This is like that.
It’s a bit like…
It’s like this but…
These are all ways we use metaphor in every speech and writing.
Metaphor is a wonderful way to help someone understand something by relating it to something else they already understand.
Here are some examples most of us know.
- Better half
- Black sheep
- Couch potato
- Early bird
- Heart of stone
It’s really useful when it’s hard to communicate what you’re offering.
Here’s another example. Let’s say your company sells really fast web hosting.
You might say it’s the Ferrari of web hosting. The speed association of a Ferrari gets your point about speed across far better than just saying loads super fast.
Metaphors are one area of word pictures. We convert words to images in our minds without even realising.
Politicians are trained to do this. A famous example from the US was the line ‘they want to pull the plug on grandma’. Powerful stuff. You get the image. You also get the feeling they want you to get which is that whatever the law was is a terrible idea. You couldn’t do that to grandma.
I encourage you to start noticing how great communicators use ‘visual language’.
Then practice and put it to good use when you’re creating your marketing.
