The Power of Words: How the Right Messaging Can Shape Your Business Success
Words matter—now more than ever. The right words define businesses, inspire teams, and connect with customers. But bold claims must be grounded in truth. Words don’t just reflect reality; they shape it. Use them wisely to build trust and impact.
“Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
How do you get your ideas across when it seems everyone else is shouting?
Despite what you might feel words still matter. Really.
That seems hard to believe I know in an age where on any given day it feels like we’re drowning in words.
Somewhere between 5 and 10 million blog posts are published a day. Every. Single. Day.
It might sound wrong, given the extreme level of background noise generated by news and digital channels but, I’d argue they matter today more than ever.
Why?
Because at a time when facts can be as toxic as lies; when conspiracy theories dominate news and political agendas, and digital technologies enable infinite availability of information, words (the right words) make the difference between viral success and a business on the sickbed.
That’s not to say that ‘virality’ should be your ultimate aspiration. But you get the point.
The best-run, most successful businesses manage the right mix of words that speak as much to their target customers as they do to the people they employ and the products they sell.
Apple’s “It just works” is both guiding principle for the design of the company’s products and a stand-out selling point to buyers
UK supermarket chain Tesco’s “Every Little Helps” campaign in the early 2000s was a message to customers that it was keeping costs low, and a statement of purpose to staff to maximise efficiency
At its peak, British Airways’ “World’s favourite airline” slogan in the 1980s and 90s was both factual claim and aspirational marketing slogan.
It’s more than about creating another elevator pitch.
It’s about boiling your business down to its ‘essence’ that can act as a guiding light - for you, your products or your customers and teams.
And it will (should) change over time as you, your team and your business grow.
But in an era when baseless claims get more oxygen than statements of fact, it’s important to remember that words are not released into a vacuum.
They need a basis in reality.
In fact it’s more than - they can help build your reality.
For example, setting out on a journey:
To define what makes your business different (customer goals)
To refine what would make it better (product goals)
And to identify your business’ core purpose (internal goals)
Will mean the words you use and the claims you make can be both powerful and a progressive force for the business and your people.
In other words, they’re an essential tool in building the business itself.
Don’t make claims without caution however. Hubris can easily get in the way.
Bold as your claims might, (can!) be, ground them in reality - to build trust in what you’re doing - to build followers and help the business stay on course.
Of the three companies listed above two of them - British Airways and Tesco - ditched their slogans long ago as their fortunes changed.
“Promotions” need products. Products need culture.
Don’t expect your words to keep doing the heavy lifting once they’ve been spoken.
Simon Hardie is an author and founder of findexable - the digital analytics and insight platform. He co-hosts the Born to Disrupt podcast with Mingzulu and Disrupts
