Every industry has its own jargon. The trick is knowing when to use it.
Selling children’s toys clearly calls for a different vocabulary and a different set of arguments than those used to sell complex, high-value capital purchases.
If you know exactly who you’re talking to, and what to say to make them react favourably, fair enough.
But what if your product or service is highly technical, yet bought by those who have little interest in its inner workings? Or specified by one group, and paid for by another?
Ignorance is bliss. Or is it?
In the dawn of my career, I worked as a junior copywriter in a large, well-known advertising agency which included among its accounts an equally large and well-known agricultural equipment manufacturer.
I knew nothing about agricultural equipment. In fact, I knew very little about anything. So it came as a surprise when the brief for a brochure about the company’s tractor line landed on my desk.
There was no question of turning the assignment down, even if I’d wanted to; the man who was supposed to tackle it was off sick. Besides, I had no intention of letting my shot at glory pass me by. Fame beckoned, and trifles such as inexperience, lack of knowledge and a looming deadline hardly registered. After all, writing about tractors and stuff – how difficult could it be?
Difficult. Very, very, very difficult, as it turned out.
When the designer talked me through the brochure layout, the space allocated to the copy seemed disproportionately small compared to the mountain of paper teetering in my in-tray. Clearly, some fairly savage editing of the products descriptions, features and specifications was required.
When in doubt, ask
That’s when my problems began. The background material was written using the language of the technical data sheet. The first feature I chanced upon concerned a detail of something calling itself a 3-point hydraulic hitch. I couldn’t understand a word of it.
With a mounting sense of panic, I flipped through the rest of the material. Every feature was described using the same arcane vocabulary, the same mangled syntax. It was like a direct translation from the original Martian.
Nevertheless, time was ticking away; so instead of confessing my ignorance, I got stuck in.
It took me three long days, but at last it was finished, and I went trotting off to show it to my boss. On the way, I rehearsed being modest. I was all ready to accept the plaudits of my superiors, followed shortly by those of an even more grateful client. I could practically hear the champagne corks popping.
My boss carefully read the first two spreads, referring closely to the layout. Then he quickly scanned the remaining pages. Then he just sat there for a bit. I could sense that things weren’t going quite according to plan.
Eventually he turned to me and asked, “Did you have a lot of trouble fitting all the copy in?” I nodded. “That’s because you were supposed to write about the tractors, not just condense the specs. You were supposed to produce a piece of marketing communications, not a workshop manual.
“There’s a difference. Look here.” He pointed at a paragraph that talked about how the inclusion of a step effected easy ingress to and egress from the tractor cab.
“Have you ever met a farmer? Well, let me tell you, a farmer is unlikely to effect ingress or egress. He’ll get in and out of the cab, and use the step to make it easier. And you don’t have to describe every single detail – that’s what the pictures are for. “
Don’t tell me, show me
Very slowly and carefully, he went through what I should have done – paint a glowing picture of the new tractors, highlight in broad-brush terms the benefits of the engineering advances and encourage the farmer to visit his nearest dealer. In other words, have a straightforward conversation with someone who might be interested in buying tractors in general, and persuade them to consider our tractors in particular.
To this day, whenever I think about that project, I can feel my ears getting hot. I get the same sense of embarrassment – albeit one step removed – whenever I see open a magazine or click onto a site and see similarly inappropriate language.
I didn’t talk to the farmer – I shouted technicalities at him. Are you guilty of doing the same in your marketing communications?
Here’s a checklist
1. Find a writer who understands your market – he can always learn about your products
2. Clearly define your target audience(s) – hot buttons for some people (new, first) can be real turn-offs for those who prefer proven, tried and tested.
3. Review your brand guidelines. Don’t talk to audiences – talk to individuals. And don’t talk at people – talk to them
4. Don’t use jargon, unless you’re absolutely sure your readers will understand exactly what you mean.
5. or the same reason, use plain English in your brief – don’t fall back on marketing-speak
6. Remember ‘less of how it came to be, more of what it means to me’ – all your customers really want to know is how they’ll benefit from your product or service
This article was written by Rod Hirsch.
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