Spicing Up Content Using Word Story Tidbits

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Just as spices can be used to enhance a standard meat-and-potatoes meal, at Say It For You, we’re always on the alert for ways to “spice up” content marketing text. Explaining the origin of unusual words and expressions can enhance content, making the information which providers of goods and services “serve up” to their readers a tad “tastier”.

 “Ghost words”:

Some words that appear in the dictionary actually originated from typos or linguistic errors, and marketers can describe these happy mistakes as part of their web page or blog post content.  Apparel vendors, for example can share with their readers the tidbit Angela Tung explains in Mental Floss: the word “tweed” may have come from a misuse of the Scottish word tweel,  which was how the Scots pronounced  “twill” (woven fabric).

Content marketers for tutoring or for academics programs might want to explain the mistake that resulted in the word  “syllabus” – Roman philosopher Cicero wrote about sittybas,  referring to the label on a papyrus roll. Somewhere along the line, this was misprinted  as syllabus.

Expressive expressions:

“All that and a bag of chips”, an expression from the 90s (meaning that something is especially  impressive or attractive), first appeared in a 1994 issue of People magazine, WordSmarts explains. Grocers, fast food restaurants and snack food companies might use this tidbit in their marketing materials.  A second expression that food providers might want to include is “spill the beans”.  In the ancient Greek process of voting, putting a white bean in the jar meant “yes”; black or brown ones signified “no”.  If someone spilled the beans, Melanie Curtin writes in Inc., the election results would be revealed.  

Sales trainers and  networking advisors might explain the origin of the expression “break the ice”. Before road transportation was developed, ships were the means of trade.  When ships got stuck during the winter, small ships would be sent to clear a path by breaking up the ice, as Anais John explains in Grammarly.

Spice up your content marketing using some of these word history tidbits!

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Don’t Kill With Your Critique

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Kill with your critique, but do it in a good way, Ryan G. Van Cleave advises in Writer’s Yearbook 2025. As an editor, van Cleave is regularly invited to conferences to give manuscript critiques.  He knew his comments were difference-making, but “best of all, no one cried”.

You can offer serious, honest feedback without it being crushing, Angela Ackerman notes, by following these guidelines:

  • being constructive, not destructive
  • praising the good along with pointing out the bad
  • focusing on the writing, not the writer

In comparative advertising, value is conveyed not only from quality, but from the disparity in quality between one product or service and another. The other company or provider serves as an anchor, or reference point to demonstrate the superiority of your product or service. Still, at Say It For You, we advise not “killing with critiques”. Yes, in writing for business, we want to clarify the ways we stand out from the competition, but staying positive is still paramount.

What about the other extreme, offering positive comments about a competitor? While it might appear that praising or even recognizing the accomplishments of a competitor is the last thing any business owner or professional practitioner would want to do, prospective buyers need to know you’re aware they have other options, and that you can be trusted to have their best interests in mind.

 

The challenge posed to us as content writers relates less to critiques of our competitors, but in making clear just what our clients make, sell, and do that sets them apart from their competitors. Even more importantly, we must make clear why any of those differences would even matter to their prospects. In a sense, the purpose of content marketing is to provide a forum for business owners and practitioners to answer those very “what”, “how”, and “why” questions!

 

An essential point I often stress to clients is that the content must represent their opinion or slant on the information we will be  helping them serve up to their readers,  expressing the core values on which  their business or practice was founded.  That way, they protect themselves from being “killed with critique”, establishing themselves as thought leaders and subject matter experts.

 

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Putting the Personal Before the Factual

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Rules are important in English grammar, especially when using multiple adjectives to describe a single noun, Bennett Kleinman reminds us on wordsmarts.com.  All ten distinct adjective types aren’t required in a sentence, Kleinman reassures us, but, used in the wrong order, adjectives make for very awkward sentences. While most of us pick this up based on common speech patterns, Kleinman reminds us of the correct order, with personal opinion being first, followed by factual descriptions (size, quality, shape, age, color, origin, material, type, and purpose). 

The way Chris Tor explains the “rule” is that “the closer you get to the noun being modified, the more inherent to the nature of the noun the adjective is”. “You can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife, but if you mess with that word order you’ll sound like a maniac,”  @MattAndersonNYT cautions in a tweet. 

