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I was recently asked by a reader to clarify the role language has in fuelling word of mouth marketing. In short, in today’s digitally-powered world, perhaps the most important role for language is to be convenient* to the modern, busy mind. (Yes, the modern mind is a busy place.)

If people cannot easily pick you out from a crowd, you are likely to be overlooked in favour of someone or something with a more easily accessible presence. To help me illustrate my point, let me give you a couple of examples: First up is a short excerpt from The Micro-Scripts Rules by Bill Schley:

For example: People like and repeat the tagline for Las Vegas which supports the idea, “The adult playground designed to let you experience your fantasies without getting caught like you would at home in Cleveland.” Instead, they tell you with a grin: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. They saw it on TV commercial and they liked saying it to their friends.
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Not convenient: The adult playground designed to let you experience your fantasies without getting caught like you would at home in Cleveland. Convenient: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Second up is a short excerpt from my book How Apple Turns Art Into Profit:

Movies in your pocket by Apple.
Why was the Movies in your pocket headline created?
The headline was created to promote the movie function of the Apple iPod.
To accomplish that, the folks at Apple could have done a number of things:
They could have mentioned how many Gigabytes of storage the device offered.
They could have mentioned which and/or how many thingamajigs it had built-in.
I could go on, but you get the idea. Instead they said: Movies in your pocket. Brilliant, isn’t it?
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Not convenient: Gigabytes & thingamajigs. Convenient: Movies in your pocket.

*Convenient
con·ven·ient
adj
1. suitable for one’s purpose or needs;
2. easy to use;
3. close by or easily accessible; handy;