What Dune Taught Me About Selling with Words

“No other movie captured such mesmerizing, picturesque scenery. And no other movie will for a while.”

That’s what someone told me after watching Dune: Part Two twice.

But I couldn’t bring myself to watch it until I finished the book first.

This morning, I finally did. I was excited to see how the story and characters would be adapted to the screen. But as I watched, I kept wondering…

How do you take words and turn them into moving pictures?

And then it clicked: Picture words.

It’s a concept I learned from Eugene Schwartz, the copywriting legend.

Schwartz argues there are only two types of words you need to know, and one of them is picture words.

Picture words are visual, sensory-rich words that form clear images in the reader’s mind.

Take the word orange, for example. On its own, it creates a simple image. But add another picture word, bright orange or dark orange, and the image sharpens. Add even more detail, and it comes to life.

The same principle applies to selling.

As a business owner, you want your customers to see your product, not just in words, but as vivid, mental pictures.

When you help them imagine what it looks like, feels like, and how it fits into their lives, you make buying it easier for them.

Or as Eugene Schwartz put it:

“You don’t sell a product; you sell a picture of what life looks like after owning it.”

And if you’d like help turning your words into pictures that sell, I’m here to help.