153. The Power of words

Do you struggle with what to write, or what to say - on your website, on socials, in speeches?

Words matter! And I am so excited to have the Queen of Copy on today's episoide, the amazing Anita Seik from Wordfetti to give us the gold on how we can harness the power of words.

TRANSCRIPT

Hey, hey! Are you ready to harness the power of words? What we write and what we say matters? My dad used to always say, the old sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Oh, it's such a lie. Words wield incredible power. What are you using your words to do? To heal, to inspire, to empower? Good question to ask. I am super excited to have the best in the word beers is my guest today, the amazing Anita Siek from Wordfetti. So Anita's an ex-lawyer, a word wizard. She speaks five languages, which I just learned in our conversation. Like what? And she's just the greatest vibe of a human. It is so cool knowing her. We're both in Brisbane. We've spoken at events together. I've been on her podcast and I thought, wow, it is about time she came on this one.

I'm so glad that we have had this conversation because in this episode, Anita shares so many practical tips like of how a little word change, she can make a big difference to how it lands. She explains a great hack to get amazing inspiration for your content, definitely stealing that idea. And Anita talks about how to use psychology to connect with your audience, and this goes for writing and speaking.

Before we dive in, if you are wanting to clarify your words, the way you describe your business and how that sounds coming out of your mouth in conversation or online or on stage, then you will get so much value from my Speak Up for your Business workshop in London. Or you can join online. It's on May 10. And if you're in the UK and you've had your eye on this, now is the time to take action. It's coming up, the link is in the show notes. And as you are hearing this, I am in France, so I am on your time zone and would love to chat to see if you are a fit for being in the room. That is Speak Up for your Business workshop in London. Soho House May 10. Oh my gosh, it felt so long ago. And now it is so close. All right, grab your pen. This episode is one to take notes in. Let's dive in.

Sally:

Anita Siek, welcome to that voice podcast. So great to have you here from Hong Kong.

Anita:

Ooh, yes. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me, Sal.

Sally:

Oh, so with speaking coaching, a lot of what I'm focusing on is the how, the delivery of the words, you are the queen of the 'What', which is the actual words we use. So give us a bit of an introduction into what are the sorts of things we should be thinking about when it comes to choosing what to write and what to say?

Anita:

Ooh, I love this. Okay, so three things come to mind in terms of really articulating what you wanna get out there. I think the first thing is you've gotta consider what is that thing that you can just, that sets your soul on fire? I always say, you would actually find this funny. So I'm like, if you had like a TEDx talk tomorrow and you get 10 minutes and you are in front of your ideal audience, who, what message would you wanna share out there? And I think a lot of the time, there's usually one or two key topics that I usually find people wanna share. So I think there's one part which is really speaking to something that, and you can feel it, your audience can feel it. So that's one, a message that really sets your soul on fire. I think number two is instead of really thinking about trying to find the most perfect words to encapsulate this thing, which I think a lot of the time is where we get caught up and we go backspace or we freeze, really consider that one person that you really, that one person in particular, you feel like your message is, that you wanna get across.

Anita:

And this, this could be anything from really thinking of that ideal client in your mind, like getting it crystal clear. Getting it, literally feeling how they are feeling what they're thinking, what do they actually want. So for example, for one of our audiences, she's someone who is pedaling, feeling like a content cow, putting so much content out there, but not seeing the result. Right? But I'm thinking, yeah. You know what I mean, right? Like you're just like milking so much content left, right and center, you're feeling exhausted, but I've got that person in my mind if that's the message I wanna deliver, I am just thinking of her. I'm just thinking of this person who I wanna deliver this message to, and instead of me trying to find the most perfect word, I am then able to connect with that person. And sometimes I might not lose, like I might lose, lose my train of thought.

Anita:

I'm able to come back to that. So that's my probably the second thing that I would come back to. And I think number three, I think this almost is like a envelope of both the first one, the second one, but I say this quite often, if you wobble, your audience is gonna wobble, which is why, one, it's important that you find a message that you feel so strongly about instead of trying to say or find the most perfect words that you think everyone else wants to hear. And also really think of that person that you're trying to get this message across. Because I think so often we lose our chain of thought on getting what that message is going to be because we are trying to create a story or share a message based on less on what we want people to hear, but more on what we think other people wanna hear or we don't wanna upset people. Does that make sense?

