A Fatal Marketing Mistake (Tip #27)

[Paul Elliott]

I just ran into a situation where a business owner made this mistake. I have posted much of my Tip #27 (from the "88" below) to help those on this forum.

Never assume your customer knows anything about your business or
service. To do so can be fatal to your marketing effort.

This particularly applies to the use of business-specific
terminology.

I frequently see business people using business related terminology
in their marketing. This terminology or jargon may be commonly
understood outside that business, BUT there will be some potential
customers who do not understand it. You can ill afford to simply
allow that lack of understanding to impair your message having the
proper effect on the people you wish to reach.

While this is most common when a business is discussing the
features of its products or services, it is amazing that it also
shows up when discussing the benefits to the customer.

Imagine how much effectiveness your marketing would have if you use
industry-specific terminology when describing the benefits to your
customers and they don't understand it. Of course, it would not be
nearly as effective as you would wish.

You do not appear more knowledgeable to your customers by using
technical terminology they don't understand. They may even feel
you are being arrogant--an impression you should avoid like the
plague! When you are arrogant or appear so, you are saying to your
customer, "I'm better than you, and you don't rally have much of a
hope of ever being on my level."

Guess how impressive that is!

You certainly don't want the effect of your message to be lost or
offensive with the resulting loss of sales! Learn to position your
sales and marketing messages so you never miss the target or offend
your potential customers.

In the pursuit of your best business results!

Paul

[KristineS]

This is a good point Paul. I see a lot of companies with products which they want to be perceived as technical and so they use a lot of jargon. It generally succeeds in turning off the customer or making the customer concerned that the product will be too difficult to use. After all, if they can't even understand the literature about the product, how will they understand the product itself?

[Paul Elliott]

This is a good point Paul. I see a lot of companies with products which they want to be perceived as technical and so they use a lot of jargon.

Yes, Kristine. If this isn't arrogance, it's at least a gross failure to recognize how to properly respond to the needs of the customer.


It generally succeeds in turning off the customer or making the customer concerned that the product will be too difficult to use.

...And likely another lost sale!


After all, if they can't even understand the literature about the product, how will they understand the product itself?

Precisely! The customers simply move on to the next product that they will be able to understand better and use with greater ease.

Paul

[vangogh]

I think it's more that we all get lost in the language we use daily. We speak jargon all day and the people around us speak it too so it's easy to forget that our customers don't speak the same industry language.

It's important to speak your customer's language and not yours. It's one part of keyword research people often miss too. For example the industry calls them cellular phones, but we all say cell phones. It's important to understand how your customer's talk about you and your products. Those are the phrases you want to use on your site.

[Ad-Vice_Man]

That's why it's important to have a trusted friend to look on your business and it's marketing from the outside in.

"It's hard to read the label from inside the bottle" - Roy Williams.

[KristineS]

That's definitely a good thing to do, Ad-vice Man. Having someone from the outside look at what you're doing can be very helpful in pinpointing places where you're unclear or muddled. It is also a great way to find a mistake you might have missed because you've looked at the stuff so many times.

Fresh eyes are always valuable.

[orion_joel]

This is advice that can really pay good dividends for some industries. Being in IT i know this well, even more so from retail. Sometimes half the fun in serving a customer is trying to guess what it is they want. Like "One of those things you stick in the computer to put your photo's on" or "I need ink for my printer" (they meant toner).

I think this is where doing your research on how your product's are portrayed to the regular every day person can greatly benefit your approach to marketing your product. Because while as i mentioned above i know the difference between ink and toner, someone who uses a printer to print pages and knows nothing else about it would not know the first thing in which is which.

[Marcomguy]

It boils down to knowing your audience and speaking their language.

If you're writing an ad or article for a wine magazine, for example, you don't need to explain what oxidization is - someone reading a wine magazine most likely knows. Granted, there may be a reader who doesn't know, but you're not aiming for that person. If you try to satisfy everyone you end up satisfying no one.

In some B2B situations a little jargon is acceptable -- in fact, it may be desirable. Otherwise your reader may think you're talking down to them.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying all jargon and technospeak is good. Most of the time it's self-defeating. But there's a time and place for it. The skill is in knowing when.

[KristineS]

Just to be clear, I'm not saying all jargon and technospeak is good. Most of the time it's self-defeating. But there's a time and place for it. The skill is in knowing when.

I think you're exactly right Marcomguy. Unfortunately, that skill can be hard to acquire. You also have to adaptable enough to write in a way that suits your audience, which isn't always easy. Both skills take some practice and some balance.

[Paul Elliott]

It boils down to knowing your audience and speaking their language.

. . .
Just to be clear, I'm not saying all jargon and technospeak is good. Most of the time it's self-defeating. But there's a time and place for it. The skill is in knowing when.

Precisely! One must listen to the customer enough to know how to adapt one's products and knowledge to suit his or her needs rather than simply rattling off features.

Paul

[vangogh]

Marcom I agree. It's about knowing your audience. A good example is when I talk about web development. If I was talking to or writing for a group of web developers I could make certain assumptions about what they know and write with a lot more jargon than if the audience were a group of non-developers.

When it comes to customers though I think it's best not to make the assumption that they know your industry jargon. Again sticking with the web development example I won't assume that potential clients understand certain technical aspects of the work.

If I did I probably wouldn't have too many clients.

[Marcomguy]

You also have to adaptable enough to write in a way that suits your audience, which isn't always easy. Both skills take some practice and some balance.

That's what keeps us copywriters in business! ;)

[Paul Elliott]

That's what keeps us copywriters in business! ;)

Exactly! It's the copywriter's pension and benefits plan!

Paul

[orion_joel]

I think that this is where a good handle on conversing with people can be a great benefit to people. When you start a conversation with a customer, you assume nothing is known about your industry, as you continue talking you can generally modify how you talk about the industry dependent upon how they respond.

[Paul Elliott]

I think that this is where a good handle on conversing with people can be a great benefit to people. When you start a conversation with a customer, you assume nothing is known about your industry, as you continue talking you can generally modify how you talk about the industry dependent upon how they respond.

Precisely, Joel. You are illustrating how the salesperson properly adapts to the needs of each customer. Marketing copywriting is simply salesmanship in print.

Paul