The adjective of your marketing

Once you’ve identified your customer’s needs, you need to communicate your offer in language that inspires them to take action.

Both the restaurant and consumer painting industry know this all too well.

Here are some of the restaurant offerings at Madrona Manor:

Grilled Hokkaido scallops

Eggplant puree, compressed zucchini, lardo, spicy basil

Liberty Farms Duck

Roasted breast and crispy confit, hazelnuts, beans, quinoa

Cart “Ice”

Ice cream sundae, hand ‘shaken’ tableside with minus 324º nitrogen, chocolate sauce, almonds, whipped cream and cherries on top

The key to his delicious copy (at least for me) is in the choice of adjectives: seared, Liberty Farms, compressed, roasted, crunchy, and hand-beaten.

Studies have also shown that people prefer exotic color names, rather than the simple tried-and-true names (blue, light blue, sky blue, navy blue, etc.). For example, here are names of Dulux Paints: Japanese Maze, Caymen Lagoon, Sultan Spice, Mexican Mosaic, Peppermint Beach, Fragrant Cloud, Shangrila Silk, and African Adventure. It doesn’t matter that the names don’t convey the color group (red/blue/yellow). They’re the names you see when you look at the paint can or color swatch and they sound so…exotic. And if you use an exotic name paint, expect your life to be a little more exotic now. (Think you know which names match the color? Play the paint game.)

So, in your next marketing copy, pull out the thesaurus to find juicy, emotional, and exotic adjectives that will inspire your prospects to take action (and stand out from your boring competitors).