“It needs to be social at times and viral.“
That sentence was one of biggest turning points in my career. Young, doe-eyed entrepreneur and slick marketing dude faced with the same jargon I slung for years. It was a proposal filled with buzzwords. The customer was asking for something they couldn’t define to fill expectations they couldn’t articulate. Nightmare.
Customers are not dumb, but we’ve trained them to buy into the hype so hard that they expect lightning in a bottle. They’re repeating the same jargon that we spewed for years to sound impressive in a sea of competition. We’ve created a monster!
- “It’s gotta be organic.”
- “Can we get it trending?”
- “Let’s use best practices.”
- “We need synergy.”
- “Let me introduce our social media guru!”
I’ve gotten used to these little gems. Now I have to ask customers what their buzzwords mean just to make sure we’re speaking the same language. I also have to discover just how buried they are.
- “I want a strong brand culture.”
- “Can’t we just hack it?”
- “Gamify the experience.”
- “How do we target millennials?”
- “It needs to be mobile ready.”
About the author: Sean Kopen
With a unique, story-based approach to writing, Sean Kopen is an experienced content marketing specialist and instructional designer. Review some of his personal stories and perspectives at his website www.seankopen.com
