Anyone else disturbed by the recent Facebook changes? As my friend Andy Smith put it, there’s been a shift from “banal quotes in text to pictures of banal quotes”.

It seems that the powers that be have decided to prioritise pictures over text, and so everyone’s frantically photoshopping to attract attention. And it works!

I ran my own test the other day. I’d appealed a couple of times in text for ideas on how to find a copywriter, and had very little joy.

Then I tried posting the work of art you see here: a scrawled “notice” advertising for a copywriter. Within a few minutes, I had several possibilities to explore.

You can see why Facebook’s done it. Pictures attract more attention, and are more emotionally engaging, than pure text. Pictures appeal to an older part of the brain than words, and so affect us more viscerally.

And that’s one of the reasons that metaphor is such an effective tool for coaching and therapy: research has demonstrated that the metaphors in our minds exist as “images” before we describe them with our words.

But what’s the best way to “get the picture”? What’s the best way to come up with imagery that represents what you want to say?

My experiment gave me an insight into that, too – and a fun exploration of metaphors for distance.

Here’s the thing. I’d been struggling to write a good sales page for my new online coaching course, which starts on 7 November.

I know how to do it – for example, and I know the importance of using effective metaphors to generate pictures in people’s minds, matching the potential clients’ metaphors and demonstrating that I understand their problem.

I knew the value of what I was offering – it’s something that could change a lot of people’s lives quickly and dramatically; something that nobody else has ever offered. And I know I can write clearly.

But still I was struggling. What I realised (in part thanks to a talk by neuroscientist Patricia Ridell) was that I was too close: I was wrapped up in the details of exactly what would be taught, and when.

What was needed was a different perspective, someone who could see the big picture.

An outside copywriter, in this case Gillian Fox, was able to take a helicopter view and so she could draw a clear roadmap for potential participants.

Oh, and she reminded me to add graphics, too :-)

Check out the finished page here.

  • Expert Clean Language facilitators take great care to understand where symbols are within clients’ metaphoric landscapes, by paying attention to spatial metaphors (including metaphors for distance). Why not listen out for these today? Please comment below with your discoveries!