Vocabulary

Words are the building-blocks with which we will create the language for your brand. They are how you will convey your tone, and how you will connect with your right people. So vocabulary is how we’ll start creating your lexicon.

The challenge is that we do not all walk around with dictionaries inside our heads. The meanings that words convey will depend upon our own experiences, our own contexts, and our own histories: we all know that a single word can be a powerful trigger to one person, and completely benign to another.

This is why, in the previous workbook, I asked you to first list the words and phrases you have used in your brand so far, and then to list how you think your audience persona might interpret those words. In this exercise, we are going to build on those insights to create a list words and phrases that:

a) Help you convey your mood-words and express your chosen brand voice

b) Are most likely to resonate with the members of your right audience, in the way you intend them to resonate

Ultimately, these words will go into your Brand Lexicon, and you’ll be able to dip into them whenever you are writing to help you maintain consistency in your brand.

Workbook instructions

  • Match audience + vocabulary

    Look at the two lists you created on page 37 of Workbook 1. On the left were words and phrases in your brand, and on the right were the ways you believed your audience persona would understand or define them.

    Now turn to page 5 of Workbook 2. In the box on the left, add in any words or phrases where your audience’s definitions matched your words and phrases.

    Where there was a mis-match (where your audience would interpret your words differently to your intention), see if you can come up with different words or phrases to express your meaning, that would make sense to your audience. Note them down too.

  • Mine your social listening

    Now dip into all the social listening you have been doing during the past few weeks.

    In the second box on page 5 of Workbook 2, note down any words or phrases that members of your ideal audience are using to describe the challenges they are facing, the needs they have, or their impressions of the field in which you want to work or share.

    It is helpful to note down the exact way they express themselves, because this will be a powerful point of connection in your content.

    For example, if someone says “I am afraid of public speaking,” don’t write “Feels nervous…” - write “I am afraid…” Later, you will be able to advertise, “Are you afraid of public speaking? I can help…” and your right person will feel that you are speaking directly to them.

  • Industry language

    Browse through the websites and social media content created by people similar to you, in similar industries to you. (You already began to identify who these people were when you began your social listening exercises back in Week 2).

    How do they describe themselves, and how do they speak about what they do?

    In the second box on page 5 of Workbook 2, note down any words or turns of phrase that:

    a) seem to express the language of your industry, and

    b) feel to you as though they would help to convey your brand tone-of-voice