Title Words That Work

Author Frank Luntz

Year Published 2008

Kind of Book Sales/Communication/Writing

How strongly I recommend it 6/10 

My Impressions Cool book written by the speech writer for former US presidents. The book looks at the way people react to certain words (like 'innovation' or 'change' for example.) As you can imagine this information is very important for anyone writing sales copy or trying to by a more effective writer in general.

Date Read Jan 2019

Practical Takeaways

  • Focus not on what you say, but on what people hear //Always consider how what you're saying will be interpreted

  • Put yourself in your listener's shoes. Imagine what they are thinking and feelings

  • Look at the world from your listener's point of view

  • Use euphemism to your advantage (eg. Gaming vs gambling estate tax vs death tax)

  • Use short words. Use old words. "Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all."-Winston Churchill

  • Use small words

  • Avoid words that might force someone to reach for the dictionary

  • Don't use fancy/academic words needlessly

  • Use short sentences

  • Don't write sentences containing more than two commas

  • Never use a sentence when a phrase will do

  • Never use four words when three can say just as much

  • "Say what you mean and mean what you say"

  • Repeat your message several times

  • Put a new spin on an old idea // Jordan Peterson

  • "Don’t acknowledge that you're stealing from the past. Present it as something fresh"

  • Shock or surprise your audience

  • Use language that has an appealing sound and texture //poetry

  • Speak aspirationally

  • Personalize and humanize your message

  • Make your message cause people to feel an emotion// "people will forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel."-Warren Beatty

  • Don't sell people a product sell them a better them. (a smarter, sexier, happier you)

  • Utilize the power of the word 'imagine' when communicating or selling something

  • Paint a vivid picture with your words

  • Ask a rhetorical question to your audience

  • Get your audience to participate (asking questions, imagining things etc.)

  • Give people the 'why' of the message before you tell them the 'therefore'

  • Avoid sports metaphors when addressing a general audience

  • "Never lose sight of whom you are talking to- and who is listening."

  • Don't assume your audience already knows about what you're talking about

  • When teaching "know from where your pupil is starting"

  • Don't call your audience old or older

  • Use the word 'challenge' not 'problem'

  • Ask people how they like to be described (how they refer to themselves). Use the terminology they prefer (black, African-American, queer, gay etc.)

  • With Hispanic/Latino individuals use the country that they are from to describe them not the term Hispanic or Latino (Mexican, Brazilian etc.)

  • Show respect for how people identify

  • When writing an article or making a video or speech. List things in 10's, 4's or 25 is the best.

  • Don't use the term "I promise" when talking to an audience

  • when talking to an audience Consider

  1. Simplicity

  2. Brevity

  3. Credibility

  4. Consistency

  5. Novelty

  6. Sound

  7. Aspiration

  8. Relevance

  • Tell people what you "believe in" not what you "think"

  • Sell people convenience

  • Have you message or sales pitch oriented towards a brighter future

  • Show women you're sorry, don't just say the words (eg. buying flowers)

  • To avoid getting a traffic ticket acknowledge your offense at the offset and beg for mercy. "when the police officer reaches your window, look him or her straight in the eye and say, 'I'm sorry officer'

  • When writing a letter write many short sentences as opposed to a few long ones.

  • "Grab them by the throat and don't let go"-old marketing expression //frontload your pitch

  • Use bold and italicized enumeration to make certain words or phrases stand out in an email or article or book you're writing.

  • Use the words

  1. Imagine

  2. Hassle-Free

  3. Lifestyle

  4. Results

  5. Innovation

  6. Independent

  7. Peace of mind

  8. Certified

  9. Spirituality

  10. A 'balanced approach'

  • Use "re" words; Renew, Revitalize, Rejuvenate, Restore, Rekindle, Reinvent

  • Straight talk people

  • Know your audience. Challenge them, but don't offend them

 

Big Ideas

  • People become suspicious and mistrustful when an author uses fancy words needlessly

  • A statement, when put in the form of a rhetorical question, can have much greater impact than a plain assertion

  • If enough people misuse a word, its meaning changes to what the majority says it means

  • In today's society someone's Silence is "proof" that they are Guilty

  • What matters is not what you say. It is what people hear (connotatively/emotionally etc.)

  • Whatever you say will be interpreted by the receiver

You are not in control of how the receiver of your words interprets what you say

  • People forget what you say, but they remember how you made them feel

Surprising Facts

  • "Men's political ideological opinions tend to change far less as they get older than their female counterparts."

 

Unknown Terms

Wordsmith: a skilled user of words.

Intellect: a term used in studies of the human mind, and refers to the ability of the mind to come to correct conclusions about what is true or real, and about how to solve problems.

Orwellian: 1.characteristic of the writings of George Orwell, especially with reference to his dystopian account of a future totalitarian state in Nineteen Eighty-Four.2."most people use the term Orwellian to mean someone who engages in doublespeak"-Frank Luntz

Generation Gap: differences of outlook or opinion between people of different generations.

Blog: short for Weblog, an online journal that can be updated anytime, day or night.

Estate tax/Death tax: a tax levied on the net value of the estate of a deceased person before distribution to the heirs.