If you’ve ever found yourself staring at a blank page wondering what to write or why your content isn’t landing the way you’d hoped, despite pouring your heart, wisdom and expertise into it, I don’t think it’s because you’re not talented enough or because you need a better hook.
I think we’ve been taught to create the wrong kind of content.
Most of us have been taught that the purpose of content is to educate, prove our expertise and convince people that we’re worth paying attention to.
So we create post after post, write value-packed captions and squeeze every last drop of information into our posts, hoping that if we can just explain ourselves well enough, people will finally understand what we do and want to work with us.
The problem is that understanding doesn’t necessarily move people. If your work is here to change lives, understanding isn’t enough. Your work needs to make people feel something, because people rarely change when they’re convinced. They change when something inside them shifts.
This realisation came to me while I was refreshing the copy on my homepage a few weeks ago. I found myself trying to find the right word for what I want my work to do for your content, your business, your audience and your mission.
I tried on some words… Irresistible? Meh… already overused. Magnetic? No. I kinda realised magnetism is the consequence of what great content creates, not the thing itself.
Nothing felt like it captured the feeling I was trying to describe.
Then the word ‘evocative’ came in like it was being whispered to me from beyond the veil.
It immediately felt right, although I had no idea why. Whenever something catches my attention like that, I have to pull on the thread to see where it leads. So I looked up the definition. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, ‘evocative’ means “making you remember or imagine something pleasant.” Merriam-Webster describes it as “tending to evoke an especially emotional response.”
That was interesting, but it still wasn’t enough. I wanted to know what evocative actually looked like in practice, so I opened Pinterest and searched for “evocative aesthetic” and “evocative paintings”. If boudoir photography or burlesque-style imagery appeared, I honestly didn’t notice it because a handful of paintings completely stopped me in my tracks.
They weren’t trying to shock me, or to be provocative, and they weren’t screaming for attention. But they moved me in a way that surprised me.
There was a woman in a gold dress holding a pomegranate and flowers behind her back , which immediately transported me into a garden where I could (for a split second) feel the warm sun on my skin, smell the flowers and taste the tart sweetness of the fruit.
Two other paintings of women holding flowers instantly brought back memories of fragrances I’d smelled not so long ago, and I could feel my neurons firing as those scent memories resurfaced.
Then there was the woman reclining on the couch with a cigarette in her hand. I haven’t smoked in years, but at that moment I could vividly remember the feeling of bliss as I inhaled and then exhaled smoke, leaning back and experiencing that heavenly sense of release.
In truth, none of those sensations physically existed in that moment. The warmth, the scent, the taste and the feeling all came from somewhere inside me. The paintings hadn’t given me those experiences. They’d awakened memories of experiences I’d already had, and suddenly wanted to be doing again!
I’m curious whether something similar happens for you when you look at the images. Did they stir a memory or transport you somewhere? Did they make you feel something before you knew why?
It was in this moment I had the epiphany and immediately got sucked into another vortex of curiosity.
I’ve become increasingly interested in our brain chemicals and hormones over the last few years and knew that pleasurable, stimulating experiences often involve dopamine being released by the brain. I felt this was no different and I wanted to understand what was happening.
The more I read, the more I realised I wasn’t actually researching creativity anymore. I was researching why people move towards certain things and away from others.
Which is when I arrived at the philosophy that, whether someone else has already articulated it historically or not, felt completely new to me in that moment.
People don’t buy because they’re convinced… they buy because they’re moved.
We’ve been taught that our job as business owners is to convince people. Convince them we’re credible, knowledgeable, that our offer is worth the investment, and that right now is the right time.
But what if that was never our real job? What if our work is to awaken something that’s already waiting inside them? And rather than trying to sell to them, we align them with a version of themselves they want to experience emotionally?
