Best Words and Phrases That Sells: A Beginner’s Guide

Are you looking for the best words and phrases to market and sell your business?

According to New York Times, a person living in New York typically sees 5,000 ads daily. In 2022, Digital ad spending will hit $730 billion. It’s clearly getting harder and harder to stand out.

Your words and phrases are the secrets to avoid drowning in the sea of sameness. Choosing the right words will help you motivate, influence, and persuade your prospects to buy more from you.

Having a differentiated product or strategy will not be enough; others will catch up one day, and what will remain will be the words that will differentiate you and command attention.

In this guide, we will dive into the best words and phrases you need to know to sell more (with examples).

Words that call out your target audiences

The most important thing in marketing is targeting the right person – The ideal buyers of your product/service. When you say who this product is for, people will take notice and pay attention. Simply saying that your product is for “everyone” is not as effective as “It is for 25 years old mothers with 1-year-old baby boys”. Don’t hesitate to make your copy narrower as it tends to be more persuasive. Besides, consumers would pay a premium for products if they felt the product is specifically tailored to them. This means general words tend to perform worse than specific words and phrases.

Here’s another way to look at it – If you’re working for an Oil company and you need to write a whitepaper about gas cylinders. If your target audience is Plant operators, they would be more interested in the specifications of the bolts. However, if you’re writing to a CFO of a gas company, they would be interested in the cost and returns of your product. 

Here are the phrases and words you can use to identify, call-out and resonate with your target audience. The highlighted bold words are the phrases you can use as a template.

• A special invitation for Software Development Engineers
• Are you ever worried about your nose-bleed, high cost LinkedIn ads?
• Announcing: A Sales Masterclass for Sales professionals.
• Attention: For all digital marketing students graduating in 2024
• Calling all digital marketing professionals to apply for one of the most highly rated digital marketing courses of 2023. 
• Dear Chief Marketing Officers.
• Don’t you just love enjoy making money in your sleep. 
• Does your lead generation campaign consistently incur high cost?
•  If you ever struggled with getting a job at a tech company, then this interview guide is especially for you! 
• For B2B advertisers using LinkedIn document ads.
• For serious marketers only.
• Have you ever wondered how to reduce your cost per lead in your LinkedIn campaigns?
• If you love marketing, then you’ll need to read Purple Cow by Seth Godin.
• If you are an event marketer, this is something you’ll need to know about.
• Just for you: Up to 68% off for any marketing software tools on 10th October.
• Free gift for new Members.
• Do you make these mistakes in B2B marketing?
• Perfect for marketers who run account-based marketing
• For serious investors only
• A special offer for marketers who has spent $30,000 in the past 6 months.
• Thinking about utilizing email marketing?
• B2B marketers – This is for you
• To every marketer in a B2B SaaS start-up.
• To marketers who want to learn how to use TikTok Advertising in 2022.
• You can reduce your cost per lead by 36% now on LinkedIn.

Words, Phrases, and Strategies to hook your readers (With examples)

Everybody is busy in their day. Whether they are scrolling through mindlessly on their social media feeds, rushing for a train, having a meal while listening to music, everyone is not ready to see your ad. They don’t wake up everyday desiring to see your ad in front of their face.

Think of them as passerbys. How are you going to stop them in their tracks? You words need to “hook” them, or they will not stop and read. Use word and phrases that target these strategies:

1. Arouse audience’s curiosity
2. Present a big promise
3. Offer a free gift
4. Share a fascinating fact.
5. Inform readers something they do not know
6. Inform readers something they already know.
7. Warn audiences of danger.
8. Target greed, guilt and fear.
9. Offer audiences exclusivity
10. Ask a redundant question where they will say “yes”
11. Create urgency

Here are some examples of words and phrases that hooks audiences into reading more:

• Announcing Gibson’s Les Paul Custom 1969 – A brand new design using 200 year old oakwood and mahogany set-up. Only 500 pieces in the world
• Are you a marketer in the healthcare industry?
• Eliminate wasted ad spend on your LinkedIn campaigns.
• I conquered the marathon race after I started to use this.
• Do you have any of these symptoms?
• Do you know how to increase the reach of your campaign right now without ad spend?
• Don’t implement lead generation campaigns!
• Enjoy 23% lower cost per click on LinkedIn during the holiday season
• Brand new fresh look to the ad creatives
• 24 year old single-malt Sotch – Get them while they last
• How come some marketers consistently generate 230% ROI on their campaigns.
• How do you increase the engagement rate of your LinkedIn ads
• How to keep your creatives fresh.
• Imagine achieving a conversion rate of 80%.
• Is this the end of peace?
• You’re just in time to launch our campaigns
• The virtual webinar is a killer approach to start conversations with prospecting companies.
• Seeking to increase the number leads? Look no further
• Master the skills of B2B marketing
• 5 Memorable tunes from marketing campaigns – and what makes them great
• Is adding more creatives the missing piece to increased performance?
• Meet Mr Z, the world’s best digital marketer
• Textbooks on sale
• MacBook pro on sale
• Others have paid $3,000 less for beautiful rings like these.
• 8 Questions to ask before you hire a digital marketing agency
• Quiz: Are you an introvert or extrovert?
• The 5 memories my father wanted to be remembered by
• Justin Oh reveals how he makes 15% IRR in every company he invests in.
• The secret to winning on LinkedIn ads
• The curse of having too much knowledge.
• What’s wrong with this marketing campaign?
• Which of these best-sellers do you want.
• Who ever heard of losing weight while enjoying pizza everyday.
• Why haven’t Marketer been told the effectiveness

Using effective and powerful analogies in your marketing and copy

What is an analogy?

