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When you talk about your product, you have a limited time span to bring your points across. Hopefully those points are related to value propositions that address the customer’s Jobs To Be Done .
Except in cases when these JTBDs include things like “not being perceived as a laggard compared to competitors”, “making myself look good to peers”, “spending leftover budget on something that makes me look good”, “nodding along as if I understand”, “feeling like I am part of those people who also pretend to understand fashionable gobbledygook”:
Ditch the jargon.
With jargon and fancy-sounding words, you are wasting valuable time saying nothing in particular.
Using jargon also opens you up to a world of questioning, and those words don’t always imply only what you think they do:
- “innovative” ➡️ Says who? You?
- “best in class” ➡️ Who else is in the same “class”? Are you telling me that your product is comparable? Is it not in a class all by itself?
- “industry-leading” ➡️ In terms of what? Revenues? Value it delivers? Your market share? Your profits?
- “disruptive” ➡️ To what/whom? Why? How? Is it, really?
- “holistic” ➡️ Yes, more Greek words plz! I’ll go next: hubristic.
- “Industry 4.0” ➡️ Aaaah yes… 2015’s hottest fad makes a comeback, still fails to stir any interest.
- “Internet of things” ➡️ 2017’s hottest fad, also known as “Industrie 4.0”, also nobody cares (except vendors to the hype).
- “democratizing” ➡️ Also implies lowest-common-denominator usage.
Instead, tell me why I should care about your product. If you haven’t done the marketing legwork to know why I might care about it, just ask. It’s still a million times better than barfing your jargon all over the Internet, and wasting everyone’s time with confusing words that don’t hold up against scrutiny.
