Why Do Marketing ‘Experts’ Use Jargon?
I’ve been a digital marketer for about 20 years. In one of my first jobs, I loved using marketing jargon. At the time, I reported to the CEO of the company on a weekly basis. He wanted to know what his growth looked like, and I would go deep into the rabbit hole of CPA, CPC, LTV, and whatever other jargon appeared in the latest digital marketing blogs. While these metrics mattered, I wasn’t speaking the CEO’s language. So while it felt good to spew a bunch of initialisms, it didn’t actually accomplish the outcome that I wanted.
What is the Purpose of Communication?
Let’s start with the dictionary definition of communication:
Communication (Merriam Webster): the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else
This is a terrible definition. Yet, it is what most people use every day. It’s terrible because it only describes one side of the conversation. The purpose of communication is to increase the understanding of ideas shared between the speaker and the listener.
This can be difficult if you are lecturing on a stage, or recording an audiobook, or creating content in some other way in which there is no feedback. You have to speak in a way that resonates with your audience, so that they are engaged. Then, you have to convey your ideas in a way that they are best understood. Jargon is not understandable to broad audiences.
If you are in a conversation with a marketing expert, they are likely trying to sell you on something. If you are not working with them, then they are selling you on why you should hire them. If you are working together, then they are selling you on why you should continue to work with them. If they are using jargon, then they are a terrible salesperson.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
— Franklin Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The most important skill in communication is not speaking. It is listening. If you are not actively listening to the other person, so that you can understand them, then you are not communicating effectively. This is also the case if you are speaking in a way that makes it difficult to be understood.
When a marketing expert uses jargon, they are not speaking to be understood.
Why Do People Use Jargon?
People use jargon for a number of reasons, and they’re all bad.
One of the least bad reasons to use jargon is when you are communicating with other experts in your field. You all speak the same language and generally understand the same terminology. In some cases, you can build rapport among your peers by doing this. But usually, it comes across as if you are trying too hard. It’s also highly exclusionary. In these times, so many people talk about the importance of inclusion. Often, these same people will then use exclusive language in an attempt to elevate themselves among their peers, such that anyone who isn’t up on the latest jargon is excluded from the conversation. What a terrible way to communicate.
One of the most popular reasons to use jargon is because you want to be the smartest person in the room. This is by far the dumbest reason to use it. The logical and emotional thought process goes something like this:
- I feel insecure
- If I use a bunch of jargon, people will think I know what I’m talking about
- Their awe and amazement at my ability to rote memorize a bunch of acronyms (read: initialisms) will make me feel more secure
- Anyone who can’t keep up with my jargon will also feel like I am smarter than them, and they will perceive me as more of an expert
Here’s what goes on in the minds of the people listening to such self-aggrandizing verbiage:
- This person is really insecure.
- They are a terrible communicator.
- I’m trying to communicate with this person and instead, they’re trying to show me how smart they are.
- I’ve lost all interest in what this person is saying and I need to break rapport to get out of this awful conversation.
I was this guy 20 years ago. I learned a few things about getting ranked on Google and driving sales to ecommerce websites, and I let it get to my head. I felt like I had some special knowledge with which I could mesmerize people into giving me their money to cast my magic spells on their websites to drive traffic and sales. I was really wrong.
In retrospect, a big part of this came from being around many gifted and insecure people. These people were conditioned, often by their teachers and parents, to appear to be the smartest person in the room at all times. Consequently, they would memorize lists of SAT words that most people omit from their everyday conversations, so that they could stump people. Look at me, I know how to use pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis in a sentence. I’m so smart.
When you use jargon and obscure language, you are doing a poor job of communicating.
The Use of Marketing Jargon is a Sign of Insecurity?
Yep. When you use a bunch of jargon (and big words), you come across as insecure. This is a common trait among young people who are trying to find their path to becoming great leaders. It’s right up there with having an authoritative style of leadership. Trying to come across as the smartest person in the room, and using your organizational authority to command others to follow your lead are the worst forms of leadership. Such people often trick themselves into believing that this behavior is charismatic. It is nothing of the sort. It is narcissistic and tends to produce the opposite of one’s intended outcomes.
There’s No Place for Jargon and Big Words?
Think of jargon in the way that you might think of alcohol. One or two drinks on occasion is perfectly acceptable behavior. Losing control and developing alcoholism is generally considered unacceptable behavior. When you drink too much, you increase your likelihood of causing harm to yourself and others. The same holds true for the use of jargon.
To be perfectly clear, I try really, really hard to not be an authoritarian. If you want to drink to get drunk, and you’re only harming yourself, have at it. I had plenty of those days in my youth. If you want to include 3-letter abbreviations in every other sentence that comes out of your mouth, feel free to do so. But expect that continuing to do so will make you an ineffective communicator. The end result is that people will not want to follow your lead.
