| There's no denying it; words are powerful. I'm | | | | it does. It also allowed me to list itin directories |
| talking | | | | and catalogs where the listings would be |
| P O W E R F U L! A single word can change your | | | | mosteffective. |
| entire perceptionof a situation. A single word can | | | | Many years ago, the makers of Sweet 'n Low |
| completely change theeffectiveness of a | | | | were in a quandary. |
| marketing or sales message to your market. | | | | How do they increase their sales when their |
| Asingle word can have an effect on your entire | | | | product is everywherealready? Being in the |
| business. Let meexplain what I mean. | | | | sweetener business, they tried to think ofcreative |
| About 20 years ago I developed a software | | | | ways of selling more Sweet 'n Low. Then they |
| product for largemainframe computers. | | | | realizedthat they were not in the "sweetener" |
| Remember that there were no PC's in thosedays; | | | | business after all; theywere in the "packaging" |
| mainframes were the biggest computers normally | | | | business. Instead of selling more Sweet |
| used bybusinesses and those that had them | | | | 'n Low, why don't they package other |
| typically had their own staffof programmers. My | | | | condiments? Catsup,mayonnaise, relish, mustard, |
| software was a tool designed specifically forthose | | | | etc. could all be sold to theirexisting customer |
| programmers and helped them with testing and | | | | base. A single word changed the direction oftheir |
| debugging. | | | | entire organization. |
| Naturally, I had to clearly convey the functionality | | | | At one time the train industry was trying to |
| of myproduct to my market (corporate | | | | figure out how toattract more passengers. Then |
| programming groups), but it wascomplicated to | | | | they realized that they were inthe "transportation" |
| describe. "...a tool that allows your programmersto | | | | business, not the "passenger" business. |
| manipulate data files and make quick changes and | | | | Suddenly they had an entirely new market, and |
| fixes fortesting, debugging, and troubleshooting..." | | | | began transportingfreight, oil, coal, vehicles, etc. A |
| What was that again? | | | | single word is all it tookto change history. |
| Then one day, like a bolt of lightening, it hit me. | | | | What is it that you do? Instead, maybe I should |
| My productis an editor. Period. An "editor". What a | | | | ask, "What is itthat you THINK you do?" Ponder |
| concept! Why didn't | | | | that for a moment. Here's anexercise: define what |
| I think of that before? An editor. Now it is crystal | | | | you do and write it down in twenty-fivewords or |
| clear. | | | | less. Be very careful, concise, and clear in |
| Programmers know what an "editor" is. My | | | | yourdescription. Expand your thinking for a |
| software allows them to | | | | moment: are there anyother words that could be |
| "edit" their data. Bingo! A single word changed my | | | | used to describe what you do? One ofthose new |
| entireperception of my own product, and enabled | | | | words just might give you a surprising insight |
| me to clearly describeto my market exactly what | | | | intowhat you COULD be doing. |