I just wanted to… I’d like to tell you… I kind of think that…
If you use phrases like this in your emails, posts, lives, videos, or other marketing, STOP!
Phrases like just, really, kind of, I think that, I guess that, and sort of are what language experts call hedges.
In marketing, hedges diminish your authority. They say “This is what I think but you might not agree so don’t hate me.”
Consider the difference between:
I just wanted to send you this email to let you know about a new service I’m offering.
And
I’ve got a new service and I can’t wait to tell you about it.
The first sentence starts with an indirect apology for bothering the reader. (If your service is something that can help, it won’t bother them.)
The second gets straight to the point and loudly declares “Come and get it!”
Women hedge more than men.
I’ll be honest, when I started creating content, I was a hedge queen. Even now, I have to watch myself. (I almost wrote women tend to hedge more than men. Tend to is another hedging phrase.)
So if you’re like guilty of, you know, beating around the bush in your communication, get out those shears and trim those hedges.
You are an expert. You know your sh*t.
Now go out there and own it!
