In my baseball days, I’d stand at bat and repeat the word “patience” in my head. It was a little reminder that helped me perform at my best.
Here’s a handy word to repeat if you want to succeed with marketing: telos. It’s short for the Ancient Greek word, “teleology.” Telos describes something’s purpose. You’d use it in a sentence like this: “The telos of a pen is to write.”
Telos is controversial, especially with scientists. You see, telos invokes the idea of destiny, and saying that a pen has a destiny makes scientists uncomfortable.
For our purposes? We don’t care if telos is real. Humans act as if it’s real, and that’s all that matters.
Because science will give you a physical description of an object. But telos tells you that object’s reason for being.
And humans are always asking that second question: “What’s this object for? What’s its purpose?”
So keep the term “telos” in mind when doing marketing. It’s a little reminder to always frame things in a way your customer will care about.
