The Importance of Lingo and How to Master It: Learning the language the people in a niche use is a critical part of learning to sell to them. If you do not speak their language, they will instantly know they are being marketed to by an “outsider.” On the other hand, if you talk as they do, you will build instant trust and rapport and have a much better chance of being let into their lives and their wallets.
How do you learn the lingo of a new market? How do you make sure you are using the language that a market is used to? Here are a few tips.
=> Read the Blogs and Forums
Anytime you are thinking of jumping into a market, start by reading their message boards, forums, and blogs.
These are the places where users, both new and old, come to discuss their ideas, problems, and solutions in a carefree way. This is as close as you will get online to hearing a casual in-person discussion.
Unlike high-powered websites that must filter their language carefully, on forums and blogs you will get the chance to really pick up the slang of a market.
Read these sites until you start to get a sense of how people talk. Anytime a word or acronym comes up that you do not recognize, look it up.
=> Two Things to Pay Attention To
There are two especially important areas worth paying attention to: A) How people express their problems, and B) How things are measured.
Important internet marketing key phrases will include the following: OPT-In Rate, SERPs, Click Through Rate, Backlinks from other websites, Unique Visitor Data, and more.
To an outsider, these words and acronyms may mean nothing. But if an outsider wanted to come in and “speak marketing,” these are also the most important words they would need to learn.
Figure out how a market talks about their problems. Figure out how they measure their success. Learn to use those words eloquently and you will be able to speak to the heart of your customer.
=> Read Your Competitor’s Sales Letters
Chances are your winning competitors already have sales letters that are well written and crafted to the language of the market.
Read these sales letters. Even if you have already read the blogs and forums, you will very likely pick up language that works specifically for selling to that market.
What parts of the sales letter get you the most excited? What are the phrases, stories, emotions that your competitor is using?
Take the best parts and adapt them to your own sales letters. Learning from proven winners can take a lot of work out of the equation.
In short, read the forums and the blogs. Pay special attention to problem words and measure-words. Read your competitor’s sales letters, take the best parts, and adapt them to your own.