Can They “Hear” the Titles of Your Blog Posts?

When readers scan the title of your blog post, their decision to click may well depend on what they “hear” as much as what they see.  That’s because similar consonants or similar vowel sounds presented in sequence tend to encourage our brains to engage with printed content.

When, back in 1813, London author John Harris published his book, Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation, he was aiming to teach young pupils proper speech habits. Modern-day marketers have a different motive in mind, having caught on to the fact that “Alliteration and assonance support the soundtrack for our words,” as Margie Lawson so well describes the effect in the Writers in the Storm blog.

When you blog, I like to say, you’re verbalizing the positive aspects of your business or practice in a way that people can understand and hopefully, remember. Educational research verified that “phenomic awareness” represents a sophisticated stage in the development of reading skills. In the same manner, as content writers, at Say It For You, we are always on the prowl for novel ways to present information to online readers, often relying on “memory hooks”, which I like to call “sticky words”.

Apparently, the authors and advertisers trying to appeal to “high-end”, sophisticated audiences understand the power of “sticky words” as well. Just this week, skimming through recent issues of three finance-related magazines, I discovered dozens of examples of both alliteration and assonance:

Forbes:

Alliteration:

• Soy Sauce Scientist (Peggy Chang, co-founder of Panda Express)
• Bond Ballers (Marc Lasry and sister Sonia Gadnder, co-founders of Avenue Capital Group’s heavy investment in bonds)
• From Shoveling to Swinging (story about the Dominican Republic)
• Prosperity in Peril (editorial) 

Assonance:

• Zuck Grows Up (cover story about Mark Zuckerberg)
• Collaboration for Transformation (story about the Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Dr. Irving’s Climate Ambition (story about co-founder and director of Carbon Projects)

Kiplinger:

Alliteration:

• Tipping Tactics
• Make These Money Moves Now
• Rough Seas for Small Stocks

Assonance:

• Thumbs Up (on annuities)
• Miles of Smiles (saving money on gas)

Investopedia Retirement Guide:

 Alliteration:

• How to Hire an Advisor
• For Their Future
• Retirement Risks You Should Know

Now you…

Content writers, as you encounter different forms of written content – ads, magazine articles, flyers, newspapers . whatever….take notice of the way similar consonants or similar vowel sounds presented in a sequence, catch your attention, so that you’re both seeing and, in a real sense, “hearing” that content.

Can readers “hear” the titles of your blog posts?