Sally:

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It's exactly the same with speaking and I'm hearing you speak Anita, going, God, you know, we just need to map across what we know to other areas, you know? So it's mapping across everything I know about speaking over to the way that I'm writing.

Anita:

There's so much like sync in both words and speaking because it's almost like if you do not believe in what you've written, even when you speak it, which I feel like you and I would, we've talked four hours on this. I, I know we're going through our recent walks, but it's like it won't land. It just won't land. Like it just won't feel right. It won't feel aligned.

Sally:

Yeah, absolutely. And I remember when I was a reporter, when we were writing our stories, you could hear people talking all around the newsroom because we had to speak it out loud as we were writing. And would you say that's a good tip as well for people who are writing copy for websites and social medias to actually talk it in their own words to hear if it's something that would come outta their mouth?

Anita:

A hundred percent. I think when you actually speak out the word, I do this so often, I'm like, wow, no, no, no, that's way too blah, blah, blah. Like that's too much. Like, because we read, there's actually been so many studies to show, we actually read it in our minds. We actually do read in our minds, like even when we don't voice it out loud, we actually read when we are reading on a screen, we are actually, we are giving it a voice. And that's why when it comes to writing the words, when you have shorter sentences, you are creating that rhythm. Like if I say location, full stop, location, full stop, location, full stop, you've got that rhythm like, and you say it with that rhythm. But if I was to say something like, the location over here is very important and then the location over it then becomes a bit more whimsical and a bit more long. So again, you know what we write when you say it also aligns, it goes hand in hand.

Sally:

Yeah. It's, there's so much alignment with our brand voice and with the voice of our, our copy. It is, it is literally giving voice to the words on the page.

Anita:

Yeah, it does. It does. It's cool. I kicked out on it.

Sally:

Yes. You're an absolute master at this and I'm keen to hear you take a psychology approach where you use, I don't know, psychological hacks or what are they?

Anita:

I read your mind!

Sally:

Sneaky brain stuff. Can you share with us, can you reveal with us today, what are some ways that we can use psychology to improve our writing and our speaking?

Anita:

First of all, I think what absolutely fascinates me about the intersection between psychology, and when I say psychology, I mean the understanding of human behavior and the understanding of different emotions when certain words are spoken intersection with the colliding with the element of words and language. So I could say, right now, Sally, I'd like to work with you versus I'd love to work with you. It's a very subtle tweak in just one word, which is like versus love. But the thing is, the fact that I said I love, I'd love to work with you gives off a completely, almost like different type of emotion probably for the person that's in front of me. For example, you. And I think when we think about it from the lens of each and every single word that we use, we might not even realize it actually have the ability to trigger completely different emotions. For example, another example is the element of investment versus fee. This is us getting really nitty-gritty with the language and the definition. Investment has a positive connotation. The definition of investment also means that there is gonna be an element of ROI that's gonna be returned when we are actually looking at the definition of that word. The word fee, which in a way I've seen businesses use both, but the word fee or charge even, a lot of the time it has a bit more of a negative connotation because of the fact,

Sally:

Even prompts maybe.

Anita:

Yeah, yeah. Because there's this element, especially fee, like a lot of the time when we think of fee, we think of like credit card fees, like just unexpected things that we really do not get any value from, but we have to pay for it anyway. Like I'm overseas right now and I get, I'm getting charged like, you know, exchange fees and I'm like, Ugh, how annoying! You know? So it's like that extra added thing that actually has no value, which when you see the two side by side investment and fee, obviously there's the element of you've gotta make sure that what you are actually putting to that word means you are getting an ROI. But I would probably say as a service provider or as a product-based business, if there is an element of ROI returned, especially for service, that it's an use the word investment, instead of fee or charge, right? So,

Sally:

We definitely would wanna use the word fine. This is your fine,

Anita:

Oh my goodness.

Sally:

You know what, like in, in some brand voices that would even work, it's so outrageous.

Anita:

Right? Right. If you've got a voice that is just so like rebellious. Sure. It could totally work. And that's the cool thing, right? When we really consider and we inject life into the words that we speak, we can get so, you know intentional and tailored with the words that we choose. I think one of the biggest business mistakes or things that I see people doing is they go, they jump straight to the, like thinking that there's only cheeky or conversational in terms of a brand voice, but there is so, so much more in the spectrum in terms of what a brand voice can actually sound like.

