Is Your Web Site Packed with “World Class, Cutting Edge, Market Leading, Groundbreaking” Gobbledygook?
Monday, 12 January 2009 . by Randy Saunders
Or perhaps your offerings are just “flexible,” “next generation,” “industry standard,” “mission critical,” “scalable,” and a few other overused, hype-driven phrases.
In David Meerman Scott’s eBook, “The Gobbledygook Manifesto,” he analyses over 388,000 press releases sent in 2006. What he found was 74,000 mentioned at least one of the gobbledygook phrases—the same meaningless jargon kept cropping up over and over again.
The winner (or most abused term), was “next generation”, with more than 9,800 references. This was followed with over 5,000 uses of each of the following words and phrases: “flexible,” “robust,” “world class,” “scalable” and “‘easy to use.”
Volume Analysis: Gobbledygook Business Terms
As an online expert and viral marketing strategist, Scott says, “just like with a teenager’s use of annoying catch phrases, I notice the same words cropping up again and again in Web sites and news releases—so much so that the gobbledygook grates against my nerves and many other people’s, too. Well, duh. Like, companies just totally don’t communicate very well, you know?”
Scott continues, “Just saying your widget is ‘industry standard’ means nothing unless some aspect of that standardization is important to your buyers. In the next sentence, I want to know what you mean by ‘industry standard,’ and I also want you to tell my why that standard matters and give me some proof that what you say is indeed true.”
Always Write for the Buyer
As you write news releases or website copy, start with your customer in mind; not with your product. Well-written materials speak in the customer’s language … what are their problems and business issues? How can you communicate in way that demonstrates your expertise in the market?
To learn more about the study and how to avoid these overused clichés, download Scott’s complimentary eBook, “The Gobbledygook Manifesto.”
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1 Comment »
One Response to “Is Your Web Site Packed with “World Class, Cutting Edge, Market Leading, Groundbreaking” Gobbledygook?”
I agree Randy. When I write, it’s something I constantly have to challenge… if I write “robust feature set” I better follow it up with specific examples of some powerful features that likely aren’t found in the competitor’s suite… often not an easy task.
In a Regional Entrepreneur Forum presentation last week in which Jeffrey Stamp spoke on, “The Power of the Pitch,” he reiterated the same message – don’t use meaningless words when pitching your product or idea. Our brains shut down to these over-used and abused words and phrases.