April saw a marked shift from the way brands communicated before COVID-19. Gone were the attention-grabbing all caps and clever plays on words (e.g. “Let the MADNESS BEGIN” for the NCAA basketball tournament). Language that evoked the Trust-based emotions of Safety, Intimacy, and Gratitude drove the highest engagement in April, when people seemed to be…
COVID-19 has changed how we communicate and the words we use make that clear. As people across the planet #stayhome to #flattenthecurve, they looked for opportunities to maintain connection in the context of social distancing. Words that conveyed the warm emotions of Intimacy, Gratitude, and Safety offered that connection and produced the most successful messages…
When it comes to customer-centric messaging in the age of COVID-19, the name of the game is balancing empathy and performance. No brand wants to come off as opportunistic and tone-deaf when customers are struggling. Yet businesses depend on sales and cash flow to function and pay their employees. What’s impactful now is less attention-grabbing…
Never before has digital content and brand messaging been under such an intense microscope – truly. I can’t think of another time when promotional emails and branded social media posts were the target of New York Times articles, viral tweets and widely shared memes with such frequency and an overall agreement that at a time…
We analyzed 18 million messages across 180 brands looking for the words and ideas that make a difference. This is what we found. Predictions can be made based on guesswork and gut-feel or they can emerge from millions of data points and actual observed behavior. We prefer the latter approach. How else could the Greek…
Silos don’t carry the greatest connotation in the workplace. The term is often associated with a breakdown in communication and a lack of collaboration. But in a large company that includes a global marketing department, silos can be difficult to smash. Today’s marketing teams are often separated by channel, brand awareness or direct response, geography…
At Persado, “Words Matter” isn’t just a tagline. We have seen how changing only one sentence, or even one word can drastically impact an audience’s response to a marketing message. It makes sense. As marketers, we’re talking to people, and they want to be spoken to in a certain way. The same is true in…
Black Friday is no longer just about brick and mortar, nor is it just for U.S. brands. Leading international and fashion-forward brand Happy Socks wanted to capitalize on the digital and global flavor the most competitive marketing day of the year now boasts. Enter smart MarTech, math and science. The Teammates Happy Socks worked with…