2023’s word of the year is more connected to financial content than one might initially think. How can financial marketers leverage these words to tell their brand’s story?
In December, Oxford University Press announced its word of the year for 2023 would be “rizz.”
For those of us without an ear to the street, it’s a derivative of charisma, and is used in the same way, but delivered with a bit more attitude.
Charisma, itself, is derived (through Latin) from the Greek “kharis,” meaning favour or grace that has been bestowed on someone, presumably from a higher power.
People with “rizz” should have no problem making friends and influencing people – a useful trait in this industry.
Interestingly, in the US, the word of the year for 2023, according to Merriam-Webster, is “authentic,” meaning real or actual, and “not false or imitation.”
In 2022, “gaslighting” was the US word of the year, which makes this year’s winner all the more significant.
For marketing, comms, content, and brand specialists – especially in financial services – 2023’s words of the year are vital to success, and understanding language, its usage, and impact is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal.
Using language well can be the difference between a successful campaign and a bomb, or at the very least a waste of hard-earned budgets and deadlines.
Remember how Gerald Ratner famously blew up his jewellery business in the early 1990s by describing its products as “total crap”?
His products hadn’t changed, but as soon as he changed the language around them, the perception of them did – irrevocably.
The other major brands in his sector didn’t suffer the same fate. Many of them, in fact, went on to benefit from their rival’s misstep, all while selling products of the same quality.
Without putting too fine a point on it, companies in our sector do broadly the same things, producing similar products aimed at similar consumers for a similar price.
Product differentiation and service can only go so far – it’s the telling of their story that will really crack the market, so getting it right is key.
There is more to language than a style and tone guide, which, although helpful for corporate writers, serves to tick compliance boxes rather than achieving successful marketing outcomes.
Even message houses and pillars won’t do the job of nailing each piece of content – they are just elements that help build a successful campaign.
Knowing what the piece is trying to accomplish, from whom, when, how, and why are the essential questions that need to be asked before putting (virtual) pen to paper.
If you can’t answer those questions, don’t start or commission the piece.
Any article, website, blog, press release, LinkedIn post, or 30-second video snippet needs to be grounded in precisely what the company stands for and wants to convey.
Each piece, no matter how seemingly insignificant, needs to blend “authenticity” and “rizz” to land the message with the end client or customer.
As a content agency, over the past six years, Rhotic Media has been asked everything from ideating narratives to sell private market strategies (which we’d not seen) to writing heartfelt speeches for CEOs (we’d not met) on a subject of our choice, with little to no briefing on the above questions to start from.
Despite our team being writers with decades of experience in this sector, starting from a place of ignorance on these most vital matters sets us up to fail.
It also reflects badly on us and wastes marketing teams’ budgets and time. We have learned to decline these opportunities.
Ultimately, no amount of “rizz” can hide a lack of “authenticity” – and in a tough economic environment, this matters.
Getting a proper process around how you use language in your marketing and comms output could be the difference you have been looking for and deliver the outcomes you need.
This article is taken from the Winter 2024 print edition of Financial Promoter. Click here to subscribe.