"Money" vs. "Rewards," revisited... How Words are Spells and Hold Power

A few days back I wrote a piece about marketing Steemit to potential newcomers, entitled "Marketing Steemit: The Importance of 'Getting Rewarded' vs. 'Making Money'"

A fairly lively discussion followed in the comment section, and I wanted to take a moment to share a quick story and revisit the strange ways people can react very differently to words that almost mean the same thing.

In its simplest interpretation, we "get rewarded" on Steemit, which basically means we are "making money."

But it not that simple.

Most people would agree that rewards and money are pretty close ideas, but they would also agree that the two words hold different energy.

"Make Money" is a pretty cold, sharp, hard and dry idea. It's pretty feelingless, all in all. It's very factual; very functional.

"Get rewarded" is a much "warmer" phrase. It's also more ambiguous. When we earn a reward there is often a "warm fuzzy feeling" that goes along with the reward; there's a sense that we get a "prize" and it was for some version of "doing good." 

A Story of the Power of Words

I remember being "front and center" to a marketing experiment, many years ago.

When I lived in Austin, Texas a friend of mine was working at building business for a local restaurant that had opened recently. My friend worked for a radio station, and two approaches were used, a couple of weeks apart.

In one campaign, the first 98 people to respond were given $10 cash towards their dinner at the restaurant, when they came in as part of the radio station promotion.

In the other, the first 98 people to respond were given a $10 gift certificate towards their dinner at the restaurant, when they came in.

On paper, it looks the same: you save $10 on your dinner... right?

But the responses were quite different.

The respondents who were offered the $10 cash incentive filled the "first 98" spots much faster than the gift certificate version. What's more, the "overflow" people (after the 98th person) were far grumpier (and even ANGRY) at not getting "their" $10. The gift certificate crowd were much more "easy going" about missing out.

However what was even more interesting is that the ratings given of the restaurant during brief "exit interviews" was consistently lower with the cash winners than with the gift certificate winners.

Even though-- ultimately-- people received the exact same benefit!

How does this relate to telling people about Steemit?

In my non-expert, non-scientific opinion, it seems to me that characterizing what we do here as "getting rewarded" rather than "making money" serves a secondary benefit of instilling a somewhat higher level of "goodwill" in new arrivals who give us a chance. Goodwill, in turn, benefits the community in terms of long-term retention and community growth.

What do YOU think? Did the outcome of the restaurant marketing experiment surprise you? Does "make money" feel different to you than "get rewarded?" Leave a comment-- start the conversation!

(As always, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)