Sally:

Yeah, great example. It's like in speaking, people will often say, I'm going to tell you or I'm gonna tell you about this. And we always wanna change, tell you to share with you, or invite you. Oh, so you don't Oh yeah, you don't tell people, I'm gonna tell you the three things to do. I'm gonna invite you.

Anita:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sally:

Or encourage you so it's more invitational rather than no one likes to be told what to do.

Anita:

Love that. And it's such a subtle tweak, like it's such a subtle tweak, but it again gives off a completely different feeling of energy.

Sally:

I know this episode is good and so are my Pep talks in your Pocket. These short audio tracks tell you exactly what you need to hear before speaking. So there's one to calm your nerves, one to warm up your voice, get your breathing under control and ditch the self-doubt that can creep in. So many of my clients have said, Sal, I so wish I had you in my ear before speaking. Well, now you can. It's like the ultimate hype girl right when you need it. And these are 100% free to download and keep forever. So you can have them handy before your next speech, presentation meeting or hitting record on the video. The link is in the show notes or head to my website, sallyprosser.com.au and you'll see the link. Okay. Back to the episode.

Sally:

So what do you see is the biggest mistake people make when they sit down to write copy? So from a speaking point of view, I feel it's they open the laptop and they've got the word document and they think, now I need to write my speech. And then they start writing from outside themselves rather than from within themselves. Would you say it's a similar thing when you're writing copy for websites or socials?

Anita:

Yeah, I think one of the biggest hazard cones that I see a lot of people make when it comes to writing is the fact that they, yeah, to your point, they don't write from a space of what does my audience need to see, feel, know and read, but they write from a space of, Oh no, I don't wanna make that person upset. What's going to be the thing? Oh, but like, I probably should not talk about that because my competitor just recently did a post about that, so maybe I shouldn't talk. Like, they start almost setting themselves up to fail on this massive overwhelm and hamster wheel of just overthinking, where they start less from Okay, what does insert person who I'm trying to impact, let's just call her Amy, What does Amy need to see, feel, know, and read in the current moment right now? Let's write from that space. They don't start there, there, they start from more of a, How can I make this sound awesome? How can I add some buzzwords? How can I add the word like holistic and all of that in there to make it sound more, ah, like profesh, right? Which by the way, I know that sounds

Sally:

Really holistic voice and speaking coach

Anita:

Holistic, but it's almost like the word holistic, even like there's, it's such a broad word. If you really wanna stand out, you've gotta find a word that is going to be so hard, like very, almost specific. Holistic is a very broad word. There's so many different ways for people to interpret it. One of the hacks that I love to use is you've, we wanna get so nitty gritty with the word choice, that it's almost like it's so hard to replicate. I'm, I'm trying to think of like, for example, II nick ideas from different industries. So one could be like Marvel, I just thought of Marvel as like the movies. You could nick, if you are a marketing holistic marketing coach, instead of saying holistic marketing coach, you could be like a marketing avenger. Or you could almost be like, you can nick from the realm of design and architecture, you can be like a marketing architect. Like, does that make sense? So it's almost like nicking certain words and themes to put it into that industry.

Sally:

Oh, Anita, help me. So I, so here's the thing with my title, right? Holistic voice and public speaking coach, I've thought of lots of other, you know, voice healer or I'm really keen to hear your ideas as well. One thing that I've been thinking of is the SEO. So like, what are people searching? And if I put something in that's too different when people search public speaking, do you know what I mean? So it's like that battle of I wanna, I want something that stands out, and I also want something that people can find.

Anita:

It depends on your objective, right? For example, obviously on a bio or on something that isn't literally for SEO purposes. So obviously with this is like a bio on a website, then you wanna make sure that it's not almost too, too clever so that people don't understand what that is or it's not searchable. But obviously if we are thinking from a, from a creative lens, I'm thinking like captions, I'm thinking emails, I'm thinking bio, when someone's introducing you. That is where the creative element comes to play. But there, I totally hear you. I think it is definitely important in the realm of SEO and searchability to actually make sure that you do use words that is gonna be what your audience is gonna be searching for.

