Stop the Meaningless Marketing Phrases

I implore marketers to stop using meaningless marketing phrases in their communications. You know, stuff like:

“We are the leading…” (In whose opinion?)

“The GSX 5500 is the premier…” (Compared to what?)

What Do You Need Consumers to Know?

Great service, top quality and speed are what everyone expects. In fact, these are the rights of entry to compete in any industry.

Surveys suggest that many consumers (both B-to-B and B-to-C) are challenged to understand what makes one company different from their competitors. For example, if you sell life insurance, your products and services are probably quite similar to those that your competitors offer. You are also fast, offer excellent service and your customers like you. What about the other dozens of other life insurance companies that compete with you? Do they not offer the same things you do…probably so…

I Need a Plan…Fast!

It’s no secret that unless you’re in the petroleum industry, your company is living a little leaner and fighting a bit harder to stay buoyant and still make a profit at the end of the day. Much more focus and attention is placed on retaining current customers, (who aren’t spending as much as they used to) and attracting new ones. This leaves little, if any, time or energy left over for thinking of new ways to outshine your competition and become more relevant in the eyes of consumers. Meanwhile, the competition is doing whatever they can to siphon your customers from you. As marketers, we’re kind of like a bunch of dogs chasing a parked car…

Think Thought Leadership

There’s something very appealing to me about white papers and industry reports. Just about every day I’ll get an email asking me to download a white paper about a specific topic. More often than not, I go ahead and click “download now.”

I’m quite impressed with the whole concept of white papers…they are much shorter than books which enables me to read the entire document in the time it takes to sip my way through a cappuccino. And, most are packed with relevant data, eye-opening statistics and interesting research findings that I can underscore and store in the banks of my memory to recall as needed. White papers afford would-be book authors the ability to brand themselves as thought leaders, building their credibility and positioning them as experts. It seems like the perfect alternative to investing the time, energy and money necessary to write a 200+ page book, look for a publisher and wait for your book to populate the shelves. Some people have become so prolific at writing white papers they are able to crank one out and have it distributed online in just a few days. Can you say “Abracadabra?”