlook, paint a picture, picture, reveal, see, sketch, visualise, vibrant, vivid, watch
Auditory (sound)
.. announce, argue, boom, buzz , crash, hear, listen, loud, rave, sound, noise, silence, speak, shout, music, noise, quiet, ring, roar, scream, shout, silent, silence, snap, sound, speak, squeal, talk, tell, voice, whisper, whistle, yell
Kinesthetic (touch)
.. back bone, balance, blend, blistering, bliss, bounce, brush, calm, connect, crush, cut, drive, feel, feverish, grab, hot, handle, heart, hit, lift, loose, love, massage, peaceful, prick, reach, push, rock solid, rough, rub, scratch, stir, stress, stroke, tap, touch, tranquil
Smell
.. aroma, bouquet, essence, fishy, flowery, fragrant, fresh, musty, odour, perfumed, pungent, rotten, scent, smell, sniff, snort, stench, stink, sweet scented, vapour, waft, whiff
Taste
.. acid, bite, bitter, creamy, crisp, delicious, devour, drink in, eat, fatty, fishy, fresh, greasy, juicy, lean, lick, lip smacking, luscious, meaty, melts in your mouth, milky, mouth watering, salty, peppery, savour, sip, sizzling, sour, spicy, succulent, suck, swallow, sweet, tangy, tantalising, tasty, wicked
Thinking
.. challenge, concentrate, consider, devise, dream of, dream up, experience, guess, know, learn, mediate, memorise, motivate, pretend, put on your thinking cap, sensation, sense, speculate, strategise, think, dream, true, understand, wonder
Kris Mills of Words that Sell ( http://www.wordsthatsell.com.au/ ) is a top selling copywriter, trainer and author of numerous how-to guides including Proposals and Tenders (Bids) that Sell. Kris has also produced a FREE ebook entitled “11 Bid Writing Sins and How to Avoid Them”. To arrange a FREE copy, visit:http://www.wordsthatsell.com.au/tendersebook.htm