Dopamine fascinates me because it isn’t really about pleasure. It’s about anticipation. It’s about the “will they, won’t they” mystery and what makes a crush feel intoxicating in the beginning. Dopamine is why we develop crushes, and why novelty feels exciting.
The mistake we often make is believing the other person is doing this, when in reality the feeling is happening inside us.
That sent me off exploring oxytocin and vasopressin as well. Oxytocin helps women feel safe enough to open their hearts, while vasopressin is associated with bonding through shared experiences and working through challenges together.
Suddenly , there I was putting 2 and 2 together, and the girl math was next level:
Art captivates attention, but medicine changes lives.
Without the art (the dopamine), people never stop long enough to receive the medicine (oxytocin). But without the medicine (oxytocin), people enjoy the experience but leave unchanged (dopamine).
Your creativity and work needs both, not just for the success of your business, but because you’re honouring people. If your work exists to change lives, surely the greatest gift you could hope to offer is an experience where someone encounters your work and every part of them responds with a resounding “yes!”
When I say every part, I mean their head, their heart and their 🐱 are all saying the same thing at the same time. There isn’t an internal argument, or a list of pros and cons. And their mind isn’t trying to talk them down from saying yes. Their whole being leans forward because their encounter with you and your work resonates on every level.
I call that a full-body yes.
If you’ve ever experienced one, you’ll know exactly what I mean. It’s the feeling that makes you feel like your whole body is trying to leap forward toward, saying, “YES!!” This. This is what I’ve been yearning for,” before you can explain why.
Nobody has to convince you because conviction isn’t what created the decision. Recognition did. They recognised a part of them they wish to experience in you and your work.
To me, that’s what transformational creativity creates. It doesn’t pressure people into making decisions. It creates the environment where they recognise the decision they’ve already made. You’re just reminding them of their true potential.
I think this is also why I have no desire to be an influencer.
Influencers compete for attention and rely on trends, performance and staying visible. A muse awakens something in you and reminds you of who you’re capable of becoming. She doesn’t ask you to admire her life; she inspires you to deepen more into your own.
That’s the kind of impact I want to make, and it’s the kind of impact I want for you too.
The world doesn’t need “louder, faster or more persuasive”.
It needs people to wake up from a dazed and confused haze and remember who they are, and be inspired into an upward trajectory with next steps that feel held and nurtured.
Here’s where I’d begin
If you’re looking at your own content and wondering why it isn’t creating the response you know it’s capable of, I’m inviting you to experiment with three things:
First, create something ‘evocative’. Instead of asking what you want people to know, ask what you want them to feel, remember or imagine.
Second, pair your art with medicine. Don’t stop at creating something beautiful. Ask yourself what truth, perspective or wisdom you’re offering.
Finally, look for your ‘full-body yes’. The next time you encounter a moment where you need to make a decision or someone is inviting you to do something, don’t rush through the experience. Stay with it and get present. What’s happening in your body? What is your mind doing? Does your heart close or open? Do you feel excitement, desire or an urge to move towards it (this is your 🐱 talking)?
Equally important, notice when part of you doesn’t feel safe, doesn’t trust, or doesn’t want to move forward. Which part is saying no? How does it feel?
The more familiar you become with your own internal responses, the easier it becomes to create work that evokes those same responses in other people. Your own nervous system is one of the greatest creative allies you’ll ever have.
When those three things come together, your work and creativity no longer ask people to pay attention. It invites them into an experience, and experiences are way harder to forget than information.
If this way of thinking about creativity resonates with you, this is exactly the kind of work I help devotional leaders create. Together, we’ll transform your intuitive and creative gifts into evocative work that combines art and medicine, so the people you’re here to serve don’t just understand what you do, they feel moved by it.
And if you’re excited by the idea of playing with memes to connect with the people who need you, I created the ‘Meme Magic’, a bundle of 25 share-worthy meme prompts plus 25 customisable templates to help you conjure your dream clients out of the collective.
You can get yours here.
Until next time,
Nicky xxx
