Max Riffner
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And Then There Are The Buzzwords
The other day I wrote about the secret vernacular that some professions have and I how like learning about them. Today I was reminded of the dark side of that coin: buzzwords. In a great post from 37 Signals, I was reminded of one of my biggest pet peeves in my professional life. Buzzwords. I hate them.
One of my recent favorites was a business manager telling me I needed to “gain visibility.” What they actually meant was that I needed the different departments of the business to share their goals with me so I could better plan creative changes. I eventually followed the metaphor (I’m high up and can see everything better by looking down), but sorry, gaining visibility makes me sound like the Invisible Man and I just found a miraculous cure.
The thing that bugs me the most about buzzwords is that nothing is safe; I can honestly see some marketing/sales person selling me a service by saying I won’t touch the floor with it. The purveyors of these terms will pull anything and everything to make themselves sound better and smarter.
Say what you mean and mean what you say. It is really that simple.
And, really, none of us would have any real COMMERCIAL use without marketters and their salespeak.
Their products should speak for themselves – it shouldn’t need a load of confusing or ambiguous terms to sell it.
I really need to make this clear: there is nothing I love more than a good marketer or salesperson. It is one of the reasons I felt comfortable in making my recent jump to an ad agency – this company doesn’t sell businesses snake oil. They make good marketing decisions for their clients and they back up the results.
But using buzzwords to make yourself sound smart is a disservice to yourself, your products and your company. Doublespeak is never good; I thought 1984 showed that :)
jasonSep 27, 02:38 PM
Max needs to not narrow his focus so much and think outside the box.
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Sep 26, 02:56 AM
First off, I agree. Buzzwords/marketting-talk is one of the most annoying things to run into EVER.
On the otherhand, though, it has a certain flair; like doublespeak.
And, really, none of us would have any real COMMERCIAL use without marketters and their salespeak.