The Curvy Coach

Yes it’s true, the plus community has it’s own language. Once you have taken some to mingle with your prospects and clients, there’s this magical thing that happens with the way you communicate. You start using terms, phrases, maybe signs and handshakes that creates a unique bond between you and your community.

You see this a lot with fraternities and sororities. They each have their own colors, “calls”, “steps” and Greek letters. It’s what makes them stand out from every one else and you have to be in the group to speak that language and understand what it means. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to dances or conferences and out of nowhere, someone will do a call for a specific fraternity and they all respond in a choir-like fashion. It’s actually fascinating to see such brotherhood! This is what you want to achieve with your readers, your clients, your community.

The point is, you have to observe your prospects and clients. Find out what connects them to you and more importantly what connects them to each other. One great starting point is the language. As you get more engaged and involved within the plus-size industry, you’ll find that there is a unique language. Here are just a few phrases you may be familiar with:

• curvy
• real
• majority
• ample
• bbw
• plus
• full-figured
• voluptuous

Even “fat” is tossed around every now and again, but it goes back to your brand and message. You’ll hear more of the above terms in the size acceptance community; terms such as “obese” and “overweight” may be found in the anti-overweight community or even those in the weight loss community.

The key is of course first determine who you want to communicate with and then find a way so that they can best relate to you. If you’re not speaking the same language, then chances are there will be a disconnect; that’s not what you want. Don’t create a language barrier. If you start speaking in a way that your community doesn’t understand or worse to the wrong community, they will quickly lose interest.

When you tell your story, remember your end goal is not to get them to buy from you, it’s letting them know who you are and how you can serve them. When you tell your story in a language they understand, their ears perk up and they start to pay attention.  So when you speak and/or write those stories and thoughts in your next email marketing campaign, blog posts, teleseminar, tweets, etc. be sure to include these terms. Your community will automatically know that you are speaking directly to them and the bond begins to form – that is exactly what you want.