Why Lingo Is Important and How to Learn Their Language

Learning the language used by people in a particular niche is a critical part of learning to sell to them. If you don't speak their language, they'll instantly know they're being marketed to by an "outsider." On the other hand, if you talk as they do, you'll build an instant trust and rapport and have a much better chance of being let into their lives and their wallets.

How do you learn the lingo of a new market? How do you make sure you're using the language that a market is used to? Here are a few tips.

Read the Blogs and Forums

Anytime you're thinking of jumping into a market, start by reading their message boards, forums and blogs.

These are the places where users, both new and old, come to discuss their ideas, problems and solutions in a carefree way. This is as close as you'll get online to hearing a casual in-person discussion.

Unlike high-powered websites that have to filter their language carefully, on forums and blogs you'll get the chance to really pick up the slang of a market.

Read these sites until you start to get a sense of how people talk. Anytime a word or acronym comes up that you don't recognize, look it up.

Two Things to Pay Attention To

There are two especially important areas worth paying attention to: A) How people express their problems, and B) How things are measured.

For example, in internet marketing, the key phrases to pay attention to may include: SERPs, unique visitors, CTR, backlinks, PR, nofollow, opt-in rate, etc.

To an outsider, these words and acronyms may mean nothing. But if an outsider wanted to come in and "speak marketing," these are also the most important words they'd need to learn.

Figure out how a market talks about their problems. Figure out how they measure their success. Learn to use those words eloquently and you'll be able to speak to the heart of your customer.

Read Your Competitor's Sales Letters

Chances are your winning competitors already have sales letters that are well written and crafted to the language of the market.

Read these sales letters. Even if you've already read the blogs and forums, you'll very likely pick up language that works specifically for selling to that market.

What parts of the sales letter get you the most excited? What are the phrases, stories, emotions that your competitor is using?

Take the best parts and adapt them to your own sales letters. Learning from proven winners can take a lot of work out of the equation.

In short, read the forums and the blogs. Pay special attention to problem-words and measure-words. Read your competitor's sales letters, take the best parts and adapt them to your own.