What Richard Blais Can Teach You About The Power Of Language

I have been intrigued by Richard Blais from his first appearance on Top Chef; especially his scientific, yet artful approach to food.

The Bravo’s Top Chef All-Stars winner is a successful chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and television personality. He now has a new Food Network show called Hungry Games. In this show he investigates the psychology as well as the science behind our food cravings and ultimately the reasons for our food decisions.

The Power Of Language In Marketing A Pizza

In a recent episode, he explored the extraordinary power of language to stimulate cravings for a slice of cheesy pizza. He wanted to see if he could sell the same kind of pizza for a higher price just by describing it differently.

His experiment started in a regular pizza store by presenting an ordinary margarita pizza pie as "Margarita pie" for $14. With each customer he raised the price and added more descriptive language praising fine ingredients such as slow-simmered Romano tomatoes, handpicked basil from the roof top and buffalo mozzarella cheese.

Richard Blais was able to charge double the price just by changing the way he talked about his product without changing the product itself.

The reason why people willingly opened their wallet was, they TASTED the pizza in their minds before they already bought it. Their brains already craved the satisfying taste of this pizza AND they believed in the value of the better ingredients.

After the experiment, Richard asked around how everyone was enjoying their pizza. The reaction with the ordinary margarita pizza pie was a shoulder-shrugging "It's a good pizza" while as the people who bought the same pizza but after hearing the very descriptive language found it one of the best pizzas they ever ate.

What Does This Mouth-Water Trick Mean For Your Business?

Let's talk first about what it does not mean: You should make your product sound like something it is not! You always have to be honest about your product value, ingredients, etc.

But language is a powerful tool to create an emotional reaction in your prospect or customer.

Think about what stimulates your buyer persona to buy.

Is your pizza just another quick lunch to go? Or is it the perfect cheesy pizza that satisfies a craving for something extraordinary, something so perfect you are happy to pay $28 for it?

What obstacle do your prospects need to overcome?

Is it inconvenience, cost, or not understanding the benefits of your product? Buyer-persona specific content marketing, specifically your website content and blogging, can help your prospects to overcome those objections and help them to make a purchase decision.

How do you use language in your marketing?