How to harness the power of language to position your brand

Speak like a real person, be specific, and sell yourself effectively

The language we use, the things we say, and the words we write, all contribute to the way we’re perceived. 

For brands, this is a key part of positioning: generating a personality for a company that reaches out beyond the website or brand asset, because it creates a feeling - of being young and playful like LEGO, intelligent and wry like The Economist, or authoritative and neutral like JP Morgan. Of course, the copy can’t do everything, and visuals have an important part to play here too.

The key is that it has to feel genuine. 

Typically, brands want to position themselves as experts - as the best at what they do, the go-to choice, the people who really know what they’re doing. The same goes for us as individuals when we write our CVs, our LinkedIn profiles, or our website bios. So how can we achieve this? If I’m the best, then can I just say this?

If I was writing my CV, I could say:

1. I’m a writer and editor, specialising in digital transformation.

2. I’m a senior writer and editor, with 10 years of expertise in digital transformation.

3. I’m a senior writer and editor with over a decade of experience crafting high-impact content on digital transformation and emerging technologies.

4. I’m a senior writer and editor with over a decade of experience shaping high-impact content across the digital transformation landscape. I specialise in translating complex topics - such as cloud computing, AI, automation, and enterprise agility - into strategic, audience-aligned narratives that engage stakeholders. My work helps organisations define thought leadership, elevate brand voice, and drive strategic engagement across multiple platforms.

What do you think? What impression does each of these entries give you of me - of both the kind of person I am and of my skills and experience?

Adding more words or adding more waffle? 

For me, the first two statements don’t say enough. The language is clear, but I need more. If I wrote these, I’d need to back them up with more information about the work I’ve done, who I’ve done it for, and how I did it. 

So what about statements 3 and 4? They’re longer, but do they actually tell me more?

I’d argue that they don’t. Not really. They might sound more impressive at surface level, but when I really dig into the language I find it to be fluffy and lacking meaning. 

For example, what does it mean for content to be ‘high-impact’? What does it mean to ‘define thought leadership’? And WTF is ‘drive strategic engagement across multiple platforms’? 

The problem with language like this is that it’s jargon. Nobody actually talks like this in real life, so it comes across as inauthentic. You can get away with a bit of it - and often the use of specialist terms is important in comms if your audience is expecting it, as it signals you’re part of their world. But using language that doesn’t really mean anything immediately puts a barrier up between you and your audience. It interrupts the direct connection, the relationship, and the feeling you want to create between you and them.

In a CV, instead of the incisive, clear communication of my achievements, we’ve got blurry blah blah blah. It doesn’t paint a picture of who I am and what I’ve done. As a result, it doesn’t position me effectively, or sell me very well. 

In the examples here, the language is also not specific enough. Instead of ‘drive strategic engagement across multiple platforms,’ for example, I’d want to say what kind of engagement I helped to create, how, and across what platforms. It’s an old and well-known writing tip that if you want to convince your reader of something, you have to go into detail.

Cut the jargon to create confidence

The people who truly come across as experts don’t communicate like this. Instead, they ooze confidence in more innate ways. They create the impression of expertise without having to force it - and typically without ‘driving’, ‘leveraging’, or ‘synergising’ anything. 

Yes, it helps if you have a few big achievements to your name (Pulitzer prize winning author, anyone?) that you can cite as evidence of your greatness, but if you can cut the jargon, back up your points with specifics, and show me, rather than telling me how amazing you are, you’ll be off on the right track.

So whether you’re writing your CV, or webpage copy for your company website, remember that the most important part of creating trust is to be authentic. At the heart of this is communicating clearly. Know who you are, what you’ve achieved, what you’re great at. And put it out there. No bullsh*t. You’ll find you can sell yourself without even trying. Or at least, without appearing to…

Header image by Brett Jordan on Unsplash