Is the same rule applicable to content marketing? You bet. How can you create ads that draw your intended consumers towards commitment? Using emotional appeal advertising is the ticket,‌ Nitzan Solomon reminds us in a wisestamp.com post. When ads evoke emotion, he explains, they are more likely to:

  • be remembered
  • influence opinion
  • drive action
  • build loyalty

Your smart phone may feature a high-resolution display, lightning-fast processor, and long battery life, but don’t start with that.  Instead, begin by describing the phone as being “the perfect companion for capturing and sharing all of life’s moments”. Solomon suggests.

One interesting perspective on the work we do as content marketing professionals is that we are interpreters, translating clients’ corporate message into human, people-to-people terms.  That’s the reason I prefer first and second person writing in business blog posts over third person “reporting”. I think people tend to buy when they see themselves in the picture and when can they relate emotionally to the person bringing them the message.

At Say It For You, we’ve learned, corporate and professional practitioner content is part promo, part advertising, part bulletin, part tutorial, and part mission statement, but the bottom line is that it includes both the personal and the factual – in just that order of importance!

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What-Would-You-Do-If Content

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‘What animal best represents you as a person?’ How would you survive a zombie apocalypse? What would you do if you won the lottery tomorrow?

By asking questions that avoid routine, rehearsed answers, interviewers can get a glimpse into an applicant’s skills and personality, Lee Hafner explains in Employee Benefit News.  Talking about the traits of an animal reflects your own qualities, the author explains, with a lion symbolizing leadership or a dolphin characterizing communication skills. A zombie apocalypse represents crisis situations, allowing interviewees to emphasize their adaptability and resourcefulness.  The question about winning the lottery allows candidates to show they are motivated by more than money.  Applicants should be ready for such out-of-the-box questions, using the job posting itself to prepare, Hafner advises.

In marketing, as in hiring, what-would-you-do research is essential.  For one thing, as Cascade Insights points out, “Today’s sales process is largely independent, with 68% of buyers preferring to research on their own before creating a shortlist. If your website doesn’t connect with your buyer’s priorities, or your content doesn’t show up where they are looking, you are likely to lose a lot of prospects that could have been leads.”

“As a consumer, I’m more likely to be a fan of and give repeat business to brands that know what I like and cater to my interests,” Flori Needle of Hubspot observes. After all, for any business, there are going to be customers who are simply too advanced for the product or service, or who engage with your content only to gain knowledge,( not as potential buyers).Meanwhile, 94% of marketers surveyed agreed that offering a personalized experience increases sales.

Just as Lee Hafner advises job candidates to be prepared to present their own “personas” by comparing themselves to specific animals, content marketers must be prepared to demonstrate they can meet their  target buyer’s specific needs, behavior, and concerns.

At Say It For You, we know.  As content marketers, we caution our business owner and professional practitioner clients that their business or practice cannot ever be all things to all people.  We explain that the content marketing we will be doing for them will need to be tailor-made for their ideal customers.  That “tailoring” includes:

  • what words we use
  • how technical we get
  • how sophisticated the approach will be in each article or post

What-would-you-do-if content means anticipating how “they” (those readers, not the average reader) might react to or feel about our approach to the subject at hand?

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Society-Happens-Here Content Marketing – Thanksgiving Food for Thought

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The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a new paradox at the heart of society. Rapid innovation offers the promise of a new era of prosperity, yet most institutions, including government and the media, are not trusted to introduce these new innovations to society, and so people are looking to business leaders for guidance. That means business owners are expected to comment, not only on their own products and services, but on societal changes that affect their industry or profession…

At Say It For You, our content writers know readers are trusting our business owner and professional practitioner clients to help them with more than good products and skilled services. In addition to information, searchers need help making sense of all the changes happening in their neighborhoods and in their world.

“When customers provide more data, they expect better experiences,” salesforce.com cautions, so marketers need to create experiences that are:

  1. connected
  2. personalized
  3. immersive

What I’ve learned over the years of creating blog content for dozens and dozens of clients in different industries and professions is that, in order to “turn readers on”, we must incorporate one important ingredient – opinion. Taking a stance, I’ve found, is what gives content its “zip”. We must be influencers, I advise clients and blog content writers alike. Whether it’s business-to-business or business-to-consumer writing, the content itself needs to use opinion to clarify what differentiates that business, that professional practice, or that organization from its peers.
We need to be coming from a place of “who we are” as much as from a place of “what we offer”.

A content marketing alert: This Thanksgiving, an important part of our “food for thought” menu needs to be Society-happens-here content marketing.

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