One Way You Might Be Turning Off Your Readers
The other day I bought two audiobooks by Robert Greene.
The first book, The 48 Laws of Power, mildly assaulted my sense of right and wrong and what I think is acceptable behavior. The other one, The 33 Strategies of War, excited me and left me feeling inspired.
On the way to work this morning it occurred to me that the Laws and Strategies outlined weren’t really all that different. Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I realized there is a great deal of overlap between them. That got me to thinking…
Given the large degree of of overlap, why would one book make my stomach turn a bit while the other one inspired me and kept me enthralled?
I think there is a valuable lesson squeezed into the answer. Here is my take on it:
Power, and the quest for it, has a social stigma attached to it. People who actively seek more power (usually by taking it from others) are widely thought of as self-centered, cold, cut throat, egotistical, and narcissistic. For me, the word Power, when used in “control” sense, has a negative connotation.
War, and warriors, on the other hand, often have a semi-romantic connotation. We glorify successful warriors in our history books. Dying in battle is an honorable death. Warrior is almost synonymous with “manly.” And, because our history books and movies often position us as the victors, we also tend to associate a sense of pride to being adept warriors. For me, the word War, in this context, has a positive connotation.
In essence, I started listening to each audiobook with existing prejudices towards each concept. Those prejudices dictated the frame I viewed the very same information through - both positively and negatively.
If you’re anything like me, it’s likely, from time to time, you forget to pay attention to the emotional weight your words might carry. We often don’t put a great deal of thought into the emotional impact of our words; instead we tend to focus on the meaning of the words we choose.
If you’re in marketing or sales this can be a costly mistake.
Take a few minutes this week to read through your sales copy, or to recite your sales pitch, looking for words that might have some unintentionally negative emotional impact.
Those few minutes spent playing ’seek and replace’ could end up resulting in the easiest boost in conversion you’ll ever see.
’til next time,
Sean
P.S. Both books are great. If you haven’t read them, pick up a copy. They make great “bathroom readers.” 
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Insightful post, thank you.
That is an excellent point. For what it’s worth, this is true for speaking in any context. I often find that i am trying to teach or communicate a point, but just using the wrong word can make people not hear a thing I say because it is an emotionally charged word.
Thanks, this is good to remember for bloggers too!
Just followed you on twitter (my 700th follow you are in fact…who cares eh?)
Anyway I checked out your blog to see if you were real first..haha..
And I love this post. My friend Jyl (@jyl_mommygossip) is always talking about an abundance mentality. And you maybe aren’t quite talking about that here, but the part about power, is why I thought that.
You can be in sales marketing whatever (crap i only sell my little handmade purses and totes, yada yada), and still have a ‘there’s room in this big internet world for everyone’ kind of thought process? If you come across all the time as I’m only helping me in my sales or whatever you will actually get less, than if you say in my world help another mommy blogger with her layout or fix her ‘no-reply’ comments in blogger or a lady who is starting a sewing business even tho it’s similar to my own. I have a ton of knowledge (in my small way) but why keep it to myself??
ramble ramble from a mommyblogger.
Anyway, congrats YOU are number 700.