Change One Letter Or Word
Apparently dating back to 2005, one constantly recycled meme asks how funny you can make a film title or band name by changing just a single letter contained within.
Seemingly since becoming labelled one letter off, even if we have neither the time nor photoshop skills, we can still perhaps fashion a useful slide that works from this idea.
Can a keyword inside your pitch or orbiting your prospect thoughts usefully alter this way? Try for yourself.
How neat, for instance, that HURDLE can become HURTLE. The classic PAIN to GAIN. CHANGE can be CHANCE and CHARGE. Even COST becoming LOST, COSY or HOST.
There’s also the – more difficult yet vastly rewarding – similar theme of taking a word of just a handful of letters. Relevant to your bid. Then by changing one letter at a time, morphing from your original word to another. One with meaning to the deal at hand.
Such ‘change one letter’ ‘word ladder’ challenge a proven elementary classroom literary puzzle.
By way of sample aside, here’s one from a child-friendly eatery handout, with middle trio left blank for kids to fill-in;
FOODFONDFENDMENDMENU
Beware the potential time thief, but one such word ladder generator gives this to us;
WORRYFORRYFIRRYFIREYFIREDFIXED
Which leads me to maybe the simplest such alteration.
Switching up a word. Or words.
The latter, a vibe I blogged on back in 2013.
I was reminded of the power of swapping in a single word from sport journalist Oliver Holt lamenting the approach of one of football’s uber-coaches, José Mourinho.
The motto of his current team duly damaged from To Dare Is To Do, with downgrade now more like To Dare Is To Don’t.
For our selling purposes, a more positive evocation may well apply nicely.
Again, a useful slide treatment with plenty of options for how to show the crossed-out and subbed in words.