Words Like Glue | Making Your Audience Stick to Your Brand
The bounce rates make you nervous. Not just emails, not just your website, but your brand. And it makes sense. You want people to latch on like newborns and stick by your side until they’re stuffed. Then they’ll wait for more to come. Right?
I do wish it worked that way. But we can’t control what people do in stores or on the other side of their screens.
Or can we?
The Art of Brain-Gaming
I was the youngest child of five. I have lost count of how many times I’ve been tricked, fooled, lied to, and manipulated. Even today, my sister still tells the story at parties of when she convinced me that a hotel’s ornate indoor stream was covered by glass. (My leather penny loafers and dress socks went home soaked. My parents were less than thrilled about that one.)
We don’t want to admit it, but we’ve been manipulated by brands all our lives. Two products, similar makeups. One is cool, one is not. Pampers vs. Huggies. Honey Nut Cheerios vs. Frosty Toasted O’s. Yale vs State. Nike vs. Payless.
It’s called “Retail Manipulation.”
You’ve probably heard the science of mapping grocery stores. The veggies and non-branded stuff goes around the perimeter. The aisles are deep and long, encasing you with brand names, logos, and health promises. The idea here is that when you walk inside, it’s easier to go straight down an aisle than case the perimeter. And when you do that, you get lost in choice. You drop more things into your cart—which means you buy more.
The truth is that retail stores have your shopping experience down to a science. They put the fancy expensive products at eye-level with great lighting. The generic flour gets the bottom shelf. Manufacturers can create value for products through simply not having enough. Did you, too, stand in line at grocery stores during the height of COVID looking for toilet paper? Did you, too, race to the TP aisle to take whatever was available? Did you care what it cost? Of course not. And yet, we had the same amount of toilet paper available then as we do now.
But during the crisis, the rumor mill was running wild. It took off through social media that the supply chain was running low. People were dying en masse; therefore, supply chains couldn’t make as much toilet paper. But in reality, according to NC State researchers, we were just using more. Why? Because we were all wiping ourselves at home.
And what did retailers do? Raised the price of toilet paper by over 20% in 2020. What did we do?
Buy it.
Brands are no different. The original cost of Air Jordan’s in 1985 was $64.99. In 1986—one year later—they retailed at $100. In 1985, consumers spent $946 million dollars buying those sneakers. What about when they almost doubled the price a year later? Consumers spent $1.1 billion, giving Air Jordans almost %15 of the US shoe market.
What words were used on the Air Jordan II? The shoe carried a tag that said “Made in Italy.” They were constructed of “Premium” Italian leather. By 1987, the messaging was that “it’s a banned shoe,” after Jordan wore them on the basketball court and began to fly like an eagle. It even came with a tag pinned to the lace, “they can’t tell you not to wear them.” It didn’t matter that the shoe was entirely redesigned and ditched the original branding.
What did consumers do?
We stuck.
UX Q&As & Eye-Tracking—aka Online Brain Games Online
Every UX team worth a damn has a member working behind the scenes, sometimes in a room, sometimes on a Zoom, tracking every single interaction on their site. Great UX strategists can tell where you arrived from, where you’re looking, scrolling, clicking. And by tracking your action, they can get a spot-on guess at what you’re doing next.
And when someone clicks off in too short a time span, they call a writer. “Adjust this line here.” “Write a stronger CTA there.” “Craft a shorter headline, a longer headline.” “Give us both and we’ll A/B test.”
Sure, sometimes it’s the design that’s off. An image throws someone, or the skim flow is too difficult. The button’s in the wrong place. But more times than not, the copy needs to be adjusted. Because that’s what grabs people. Connects them. And keeps them engaged.
Because the words matter.
Make Your Words Matter
For every memory you have of Jordan dunking in those shows, you’ve got the tagline bookending it. “Just do it.”
Is it any wonder why Nike makes you drool? Three words, three syllables. And yet, an infinite amount of drive. It’s not just a line, it’s a challenge to your soul with infinite possibility. You, too, can dunk. Just do it. You, too, can run marathons. Just do it. You, too, can win Olympic Medals, climb Mount Everest, and inspire generations to come. And make billions of dollars doing it. Just do it.
