This article is the second in a three-part series on differentiating your content by expressing yourself with verve and color.
In the first piece, I covered how to infuse your marketing content with subtle humor.
In this piece, we’ll look at three ways to power up and differentiate your content by using fresh, detailed language:
- The seasoning technique.
- The least-obvious technique.
- The food-sex technique.
First up is the seasoning technique.
1. Differentiate your marketing content with seasoning
According to Oxford Languages, seasoning is “salt, herbs, or spices added to food to enhance the flavor.”
To season food, you begin with something bare and bland, like broccoli, chicken, or pasta, and then add flavor to make it delicious.
The same is true for marketing content, especially business-to-business content because it’s often dry and bland.
Here’s an example of the seasoning technique using bullet points I might include on my LinkedIn profile.
First, the bland version—just the facts; note that you can write bland versions quickly:
- Content editor
- Former accountant
- Born in Philly, now in western North Carolina
The seasoned version:
- Content editor; message and meaning maker
- Degreed number cruncher; former accountant
- Native of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, now in Hendersonville, the City of Four Seasons
You can use this technique in most forms of marketing content, including product descriptions, landing pages, emails, and websites.
Allbirds: An example of the seasoning technique
Allbirds, the eco-friendly footwear and apparel company, does a beautiful job with seasoned language on its website.
- On the Allbirds home page, this nugget stands out:
“Summer trips need super packable shoes. We’ve got your 10,000 steps covered, easy.”
- Its partner page highlights a design collaboration with sweet language:
“We partnered with London-based designer Olivia Rubin to reimagine the Riser through sorbet-colored glasses. With hints of color and subtle bursts of happiness—it’s like a good mood you can lace up and wear.”
Can you imagine the less-interesting, less-differentiating versions of that copy?
- Home page: Our shoes are easy to pack for summer trips.
- Partner page: We partnered with London-based designer Olivia Rubin to reimagine the Riser. (Period. Full stop.)
The point here is not to stress about what you want to communicate. Just write something, anything, down quickly.
Then, after giving your brain a chance to make connections and meaning, go back and season the draft.
2. Differentiate your marketing content by including the least-obvious
Another technique for differentiating your content and expressing yourself with flair is to share the least-obvious things about yourself or your brand.
Take your professional bio, for instance. Most people include details about their work and experience. If you want your bio to stand out, share what others don’t.
In my case, I could share that:
- My mother was born in Germany.
- I’m fascinated by early photography.
- I’d love to dance like John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever.”
- I’m a deltiologist—I collect postcards.
Those facts may not appeal to you, but they will appeal to some people—and those people may be my ideal customers.
Ben & Jerry’s: An example of the least-obvious technique
Ben & Jerry’s uses the least-obvious technique on its About page, sharing how the company started after completing a $5 mail-order course in 1978.
“With a $5 correspondence course in ice cream-making from Penn State and a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of it borrowed), Ben and Jerry open their first ice cream scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont.”
The little-known fac that the founders started the company after taking a mail-order course appeals to me because I love mail and dreamed of taking many correspondence courses back in the day.
The least-obvious technique is one of the secrets to my success as a marketing writer
Using the least-obvious technique is one of the secrets of my success as a marketing writer. When writing and editing for customers, I always dig deep, looking for glimmers of gold—unique, non-obvious facts—to level up the content and make it stand out.
Now you can use the technique as well.
3. Differentiate your marketing content with food sex
I bet you’re intrigued by the name of this technique.
Really, I call it the “make brains pay attention” technique. I changed the name to “food sex” to make your brain pay attention.
Did it work?
If so, it’s because I tickled your reticular activating system (RAS), an internal mechanism in your mind that constantly scans your environment for things of interest to you.
Your RAS is responsible for the phenomena that occur when you:
- Buy a new car and then suddenly notice that car all over the place.
- Want to lose weight and constantly notice fit folks.
- Feel famished and are lured by luscious smells at the fair.
But the RAS is also responsible for noticing the strange in everyday situations, which is why the food-sex technique is particularly great for headlines and when you want to stop readers in their tracks or make them do a double-take.
Here are a few phrases and statements that might trigger someone’s RAS and make brains pay attention:
- Candlelit brawl
- Bite the bagel
- Curse in disguise
- Give him the cold toe
The food-sex technique is great for stopping readers in their tracks and making them do a double-take.
Business Insider is great at using it. Look at some of these recent headlines:
- Stop going near bison! 2 tourists were gored in national parks in a week and officials are urging people to stay away.
- New York Gen Zs are going wild for a stew that’s been brewing for a month. Wait until they find out about Bangkok’s 50-year-old soup.
- Llamas don’t drink much water. Meta’s new AI version is damn thirsty.
Would those strange headlines capture your attention? They did mine.
Coming up next…
In the final article in this series, coming soon, we’ll dive into the third idea for differentiating your content: By infusing it with the best of yourself and your brand.
Read the full article here
