How to avoid buzzwords to make your brand stand out
Key insights
- For brand communications that make your brand stand out, look out for buzzwords.
- Buzzwords can easily sneak in and the buzz-kill is that they can dilute your brand voice and disempower your messaging — especially if others in your industry are using similar jargon.
- The first step to avoid the buzzword buzz-kill is to know what others are doing so you can do differently.
- The second step is to periodically go through your brand communications with a fine-tooth comb and eliminate offending buzzwords.
- The third step is always leverage word choice and sentence structure to explicitly but elegantly communicate what you mean — but this especially holds if you want to still use buzzwords.
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I spend an embarrassing amount of time on LinkedIn, trawling design, marketing and creative agencies to find inspiration, networking opportunities and industry trends.
Recently, I’ve realised how many sell themselves as being “as strategic as they are creative” — either in those words or in variations like:
- “intelligent creativity”
- “strategic creativity”
- “fusing utility and beauty”
- “using both logic and magic”.
It filled me with dismay (and a little shame) because that was exactly how I’d positioned Fiction too…
When a unique selling point becomes not-so-unique
Being able to combine strategy and creativity was a capability that I thought differentiated me from others.
Yet, it is something that more often than not, other creatives are also touting.
I still believe it is a strong trait of mine.
The issue is how I was communicating it. I was diluting its strength by using buzzwords without explaining what they specifically mean.
Being explicit rather than abstract, in general, plays a huge role in how to make your brand stand out using brand communications.
•••
So what does “seamlessly blending creativity and strategy” mean at Fiction?
It means the ability to create beautiful, meaningful work within guidelines of business budgets, tight deadlines, channel specifications and cultural contexts.
It means knowing how to build brands and how to market brands — appreciating the innate differences between the two and loving to do both.
It means drawing a distinction between the art of writing and the business of copywriting — and knowing how much of each is needed for quantitative results and quality relationships.
Theories on the origin and uptake of these buzzwords
I have two theories here.
The stresses of the pandemic caused many businesses to run leaner operating models. As a result, employees were expected to be able to wear many different hats.
Concurrently, the more digitally-open world means less “borders” and more competition for roles. A report from McKinsey highlights that “more and more companies are shifting their people model to one that values skills-based mobility and contributions instead of location-based work and standard functional expectations.”
It follows then that to get that edge, candidates have to offer more skills and contributions.
There’s a stereotype that creatives lack logic, structure and analytical skills. So for those who are proven to be as intelligent as they are imaginative, it’s a professional advantage to highlight this.
•••
The lesson is that in brand communications, buzzwords can sneak in, even for a professional.
The buzz-kill? What differentiates you ends up being expressed in a way that conforms you.
So, for brand communications that make your brand stand out, it’s vital to:
- Stay curious and explore what others in the industry (and outside your industry) are doing. This is your permission to stalk LinkedIn profiles and browse websites and call it R&D!
- Take stock of your own brand communications and refine what has expired. This includes website, social media profiles, external listings and printed collateral.
- Be explicit but elegant in what you mean. This always applies but especially holds if you choose to still use certain buzzwords. Leave no room for assumptions and misinterpretations and leverage word choice and sentence structures to truly stand out.
For Fiction and this particular buzzword trap, I simply chose to remove the “seamlessly blending creativity and strategy” from our mission statement.
The statement now reads, “We deliver elegant, playful copywriting to help Australian and New Zealand businesses build enduring relationships with their customers” — with words and phrases that have are less commonplace amongst other agencies.
For an audit of your brand messaging to ensure alignment and true distinctiveness, reach out at hello@fiction-agency.com