Quick & Dirty - The Power Of 3 To 5 Words

Zack Greenfield • October 17, 2020
Welcome to quick and dirty marketing tips. And today's topic. We're going to go over, um, something that you gotta get your head around, and it's all about three to five words and why, and I mean, three to five words in your marketing messages in your advertising. So let's talk about the, you know, what that's all about. So stick with me and 

We're going to cover it.

When you're putting together your headlines, your advertising, and even some of your subject lines, your emails and stuff, you really want to try to figure out how to pack your message into about three to five words. And here's the reason why three to five words is pretty much read at a glance. Like somebody doesn't have to start going word by word for three to five words. It can just absorb it as, you know, one message in a glance. And that's what you want. Cause you have, you know, a split second of their attention, perhaps, especially on like an email subject line or on a display advertising thing. Or even in ad words, you know, like if you're doing a little PPC stuff, you really, they don't give you a lot of characters on a lot of that stuff anyways. But especially in display advertising, even in like video headlines and in footers and you know, different places where you can put stuff three to five words, trying to compress your call to action, your message or the, the, what that person's going to get, okay. 

That the value to them, if you will, if you can figure out how to express those things, depending on the circumstances in the campaign in three to five words, they're going to, you're going to get it down to where it has a ton of impact, and you're going to get it down to where your visitor or the, you know, the person that's on the receiving end is basically gonna be able to absorb this thing and a glance. And it's gonna kind of sizzle right into the back of their eyes. And you're not gonna be asking them to do a lot of reading because when there's too many words, they start just, you know, uh, it looks like a lot, or they're not gonna be able to consume the whole thing, or you may have written it where you got a lot of, you know, kind of fluff in the beginning, but the core value messenger, the core action they need to take is kind of like the last seven or eight words. 

And they may not even get there or in the case of a subject line in the preview of their email, that part might be clipped because it's not showing that many, you know, you'll get like, I'm looking at my inbox over here on one of these monitors, one, two, three, four, five words there, one, two, three, four words there. I'm just looking at subject lines. One, two, three, four, five words there. So my inbox basically shows me about five words on my subject lines all the way down. So if you try to, if you go past that, you're like out of the box, like half of your stuff's getting clipped. So try to figure out and work hard with your word, crafting and brainstorming and you know, whiteboard this stuff, put up your messages, you know, and like one of the things I do is I put in like my notes, you know, Evernote or whatever it is, you know, different subject lines are different ad copy. 

I mean, we have troves of this around here, so we kind of know what works, but when you're starting out, you got to spend some time moving words around and trying to figure out what your messaging is going to look like to grab attention, be consumable in a glance and have a lot of impact and promote that person to take action and get engaged with your business. So go ahead and get them and get them down to three to five words. If this helped you, you know, figure out strategically how to move forward, go ahead and like, and subscribe this video. We're always going to make another one. And then you're going to get notified. No, somebody that needs this video to catch on the next question, dirty marketing tips.
GET HELP TODAY
By Zack Greenfield September 18, 2026
Your website traffic didn't fall off a cliff by accident. AI Overviews are answering your customers' questions before they ever click. Here's how Scottsdale business owners can fight back and recover lost leads.
By Zack Greenfield September 17, 2026
Running a med spa in Northern, AZ and tired of being outranked by spas in Scottsdale? Here's the straightforward marketing guide you actually need to attract more clients locally.
By Zack Greenfield September 15, 2026
Discover how AI chatbot customer service can help local service businesses in Scottsdale capture leads, answer FAQs, and book appointments 24/7 — without hiring another person.
By Zack Greenfield September 8, 2026
Posting beautiful food photos but still seeing empty tables? Your Instagram strategy isn't the problem — your local discovery strategy is. Here's how Scottsdale restaurants fix it.
People working on laptops in a bright café with large windows and indoor plants
By Zack Greenfield August 28, 2026
Your website isn't the first thing people see anymore — your Google Business Profile is. Learn how to optimize your GBP for AI-driven local search in 2026 and stop losing customers to competitors who figured this out before you.
By Zack Greenfield August 18, 2026
Tired of marketing that doesn't move the needle? Discover what a medical practice marketing agency in Scottsdale should actually be doing to grow your patient base, dominate local search, and stop wasting your budget.
By Zack Greenfield August 13, 2026
Still running your Scottsdale business on gut instinct and spreadsheets? Intelligent System as a Service gives small businesses enterprise-level marketing power without the enterprise-level headache. Here's how it works.
By Zack Greenfield August 12, 2026
Explore why 2025 is the year AI agents dominate marketing. See how to leverage agentic automation for smarter, faster business growth.
By Zack Greenfield August 11, 2026
Stop running your business on sticky notes and gut feelings. Learn what intelligent system as a service actually means, how it works for small businesses, and why Scottsdale business owners are using it to grow faster with less chaos.
By Zack Greenfield August 6, 2026
Stop flying blind. Learn exactly how to measure content marketing ROI in 2026 — no jargon, no vanity metrics, just a straightforward system built for small business owners who need real answers.
Show More