TL;DR
- Abstract brand messaging slides right past the brain. Concrete, sensory language? People remember it at 4x the rate.
- Sensory language triggers your audience's brain to feel your message before they consciously process it
- A quick framework to climb from static, beige messaging to sticky, visual messaging
Quick question:
Have you ever read your own marketing copy out loud and thought... "this could be literally any company in our space"?
Like:
You labored over every word
You ran it by your team
Everyone agreed it was "clear" and "professional"
You published it
And then... crickets
"Maybe we need better SEO."
"Maybe we just need more traffic."
I hear this all the time. And I get it. But what if the words themselves are sliding right past people's brains without leaving a mark?
I was auditing a client's messaging last week and hit a wall. Clear value prop. Differentiated positioning. Professional tone. But it wasn't landing. The whole thing was feeling a little beige. (Beige with a pretty font, but still ....beige.)
Which sent me down a rabbit hole that ended at Allstate, 1950:
"You're in good hands."
Nobody reads that and gets goosebumps... I know.. But you get it immediately. Your brain has something to hold onto - an image, a sense of being taken care of. You don't have to work to understand what they're promising. It lands. And it's been landing for 75 years while countless "Comprehensive Coverage Solutions" have quietly dissolved into the void.
Same with M&M's: "Melts in your mouth, not in your hands." You instantly picture it. You almost taste it. That tagline has survived since the 1950s. (Meanwhile, nobody is walking around quoting "premium confectionery experiences." Shocking, I know.)
Then I read my client's messaging: "We deliver integrated solutions that drive strategic outcomes." There's nothing for the brain to grab. It's like that LinkedIn headline that says "Passionate about helping businesses unlock their potential." Yeah, we all are...
So what's happening here?
Neuroscientists call it embodied cognition.
Concrete, sensory language gives your brain something to simulate. Abstract language gives it nothing to do, so it moves on.
Research shows people remember 36% of concrete phrases versus 9% of abstract ones. 4x the recall, just from choosing words your audience can actually picture.
Once this clicked for me, I started reviewing my own brand voice and messaging docs. And honestly? Most of it was living at Rung 1 or 2.
Technically sound. Completely invisible. So here's a new framework I've been testing...
I'm calling it the Sensory Messaging Ladder...
→ Rung 1 / Abstract: "Comprehensive solutions." "Innovative approaches." Your audience nods politely and forgets you exist.
→ Rung 2 / Conceptual: "Peace of mind." "Security for your future." Has meaning, but no physical anchor. The brain acknowledges it without committing.
→ Rung 3 / Visual: "A safety net." Now the brain can see something. We're getting somewhere.
→ Rung 4 / Physical: "You're in good hands." You can picture it, feel the weight of it. The brain doesn't have to translate... it just gets it.
→ Rung 5 / Multi-Sensory: "Taste the rainbow." Visual, gustatory, and slightly synesthetic all at once. Five syllables doing a remarkable amount of heavy lifting.
The goal: get to at least Rung 3. Ideally 4 or 5.
Here's how I've been testing this with AI:
Step 1 / Diagnose the Rung Feed your key messages to Claude or ChatGPT: "Rate each phrase 1-5 on the Sensory Messaging Ladder. Can someone visualize it? Does it create physical sensation? Flag anything stuck at 1 or 2."
Step 2 / Climb the Ladder Take your lowest-scoring phrases: "Rewrite this to reach Rung 3 or 4. Include one element that can be visualized and one that creates physical sensation. No corporate jargon."
Step 3 / Test the Simulation Sit with each alternative. Does your brain picture something when you read it? If you have to think about whether it's working, it isn't. Back to the ladder.
In the news:
📰 Ian Begg, University of Western Ontario: people remembered 36% of concrete phrases vs. 9% of abstract ones (four-fold recall difference)
📰 Nielsen: 67% of customers recall brands better with multisensory messaging elements
📰 Krishna & Schwarz, Journal of Consumer Psychology: sensory language activates the same neural pathways as physical experience, creating stronger memory encoding
The science is settled. Which makes it fascinating that most of us are still out here writing "synergy" like it's going to change someone's life.
Let's wrap this up...
Your strategy might be exactly right. But if your messaging can't plant itself in someone's brain, that strategy is working with one hand tied behind its back. (See what I did there... ;))
So here's my challenge: pull up your homepage this week. Read each line. Figure out which rung you're on. If you're sitting at 1 or 2, might be time to start climbing...