So when do you use jargon?
First, go back to my alcoholism analogy. If you know that your audience is likely to understand what you’re saying, then it’s fine to drop the occasional bit of jargon into the conversation. This can be helpful when you’re trying to be efficient on time, or when you’re reviewing metrics by which you hold your teams accountable.
Next, there are some people who will measure your abilities according to your understanding of a list of acronyms. These people tend to be highly inexperienced and lack the wisdom to know differently. So, use your listening skills to pick up on what matters to them. Generally, if they start spewing a stream of jargon, it means that they are insecure, and they want affirmation on how smart they are. If you’re a marketing expert who wants their money, then sure, speak their language.
Start by affirming their intelligence and acknowledging how impressed you are by their savvy and knowledge compared to most of your other clients. Then drop some jargon from whatever came out of their mouth. Use it in a sentence to show them that you know what it means, and go back to telling them how smart they were for bringing it up. But, be careful. Use their words. Don’t bring up a new piece of jargon that they may not know. All that will do is make an already insecure person feel doubly insecure, and you’ll lose the sale.
Here’s the last thing: when you do use jargon, be as inclusive about it as you can, without coming across as talking down to people. For example, a lot of marketers will use the acronym, CAC. They’ll use it in a sentence to describe the customer acquisition cost associated with money spent on advertising and other tactics to get a new customer into their database, as a way to measure results.
See what I did there?
In a conversation, if you use jargon, make sure you define it for the people who don’t know what you mean. Just do it subtly so that you don’t come across as professorial. Instead, you’re clarifying your communications. If you teach someone something without making them feel awkward, they’ll internalize their gratitude. This is how you become a great leader.
How Do I Sell People on My Expertise Without Using Marketing Jargon?
It’s very simple. Show them that you are actively listening to their concerns, and present solutions through communication that is designed to increase understanding. Clients don’t care how smart you think you are. They care about whether you can solve their problems. So show them, in simple language, how you can help them.
How Do I Keep Peers, Stakeholders, and Existing Clients Happy Without Using Jargon?
Do your best to exercise calm confidence. Let others feel like they are the smartest people in the room, while you focus on being an excellent communicator. Sometimes this means being really humble in your delivery.
Describe your work in simple terms, while also conveying information clearly and concisely. If you must use jargon in a document or spreadsheet, then add notes with definitions. And, use visuals whenever possible. Don’t waste hours on fancy graphics if you don’t have to. But you can tell a far better story with a couple of charts and graphs than you could with a bunch of word salad.
When you come up against an insecure person who challenges your great ideas, it’s really tempting to escalate and pwn them like a mo’fo. Often, highly assertive people will go down this road and escalate — I used to do this all the time, and sometimes it’s really hard to resist temptation. This breaks rapport and will hinder your ability to acquire a positive outcome.
At other times, submissive people will avoid confrontation and placate their stakeholders with what amounts to, “Yes master. I will move forward with your terrible idea.” This is a band-aid that falls off quickly, and when the results of the bad idea that someone else told you to do are… bad… you will be perceived as the person at fault. There’s a better path forward.
Instead of escalating or agreeing to bad ideas, address your client’s concerns, present your solutions in terms of their interests, and help them to feel less insecure (sidebar: stop criticizing my grammar. I use double-negatives for effect). Sometimes this means giving them credit for your idea. Insecure people and inexperienced leaders love this sh1t.
Here’s the bad news: this kind of person will take credit for your ideas anyway. Here’s the good news: in a group environment, savvy people will pick up on what you’re doing. The subject of your response will feel like they got credit and the other people in the room will see you as the calm, confident expert that you are.
There’s one more thing: admit when you’re wrong. Sometimes your ideas don’t work. Sometimes, you miss stuff. Sometimes, you will fail as a marketer, or as a leader. Admit when you’re wrong, and then present a solution. Really bad leaders will blame everyone around them when things aren’t going well. They’ll blame their teams. They’ll blame their vendors. They’ll blame algorithms. And they won’t actually solve anything.
Do you know that people like stories of redemption? Of course you do. We see it all the time in books and movies. The hero of the story faces a problem, gets knocked down, faces it, and comes back stronger than ever. Be the hero. Let people know when you got knocked down, and show them how you will redeem yourself. Then come back with an amazing solution and tangible results. Communicate these things using as little jargon as possible, and people will recognize your superpowers.
Use Less Jargon
If you are a professional marketer, or someone who took the time to read this article, you’re ahead of many of your peers. Take this knowledge and practice using less jargon. People will see you as a confident communicator, and they’ll want to work with you more than ever.
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