One of the hardest things any of us have to do when marketing or communicating is make our meaning clear. For some reason businesses seem to think that using jargon makes them sound more impressive. Instead, it simply means no one can figure out what the heck they’re saying!

Ragan Communications posted an article a few years ago that perfectly illustrated this (ridiculous) phenomenon. It went something like this:

It’s mission-critical that we circle back on this important matter of corporate jargon in the workplace. Let’s focus on the low-hanging fruit with a small group first and then loop everyone in. Being proactive about our learnings will really incentivize the group to focus on the most critical action items and value-add for maximum impact. Let’s start high level, drill down from there, and circle back after lunch to figure out next steps.

Clear as mud, right? 😳 Ummm, no.

Don’t be a stuffed shirt.

Just because you’re in business, doesn’t mean you have to sound like it. Back to our discussion about telling stories, people connect to others because they’re drawn to their humor, their style, their quirkiness, etc.

So, who are you? Who is your business? Let that shine through in the way you talk about your company and in the way you speak to your customers and potential customers. People will appreciate it and be drawn to your authenticity.

5 ways to remove the jargon & sound like a human being.

1. Your company’s voice is already part of who you are and who your company is. It’s inherent in why you started your business in the first place. It’s just a matter of paying attention to how you conduct business everyday to unearth it.

2. Play up your personality. As the owner of your company, your personality is infused throughout the culture. It’s in everything you do. So, who are you? Proper? Quirky? Funny? Offbeat? Find ways to incorporate your personality into all of your communications. It makes them authentic.

3. Choose short over long. Often times people think using longer words is better. No. It’s just cumbersome for your readers. Use is better than utilize. Change is better than modify. Etc. Keep it as simple as possible to get your point across.

4. Keep your audience in mind. Who are you writing to? Are they engineers or sales people? Astrophysicists or teachers? Your audience plays a key part in how you communicate – in which words you choose. Always read whatever you write or push out as a promotion with the same lens your audience would.

5. Be you. Be authentic. Above all, you have to be you. You’ll notice that while I said you should choose short over long, I still used words like cumbersome and inherent. That’s because that’s how I speak. And if you ever met me, you’d hear me use similar words. You have to be authentic to who you are. Never change that.

Just those five simple things will infuse life and personality into your marketing efforts. Your clients and customers will appreciate the fact that you don’t sound like all of your competition – and instead, you sound like, well, a human being they’d like to get to know. And a company they’d like to do business with.

Want to learn more? Find out how you can create your own ripple effect. Let’s start today.

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