Sally:

Yeah. And also using words that your audience use. So I got a beautiful testimonial in this morning where I was described as a public speaking fairy godmother.

Anita:

Oh yeah, I love that. I'm bombing rainbows right now. That's so good.

Sally:

Yeah. And so I was thinking as well as that reminder to, to use the language language that our clients use with us.

Anita:

Yeah. Like if there's, if listeners are currently listening in, they're just like, I don't know what words to use and I don't know how to write or what to say. That is one of my first go-tos. Like literally lurk your testimonials. Listen, listen, listen, listen to what people are saying during your consults or during, like, and listen to the language that people use to describe what you do. One of the, my most favorite questions to ask my students and my clients is, Can you distill what I do in one sentence to me? Oh, like chef's kiss. Like, so much gold.

Sally:

Such a great tip. And Anita, you used to be a lawyer and now you are the queen of Wordfetti. Why do you do what you do? Why are you so passionate about words?

Anita:

You know what, I, I think the seed was planted when I was like a kid, a child, obviously when I was in uni and all of that, that did this did not come like, come to my mind, okay. I was not like, yes, I am going to be a copywriter. I did not, this was, I did not know this was a job. Okay. But I think this was planted yeah, in my brain noodle when I was a kid, I grew up in a very, just lots of languages in the house. So I actually know and can speak five, six languages purely from being in the environment where

Sally:

Five to six? Wow, Anita, you're so impressive.

Anita:

So I know Hakka which is a dialect in Chinese. Hakka, Mandarin. Mandarin, Cantonese, English, and Indonesian. So I wouldn't say I'm completely fluent in it, but I would probably say I can understand it, but I have a accent apparently. When I do speak, for example, I'm in Hong Kong right now with my relatives, and apparently I have a very strong accent in my Cantonese and Mandarin, but I think the seed was planted then. I'm just so fascinated with language and oral communication, like oral language as the human needs of connection. Like, this is how we connect. Like we are using words right now to connect. Words can have the ability to literally move someone, break someone. It can inspire someone or completely destroy someone all at the same time. And we all, each and every single one of us have this tool in all different languages to create impact. And we, we are not seeing it as that. We're just like, we're taking it for granted. So this is why I'm just so passionate about words and language.

Sally:

Oh, Anita, words matter. That is so profound and really speaks to the heart of what both of us do. Really. It's the, the writing of words and the speaking of words and making that those words count. Right after this recording, I'm off on one of my silent retreats for the weekend. And one thing I love about the silent retreat is it brings into sharp focus the value of words.

Anita:

Hang on. I'm gonna sound so naive now. When you say silent retreat as in like, literally like you, you don't talk for a week or like how does that work?

Sally:

It's, well, it's just the weekend and this is pretty it's easy. So it's just the weekend, absolutely no talking, no body language, no eye contact, but you're allowed to read and write. There are some where you don't even read and write, but yeah. So it's a weekend of, of reading, writing, no eye contact, no body language, and no, no talking. And it's, it's really great because you, it got, gets me thinking, you know, what word would you say, if you had one word to use today, what if you had two words, what would those words be? And to who would they be directed? You know, it really helps you hone in on that value of language.

Anita:

I love that. Oh wow, that's cool. You are so right in the realm of the fact that what you and I do, and I know we've gone through, so like we recently went on a beautiful Riverwalk and we're just talking about just the sinks in just what we both do. I think there's one thing to know how to write, but I think when you do not believe and believe in what it is that you are writing and you're just writing from a space of, I just don't wanna upset anyone and I wanna make sure that this is gonna put me in this limelight, but more from switch that more to, what does that person need to see, feel no one read? I think that is where the ripples happen.

Sally:

Oh, amazing. You are an absolute master at what you do. How can people work with you if they need a sprinkle of your magic?

Anita:

Yay. Come find me on Instagram, which is @AnitaSiek A N I T A S I E K. I'm there pretty much on all the platforms. Tune in on Brandfetti and of course find us and the team at Wordfetti as well, which is W O R D F E T T I.

Sally:

It has been such a pleasure to have you on That Voice Podcast.

Anita:

Thank you so much for having me, Sal. Appreciate you.