When an analogy is used, it describes a thing, product, service, or object that is comparable or similar to another. An analogy helps a reader to quickly understand and get a mental image of what your product or service is. There are 2 types of analogies: similes and metaphors. Similes make direct comparisons between one thing and another while metaphors replace one thing for another to draw similar comparisons and mental frameworks

Examples of using analogies in marketing communications

Here’s a list of example you may model against and understand how analogies can be used in your copy.

• Is LinkedIn Lead Generation as cost-efficient as Facebook lead ads?
• Winston tastes good like a cigarette should
• They make grapes look like birdseed.
• A dog is men’s best friend
• The next best thing to a cold shower after gym.
• Are your variable annuities a ticking time bomb in your retirement portfolio
• Why some campaign just “explode” and get results
• Winning the race to the digital economy

Word and phrases that arouses curiosity

If you can capture people curiosity, they will continue reading and paying attention to your ad. A classic example is “What never to eat on an airplane”. If you are ever traveling by air, you’d be interested to know what airline food to avoid. Here are other examples of word and phrases that sparks curiosity.

• Running LinkedIn Campaigns – Are these your questions?
• Are you prepared to hit your marketing goals in 2023?
• Seven way to eliminate backpain. Can you name them all?
• Confessions of a Workaholic Marketer.
• For a confidential review, please return my call today
• Could this be the most important LinkedIn marketing tactic ever discovered?
• A dilemma for many branding teams.
• This fantastic secret turned my marketing campaigns around and help me hit my revenue targets.
• Here’s why 73% of branding campaigns fail.
• How fast is lightning?
• How to increase your standard of living without changing jobs
• Insider information from LinkedIn: How you can get leads from LinkedIn without spending on ads.
• New free special report reveals little-known strategy millionaires use to keep wealth in their hands – And avoid taxes.
• The 5 most costly mistakes in marketing on LinkedIn. How many are you making right now?
• Mystery of the Vanishing Hills.
• The happiest millionaire around teaches others his secrets.
• What you don’t know about LinkedIn ad policy could expose you to liabilities.
• What’s working in email marketing now?
• Why haven’t more B2B marketers been told about these facts?
• Why in the world would you pay more than $30 per click on LinkedIn when you could do this and get it free?
• Ever wonder why some companies consistently results from TikTok ads?
• Learn the latest marketing strategies from “Mr/Mrs X”, America’s most successful B2B marketer.
• You only need these 3 ingredients to make a viral video on TikTok.

How to move readers emotionally with your words and phrases (With examples)

Emotion vs logic – This a long debate on which motivates customers to take action. Both can work, but out of the two, emotional copy usually outperforms straightforward facts. You could take this to the next level by presented facts through an emotional angle. Otherwise, use emotion to convince someone to buy, then follow up with facts to strengthen their purchase decision. Here are some examples:

• The governor’s campaign promises: Lies, lies, lies.
• The skin you love to touch
• You’re missing out on your daughter’s childhood, and being present for her
• The ABC home security system guarantees you greater peace of mind.
• Too precious not to protect from mosquitoes and ticks.
• Protect you family with up to $100,000 of affordable life insurance.
• Do you want to quit work someday? Here’s what you need to start doing today.
• Remember when your daughter took her first step?
• Avoid getting ripped off by Social media companies.
• How you’re getting robbed of your marketing budgets today
• It’s a shame to waste your marketing budget.
• Sick and tired of overpaying for designers?
• High CPMs suck
• The home of your dreams
• The ugly truth about your marketing campaigns
• Unfortunately, paying your taxes is not optional.
• After all these years of hard work and long hours, what have you got to show for it?
• When I was 54, I was fired from my marketing role
• Why does my advertising campaigns cost so much!
• Should you still be worried about the infectious virus?

How to capture attention with words that stoke your audience’s ego.

Flattery will open doors to you. In real-life, it’ll get you more friends, improve relationships, close more deals, and please your prospects. Stoking someone’s ego is one of the most powerful emotional tactic to persuade others. People want to feel important, and they want to be recognized. For example, if you’re writing to a marketer, praise them for their amazing campaigns that you see online. Acknowledge their good work. Here are some writing examples on how you can boost egos:

• An accomplished marketer deserves this reward
• Are you one of the best marketers in Singapore? We absolutely think so!
• Your website’s page view record shows that you’re one of the top 1% best performing websites.
• A special gift to our favorite customer.
• Our product is only for advance, sophisticated, technically capable marketers.
• You’re it! The hero of small medium businesses
• You’re important! We’d like to extend this special invitation to you
• Only a marketer with extensive branding knowledge will be thrilled with this SaaS product.
• You’re the kind of no-nonsense marketer who every CEO loves
• Your marketing campaigns are so original. There’s nothing quite like it
• Your peers highly recommend you as the go-to marketer for advertising
• Here’s why we think you’re uniquely a great fit for our product
• Congratulations on being voted by Marketing Magazine as the top LinkedIn Marketer this year.

Conclusion

While these are the starting tips on writing persuasive copy, keep in mind that targeting, engaging and calling out your audiences is the key foundation. Yes, headlines, subheadings, and body content are important – But you will need to show them that your copy is relevant first. And that is done by using the techniques listed above. Follow this space and blog for more updates. We’ll dive into words to use in headlines and how you can create a perception of superior value with your copy next.