Buzzwords gone wild

Dilbert’s online Mission Statement Generator [www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/games/career/bin/ms.cgi] offers a fun parody of a serious problem: corporate-speak.

Some of the results are clearly nonsense. (“We seamlessly promote scalable catalysts for change and continually leverage existing economically sound data,” for example.)

Others look frighteningly real – real in the sense that one can believe some companies might actually use language like this – but not credible, authentic or practical.

More often than not, audiences will screen out this messaging, recognizing it for the jargon that it is.

Your customers – both current and prospective – are constantly bombarded by commercial messaging.

Yet while the volume increases, the quality is declining. And, as others misuse and abuse language, the meaning of words is debased and lost on an increasingly skeptical audience.

Falling into the trap of unconscious use of marketing jargon seems all too easy in these busy days of “always on” web, text and phone.

So it’s essential you choose your words carefully and re-inject them with the meaning that you genuinely intend them to hold – then render them credible by acting accordingly.

It may make sense to use flowery language, open-ended or implied terms in brand image-building communications. After all, in a competitive marketplace, brands are trying to get noticed and differentiate themselves from each other. But hyperbole (extravagant statements of intentional exaggeration) often results.

Let’s consider some examples of wording that can get companies into trouble.

z“We provide the ultimate in customer relationship satisfaction.”

There are a number of problems with this. “Ultimate” is vague, open to misinterpretation and expectations raised could be impossible to deliver on. And the phrase “customer relationship satisfaction” is clumsy and raises suspicions about what’s being referred to. Why not simply, “customer satisfaction”?

Overly elaborate language, crude definitions and vague promises can make meaningful measurement difficult.

z“Exceeding customer expectations.”

Although such statements may be well-intended – perhaps implying an effort to be flexible and anticipate customer wants – they risk coming across as lacking in meaning.

Only companies that have a clear and high-service delivery program should attempt this type of approach, backing up claims with evidence.

This gets to the heart of good marketing communication: if you are authentic and focus on what you truly offer as a product, service and experience, you are far more likely to be successful in your marketing communication.

z “Green, organic, sustainable, environmentally-friendly and responsible…”

The whole area of over-claiming on a company’s green credentials has quickly led to a customer backlash and the outing of frauds as “greenwashers” (those who make exaggerated, misleading and/or unsustainable environmental claims.)

At www.terrachoice.com one can see the results of a 2007 survey of 1,018 North American products that made one or more environmental claims. Of these, all but one (yes, one) were classified as demonstrably false or misleading.

The lesson: before you follow the majority into making questionable claims and vague promises, look in the mirror and take a dry run at the conversation.

Could you look your mother or son or friend in the eye and use the wording you propose without being embarrassed, challenged or ridiculed? What support and evidence do you have?

If this is awkward, then you probably need to simplify and return to fundamentals of what your business is about and what you offer customers that is of value to them.

So step back and examine your marketing and corporate communications; look at them as an outsider (a customer or prospect) might.

Do they make sense? Are they clear and unambiguous? Can your company and your people consistently deliver on what is promised?

If not, change them accordingly. Get external validation from customers.

After all, what you say is an implicit promise of what you will do. Follow this simple philosophy and you should reduce confusion and increase your chances of developing a reputation for being honest, no-nonsense, trustworthy and reliable.

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Paul Cubbon is a marketing instructor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. He can be reached at news@businessexaminer.net