Written by: Annette Densham, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
It’s 2023, and technology is supposed to make our lives easier, right? You should be able to rely on your marketing folks to use a bit of software to make more sales and explain how it works.
Yet, in many businesses, this just isn’t the case. Instead of technology improving our lives, the marketing department has created a whole new lexicon of terms that mean nothing to ordinary human beings. And when things go wrong? They use those terms to hide behind. Tenai Seymour, from AdsHaus, said marketing speak can lead to confusion for clients.
“There are many terms that cause chaos and confusion when you’re trying to achieve simple marketing objectives,” she said.
“Acronyms of all types – from YTD to CRM, acronyms are meaningless to everybody in the conversation that doesn’t actually know what they mean. Sometimes, you can guess the meaning from conversation context, sometimes, you can’t.
“If anyone in marketing tries to slide past you in a flurry of three letter terms, make them spell out exactly what they mean, instead. And if they can’t, be very wary of dealing with them in the future too.”
Tenai said many marketers use the word ‘passionate’ in copy, but it is not something you can’t measure or quantify.
“You may know “passion” when you see it, but many other people don’t see things the same way. Worse, it can creep into your marketing material, and soon you’re telling the world that you’re “passionate about bin bags”. You’re not, nobody is, stop it, please,” she said.
Then there is the holy grail so many strive for - going viral. Tenai said everybody knows they want to go viral. “After all, it’s been said like it’s a good thing everywhere. What’s wrong with that? Apart from the fact that the term “viral” is unmeasurable, you mean?” she said.
“Marketers should talk about the number of people they intend to reach with a campaign, and you should want specifics. “Going viral” won’t always connect you with a single new prospect, which is the whole point of marketing after all.”
Another term used frequently is pushing people out. This refers to consumer, client, prospect. Tenai said they are all reasonable words to use within a marketing department, but they don’t belong in the real world at all. “You’re talking about people, people related to people, not consumers,” she said.
One of the biggest complaints from people who engage with a marketer is how vague their plans are. “Almost to the point of distraction,” Tenai said. “They’re already talking about Web 3.0, even though nobody knew what Web 2.0 was about.
“Marketing clients need to hear terms clearly explained when you communicate with the people you want to reach, it helps. And please, stop tacking “digital” on the front of everything. Not only is it vague, it’s not 1995, everything’s digital now.”
For those of us who live in the southern hemisphere, Americanisms shouldn’t be used. Tenai said words such as ideation, aligning our vision, reaching out doesn’t align with the way those outside the US speak. “It is always best to talk to people in the language they use,” she said.
Fortunately, there is a simple way around obfuscating and perplexing jargon, and that’s to get your marketers to embrace a long-standing business principle: KISS or Keep It Simple Stupid.
If the terms a marketer uses and the numbers they bandy about aren’t readily understood by everyone in the room, challenge that. Tenai said it is important to ask your marketers to communicate clearly. “So that even a 5-year-old could understand what they’re talking about,” Tenai said.
“Look for signs that what they say is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound) too, because if not, you’re going to pay for marketing with no defined end result.”
Marketing industry jargon, like all industry jargon, is fine around other marketers. If marketers try to use words to put a wall between you and what they’re really saying, you need to ask them to use the KISS principle, and then measure whether their words are SMART or not.
Tenai said marketing is about making you money. “The only way to do that is for everyone involved in marketing projects to speak the same, simple, language,” she said.
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Annette Densham, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Multi-award-winning PR specialist Annette Densham is considered the go-to for all things business storytelling, award submission writing, and assisting business leaders in establishing themselves as authorities in their field. She has shared her insights into storytelling, media, and business across Australia, UK, and the US speaking for Professional Speakers Association, Stevie Awards, Queensland Government, and many more. Three times winner of the Grand Stevie Award for Women in Business, gold Stevie International Business Award, and a finalist in Australian Small Business Champion awards, Annette audaciously challenges anyone in small business to cast aside modesty, embrace their genius and share their stories.