Well, if they can do it, so can you. A billion-dollar brand doesn’t have better copywriters by their side, just more of them. With even a few minor touches, you can elevate the language of your brand to a level where audiences connect and engage. And then come back to you. Again, and again, and again.
Create focus.
Focus happens in two ways. One, your message. We’ll come back to that. Two, grabbing your audience by the ears and yell “LOOK AT ME.”
Say something that stops them in their tracks. Grabs their attention and pulls to on you. “Just do it,” tell me more. “America runs on Dunkin’,” I’m an American. I want some of that.
Make it compelling. Make it funny. Make it stunning. Study the masters work, then try a hundred variations until you can’t even pull yourself away. We can always craft a stronger headline or a smarter tagline. We can always make it punchier. And if that doesn’t work, make it longer and smoother. Let the language linger in their ears. The average consumer is inundated with messaging every moment of every day. You don’t need to compete with that. You need to rise above it.
Center your message.
Clarity is key. You have to know who you are. You have to be clear about what you offer. Jordan and the team at Nike didn’t sit around the table dumbfounded. They took an insight. They created a story. They focused on a message. They built an empire.
What’s your story? What do you stand for? What makes you different? Your brand has a personality, its own voice, its own narrative. Your copy is what gets that across. The first thing we do when I work with clients is define them. Then, we work on communicating who they are through language that resonates. Whether you’re serious but relatable or quirky and lighthearted, every brand is unique. Your copy is your message, and your message is your voice. Every touch point should get across who you are and the insight you carry.
Build trust.
Micheal Jordan became a legend—Nike became legendary. The consumers who bought those sneakers—hell, even the people who didn't buy them—trusted that Jordan and Nike would change their lives.
That kind of trust is the backbone of advertising. A problem is scouted, a desire is created, a product is developed, and that product will help you. Trust us.
We'll make you jump higher.
Our app will make you learn any language.
Our therapy service will save your life.
Trust us.
Of course, for it to work, that trust has to be met with resolve. In other words, people have to believe that thing has to actually do what the thing promised it would do. Air Jordans DID make us jump higher. Duolingo DOES teach you any language. BetterHelp MIGHT save you—provided you do the actual work.
In a world flooded with choices, trust cuts through the noise. Building these messages isn’t just transactional, its building relationships. We don’t just want your money, we want you to believe us. We want you, the consumer, to know you're being heard. It’s not just a sale; it’s a two-way connection that creates authenticity and honesty with which the reader connects. And when that happens, engagement happens. Whether its financial advice, shoes or deodorant, consumers trust you’ll hear them. You’ll believe them. You'll help them. Again and again.
Give them real solutions.
Toilet paper is a real solution. Good, bad, in 2020, it didn’t matter. Consumers had a messy problem. The TP manufacturers and the stores had a solution. And we would pay whatever it cost for that solution.
“Strong enough for a man, PH-balanced for a woman.”
Not stinking is a solution.
”5G built right.”
A fast, resilient network. That’s a solution.
”Got Milk?”
If you don’t, now you have a solution. Get milk.
Your readers don't just want your product. They want your solution. They're willing to pay you money to solve their problem. Give them the narrative that’s shows them you understand them. Those are the words that resonate.
When you can craft a message that says you’re listening, and you have a real solution to one of their genuine pain points, you become indispensable. You're saying you understand them. You can help lessen their pain. You’re telling them that you can make a difference in their lives. Now that’s power.
Nike does it with celebrity endorsements, cool colors, great products, and an unbelievable tagline. I do it by putting out content that people can actually use. How will you do it in a way that's true?
Now do it all again.
You do all that work, and you think you’re done. Sorry, not by a longshot. We’re not just after one-time transactions—we’re building relationships. Once you’ve crafted that message, found that solution and built that trust—well, you’re only at the beginning.
But you’ve gotten this far. Words have the power of a thousand swords, a million designs. Empires were launched off cocktail napkins. Aaron Sorkin began scripting “A Few Good Men” on bev naps behind the Broadway bar of La Cage aux Folles—and that script launched his career.
The right words, backed up by truth, keeps readers latched on and jonesing for more. They build that emotional bridge between your brand and your audience. And once you’ve got that, there’s no stopping you.
Let’s Get to Work.
Want to make audiences stick to your brand? Let’s define your solutions, and create a message that truly represents your brand, connects with your customers, and gets you the results you deserve.
