Nike's masterclass in speaking your audience’s language 🏃♂️
5 ways to talk like your audience. Not like a marketer.
Safe marketing is slow death ☠️
Most solopreneurs play it safe with generic taglines, watered-down pitches, and vanilla content that could be for anyone.
After studying Nike’s 2025 Chicago Marathon campaign, they didn’t flood Chicago with product shots or celebrity athletes.
They put up billboards with lines like “SHUT UP, BRAIN.” and “TOENAILS ARE FOR LOSERS.”
Keep reading and steal 5 ways to speak like your audience… not corporate gibberish.
🎯 Show up where it matters
Nike positioned billboards at mile 18, when runners hit the mental wall.
But there were no product shots or “Buy our shoes” taglines on show. Instead, they used rallying cries that proved Nike gets runners.
The impact?
Thousands of runners and spectators posted these billboards on social media, creating free word-of-mouth marketing from people who felt seen.
What can a solopreneur steal from this strategy?
Make sure you're hyper-relevant in one moment rather than vaguely present everywhere else.
💀 Safe marketing is a slow death
Let me show you what I mean.
Generic messaging:
“I help businesses grow through marketing”
“Professional copywriter with 5+ years experience”
“Let’s take your brand to the next level”
What Nike did instead:
“ASK YOUR LEGS FOR FORGIVENESS. NOT PERMISSION.”
“THE BEGINNING OF THE END(ORPHINS).”
“WHATEVER YOU’RE DOING, KEEP DOING IT. FOR 22 MORE MILES.”
See the difference?
Generic sounds like everyone else.
Nike sounds like it was written specifically for you at the right moment.
When I analysed my biggest client wins, I found the same pattern.
The clients I closed fastest had one thing in common: my outreach felt like I was reading their minds.
Not “I can help, I’ve been copywriting for 5+ years.”
But “Your landing page has a 2% conversion rate. Your hero headline buries the emotional benefit. Here’s what I’d change…”
🥇 3 bold moves Nike made
1. Nike embraced insider language
“TOENAILS ARE FOR LOSERS” means nothing to casual runners. To marathoners? It’s a badge of honour.
2. They removed all product marketing
No shoe close-ups or “Get 20% off.” They provided encouragement and emotional connection.
3. They got uncomfortably specific
“FOR 22 MORE MILES” only makes sense at mile 4. “SHUT UP, BRAIN” only hits when you’re battling demons at mile 18.
Most brands would go safe with “You’ve got this!” Nike said, “ASK YOUR LEGS FOR FORGIVENESS. NOT PERMISSION.”
🚀 5 ways to talk like your audience (steal this)
Don’t worry. You don’t need to purchase billboards in Chicago.
#1: Use your client’s words
✅ Steal this: Open your last 20 client messages. Copy the phrases they use to describe their problem. Paste those words into your website, emails, and pitches.
👉 Quick Growth Idea: Create a “client language” doc. Every time a prospect says something like “we’re throwing spaghetti at the wall” add it. Use these phrases in your next 3 outreach messages.
#2: Show up where your audience struggles most
✅ Steal this: Find one place your ideal client is struggling right now. Show up with a solution and help.
👉 Quick Growth Idea: Set a Google Alert for “[your niche] + struggling” or “[your niche] + help needed.” Also, comment with solutions on Reddit or LinkedIn threads.
#3: Give value without asking for anything
✅ Steal this: Create one piece of high-value content this week. No CTA or pitch. Prove you understand their world.
👉 Quick Growth Idea: Record a 3-minute Loom teardown of a prospect’s website, landing page, or recent launch. Send it with the subject line: “Noticed something about [their project] - no strings attached.”
#4: Get dangerously specific
✅ Steal this: Rewrite your positioning to exclude 80% of people. Name the specific problem, industry, and situation you solve.
👉 Quick Growth Idea: Add 3 disqualifiers to your homepage. “Not for agencies, not for B2C brands, not if you’re pre-product-market fit.”
#5: Lead with emotion, not specs
✅ Steal this: Rewrite your main pitch. Replace every feature with the emotions your client feels before hiring you.
👉 Quick Growth Idea: Interview your last 3 clients. Ask: “What were you feeling the day before you hired me?” Use their words (frustrated, overwhelmed, stuck) in your next outreach.
💡 Your Friday takeaway
Nike’s campaign worked because it felt like a fellow runner cheering you on. Not a brand selling shoes.
For solopreneurs:
Stop trying to appeal to everyone. Go deep with the right people.
Use your audience’s language, even if outsiders don’t get it.
Show up at their hardest moment with zero expectation of immediate payback.
TL;DR: Nike turned marathon billboards into rally cries by speaking fluent runner.
Do the same: use your client’s language, show up when they struggle, and prove you understand before you sell.
See you next week 🚀
Sam
—If you enjoyed issue #13, please tap the Like button below 💙 Thank you!
Wow! Thanks for this helpful ideas! I will implement ASAP!
Really enjoyed this article, relates to my own personal project to a significant degree. I think to really thoroughly understand the points of pain that acts as a badge of honour binds communities together. You could almost even say that the collective pain and surviving said pain is what makes up a community of people. Great article