100 Powerful Marketing Words to Boost Your Brand (And 75 to Avoid)

Are you looking for guide to communicating with your online audience?

How can you grow online through the right marketing words, and which should you avoid?

This resource gives you 175 of the most impactful marketing words (good and bad), organized into ten categories for easy reading.

If you want to download this list as a PDF, you can do that right here:

Use this table of contents to see the best (and worst) words to use in your online marketing campaigns:

Marketing Words to Use

• Words That Tap into Emotion
• Words That Tap into Fear
• Words That Make People Feel Safe
• Words That Imply Urgency
• Words That Show Value

Marketing Words to Avoid

• Words Which Make You Sound Ancient
• Words Which Nobody Will Believe
• Words Which Sound Salesy
• Words Which Have Been Overused
• Words Which Make You Look Lazy

Marketing Words to Use

Marketing Words That Tap into Emotion

Emotion drives most purchases we make, if you actually get down to it.

• Why did you buy a gift for your partner? — You love them and want them to be happy.
• Why did you buy jeans when your old ones got worn out? — You want to look good, and impress people. And you’re scared what people will think if they see you in worn out jeans.

Here are the marketing words which can motivate your prospective customers to feel something which just might result in a purchase:

Marketing Words That Tap into Fear

Fear is a powerful motivator:

The fear of missing out, the fear of making a mistake, the fear of costing your business money they don’t have, or rushing something which should be done carefully.

Here are the marketing words which incite fear in your prospective customer, and drive them to protect themselves by engaging with your brand:

Marketing Words That Make People Feel Safe

Trust is everything when it comes to laying money on the line.

If you haven’t communicated that your product and your business is legit, why should anybody get their credit card out of their wallet?

Use these marketing words to ensure your prospective customers feel safe to engage with you:

Marketing Words That Imply Urgency

People are more incentivized to engage with your brand if they think they’ll miss out otherwise.

Use these marketing words to imply urgency to your offer, promotion, or content:

Marketing Words That Show Value

Communicating why a prospective customer should engage with your business is the first step to getting them to do so.

Unless you show the value of engaging, they’re not going to. It’s as simple as that.

Here are the essential marketing words which can be used to show value:

Marketing Words to Avoid in your Marketing Strategy

Now that we have a good idea of the words which will have the greatest impact on your social media post engagement, landing page conversion and product page purchases, let’s look at the words you should be avoiding.

Marketing Words That Make You Sound Ancient

You’re a business. Even if your business’ tone is a casual, fun one, there’s still a line you shouldn’t cross.

Here are a couple cringeworthy examples:

Here are the most cringeworthy “youth” slang marketing words your business needs to avoid:

If you’re ever wondering if a word or idea may come across as “trying too hard” with the kids, check out the subreddit “/r/fellowkids.”

Marketing Words That Nobody Will Believe

Whether you sell marketing software or gluten-free cake, your audience will put up their noses at your pitch that your product is going to change their lives or is the first time anybody thought to put flour and sugar together.

Instead, focus on what it can actually do. Avoid superlatives and keep your brand on solid ground.

Here are the “nobody will believe you” marketing words to avoid:

Marketing Words That Sound Salesy

Are you a used-car salesman from the 80s, or a modern-day marketer?

Thought so.

So why are you still trying to shill your prospective customers like you use too much hair gel and have a Madmen-era respect for the world around you?

Here are the “salesy” marketing words you should avoid unless you want to lose all trust from your audience:

Marketing Words That Have Been Overused

These words may have been the bee’s knees in years gone by. But those years are gone by.

Now, they just sound like you’re a broken robot, repeating the same words over and over again like every other faceless corporate hack.

These are the most overused marketing words out there:

Marketing Words That Make You Look Lazy

You’re a creative marketer. So there’s no need to fall back on those words we learned in third grade.

Be better. Be more unique. Be more charismatic.

And whatever you do, avoid these lazy words at all costs.

Final Thoughts

I hope this resource has clarified for you which marketing words are winners and which may have a detrimental effect on your audience’s desire to engage.

Few are “hard-and-fast” rules, of course. So use your best judgment and creativity both.

Do you have any strong feelings for or against any of these words? Get the conversation started in the comment section below!

Related Reading:

• The Complete Online Marketing Dictionary
• 10,897 Growth Hackers Recommend Their Favorite Marketing Tools & Resources
• 75 Ecommerce A/B Testing Ideas (With Examples)

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