Here’s a statement we’re willing to go to the mat for: Business buzzwords have never once illuminated a sticky problem, clarified a situation or impressed an experienced colleague. Nobody—not even the CEO-iest CEO of all—thinks in buzzwords when they go home at night. At best, buzzwords confuse everybody into nodding their heads and going along with the strongest personality in the room.
But that’s not good for business, and it’s not even good, in the long run, for that loudmouth “disruptor” who’s “leveraging” “Big Data” for a “media agnostic” “growth hack.” Because when words are used to muddy the water instead of clear it, and when people are afraid to admit that they don’t understand, bad ideas sneak through.
The marketing field is particularly rife with double- and triple-speak—but it doesn’t have to be. Eliminating buzzwords from your vocabulary does not mean dumbing down your speech, or abolishing industry-specific terminology. It means speaking with clarity and precision, with the goal of actual communication. It means being on the same team as your audience. And—perhaps this is the true fear of the jargon junkie—it requires knowing what you’re talking about.
Make your case. Use facts. And understand that the best way to connect with real people is to talk like real people—both in copywriting and in agency-client conversations.