I recently came across an article by Jamie Turner, listing and explaining the 14 most powerful words in marketing.  These words, well-placed in a marketing message, have been shown to generate incremental sales by triggering the instinct to buy.

Let’s start with the words themselves.

Free
Now
You
Save
Money
Easy
Guarantee
Health
Results
New
Love
Discovery
Proven
Safety

Many have been longtime favorites of mine as a radio copywriter.  FREE is irresistible.  NOW attaches urgency to any call to action.  And YOU speaks directly to the radio listener, making it difficult to ignore what might otherwise be a neutral, third-party narrative.

Every word on this list has good reason to be here.  Turner cites a book called 2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success as the first place he stumbled across the list.  The list was compiled from decades of A/B split testing that’s documented which words command a consumer to make a purchase and which ones don’t.

Each taps into an emotional trigger in our brain where our deepest and most instinctive impulses generate.  And while it’s highly unlikely that all 14 merit shoehorning into any single ad or marketing message, excluding them all is almost a sure-fire recipe for lost sales and wasted opportunity.

So YOU might SAVE MONEY and GUARANTEE PROVEN RESULTS with this EASY DISCOVERY.  For the SAFETY of your job and the good HEALTH of your bottom line, try this NEW information NOW.  You’ll LOVE it.  Oh, I almost forgot.  This valuable list came to you FREE.  Use it!

Mark Lipsky is the President and CEO of The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above. Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com