Are Your Words Sabotaging Your Authority?
I just wanted to send you this email…
I’d like to tell you…
I kind of think that…
Do you use phrases like this in your emails, posts, lives, videos or other marketing copy?
If so, STOP!
Just, really, and kind of are known as hedges. So are phrases like I think that, I guess that, and I sort of.
And they reduce your credibility.
Hedges create a barrier between your audience and your authority. They say, “This is what I think but you might not agree so don’t hate me.”
To be clear, hedging has a function in that it softens things. During coaching and consulting sessions, you might use hedges to ease into some difficult feedback and build a bridge between you and your client.
But in marketing copy, hedging diminishes your authority.
Consider the difference between:
I just wanted to send you this email to let you know about a new service I’m offering.
And
I’ve got a new service and I can’t wait to tell you about it.
The first says sorry for bothering you but I’ve got something that might help. Why are you sorry? If your service is something that can help them, it won’t bother them!).
The second, gets straight to the point and loudly declares “Come and get it!”
Women hedge more than men. (I’ll be honest, I almost wrote women tend to hedge more than men. Tend to is another hedging phrase.)
So if you’re like guilty of, you know, beating around the bush with hedges like I feel that, I think that, just, kind of, really, it seems and you see, get out those shears and cut down those hedges.
You are an expert! You know your sh*t!
Now go out there and talk like it.
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June Morrow helps coaches and course creators know what to say, how to say it, when to say it, and where to say it to enroll more of their ideal clients. Not sure why your marketing isn’t working? Watch The 5 Money-Blocking Mistakes Coaches and Course Creators Make (And What to Do Instead)
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