Curious Saturday: The most powerful tool cults use isn’t belief – it’s language
Amanda Montell’s TED Talk makes an uncomfortable point: the same linguistic techniques that bind people to fringe movements are quietly at work in gyms, startups, and financial brands.
Specific words create in-groups. Repeated phrases build identity. Once someone speaks your language, they start to *think* in it.
For fintech, this matters more than most admit. Brands winning long-term loyalty aren’t just offering better rates — they’re building a vocabulary customers adopt as their own. “Financial freedom,” “smart money” — these aren’t neutral terms. They’re identity signals.
The question isn’t *whether* your brand is using language to shape behavior. It already is. The question is whether you’re doing it intentionally.
What does your brand’s language make people believe about themselves?
Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_montell_the_sneaky_language_tricks_cults_use_to_influence_you
