On the off chance you’re not an entrepreneur
here's what it's like.
Most of the time, being an entrepreneur is like inventing the lightbulb.
It’s having an absolute banger of what you’re convinced is an original thought,
working tirelessly to turn that thought into a business…
…and then finding out that someone else in another corner of the internet has already invented the lightbulb.
And then finding out that The Lightbulb™️ is actually for sale as a mastermind, a membership, and a digital product. 😅
Way back when Lexicon Copy Co. was barely a twinkle in the California Secretary of State database, I had a lightbulb idea.
I held my breath, and looked around, waiting to see who had already invented my lightbulb.
And as incredible as it seems? So far, nobody has.
My lightbulb idea starts with
An absolutely asinine phrase:
“Cutting through the noise.”
We copywriters looooove to cut through noise.
(Myself included. This phrase is definitely on my About page.)
Cutting through noise is our favorite hobby. We love it so much that we’ll even tell YOU we can cut through YOUR noise.
It’s a great mental picture: a copywriter with a pen in each hand, slicing through the babble of your competitors like a samurai carving a path through an enemy army.
But… like… how, exactly?
How precisely does one make a brand muscle its way past everyone else in your industry, stand in the front, and talk loud enough that it drowns everyone else out?
The answer to that question? That’s my lightbulb.
When Lexicon Copy Co. pulls someone else’s brand voice as source material,
We’re like that one biology teacher you had who couldn’t wait for dissection week.
We pull a brand voice apart into three specific aspects.
Tone
This is as close as a professional writer in a professional brand voice guide will get to saying “Vibe.”
A tone is all about how someone’s speech makes you feel, or the impression they give you.
Communication style
A person’s communication style consists of the things they choose to talk about, and how they handle subject matter.
If you’re interested, I just so happened to write an entire blog post on this topic.
Word choice
This is the most actionable aspect. By analyzing someone’s word choice, we pay attention to the specific vocabulary they use and adopt some of that into our own brand.
Massive disclaimer that this is not an excuse to plagiarize.
But there are only so many words in the English language, and it’s just fine to emulate how someone chooses to use theirs.
Specificity is key.
When you say you want to sound like Apple
Do you mean you like the way they make complex things simple (communication style), or that you want their casual, brilliant-but-techy friend vibe (tone)?
If you’re channeling Michelle Obama
Do you like the way she handles sensitive topics (communication style) , or a specific evocative way she told a story about her young adult years (word choice)?
We are very anti-hack in this corner of the internet, but there’s no arguing with the fact that when you channel the voice of someone from far outside your industry into your messaging, you bring something fresh and distinctive.
Your clients will be able to pick you out of a crowd, and they’ll bring friends.
Dare I say? That’s the noise >> cut through.
