Cherry Bomb: Buzz Buzz Buzz Barf
Are you addicted to buzz? And I don’t mean your three cups of coffee a day or Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. I’m talking about a dependence on jargon and hype.
Let me illustrate.
Recently I got an email from a new connection on social media who wanted to introduce herself more fully and ask to connect on other social networking sites. Here’s what she said she did:
I am passionate about helping business owners to leverage their businesses to take it to the next level with fast growth and high ROI.
Now on the surface, when I read it quickly, I sort of know what she does. But do I, really?
Look at that statement. Is there really anything clear about what she does? Each phrase is full of hype, cliché and jargon.
And it tells me nothing about her, her process, her values – or even who she really serves. So I yawn and move on.
And I realized that a lot of us are failing to communicate clearly because we are falling for buzz words. We think they make us look cool or expert, but in fact they just confuse or annoy potential customers. They are certainly starting to annoy me. I just wish these buzz words would buzz off.
So here’s my list of some of the BS words and phrases we should eliminate from our vocabulary when trying to share what we do:
- Leverage
- Authentic
- To the next level – or up level
- Heart-centered
- Conscious
- Integrity
- Purpose-driven
- Action
Here’s the thing: if you are truly trying to make a connection and build a relationship – stop the bullshit. Stop telling people how “authentic” you are and start showing them your authenticity by using your own words instead of borrowing the latest industry jargon. Do you really know what authentic means? If not, check out another Cherry Bomb, where I define it. You’ll see that using a buzz word like authentic is, well… as inauthentic as it gets!
There is no pat formula to getting people to understand who you are and what you do, so when you try to formulate what can’t be formulated, you lose. You lose your prospects and you lose my respect.
Yes, I will admit, I have used these words on occasion myself. And I have vowed to change this practice this year as I go through more rebranding. (So stay tuned!)
Got any more words that should be banished for good? Please share them below in the comments.
Learn the secrets of creating a business on your terms, by using creative relationship marketing with the FREE e-book "Stop Leaving
Twitter: DonnaVMC
20 January 2012 at 10:47 am #
Great post! One phrase that really turns me off is when a product is described as “on steriods” Steroids are BAD. To me it says overinflated and fake – not enhanced or improved….
Thanks for all of the wonderful posts!
Donna
Twitter: sandramartini
20 January 2012 at 10:53 am #
Awesome point Donna and another phrase added to my “off the list” list.
Twitter: shannoncherry
20 January 2012 at 10:58 am #
Good point, Donna. On steriods is way over used!
Twitter: sandramartini
20 January 2012 at 10:52 am #
Hey Shannon,
My vote goes to “6 figures” — if I read one more thing about “6 figures in 60 days”, I think I’ll be sick.
It’s about profit…not “6 figures” and I know many “5 figure” businesses who keep more than so called “millionaire” businesses.
And I agree…it’s about SHOWING who you are and what you do…not telling.
Happy Friday from snowy Mass,
Sandy
Twitter: shannoncherry
20 January 2012 at 10:59 am #
Well, Sandy, as you and I both know… it’s not about 6 figures. It’s about being comfortable and doing what you want. Period. So I say, “Die 6 Figures”!
Twitter: TheStarPolisher
20 January 2012 at 11:56 am #
I’m with you, Sandy. I want to gag every time I hear the words 6 figures. It’s meaningless.
Twitter: maryamwebster
20 January 2012 at 3:21 pm #
Sandy, well said. The way that the “I’m a six/seven/twenty figure coach” (speaker, author etc) is thrown around in an economy where most people are suffering is IMO, tacky and callous. I was very repelled to have such a person pursue people publically on social media asking if they were “over seven figures yet”. Really? Then they unmercifully shamed and marketed to one poor woman who said she wasn’t. Not attractive. Please quit hitting people over the head with your PayPal balance too, while we’re at it.
How about as Shannon suggests and I personally endorse, “Does your business allow you to be comfortable in your life?”. Comfort may happen at 50, 70 or 80k. For people who live sustainably, grow much of their own food, live by choice in a smaller home and desire a minimum of “stuff”, that comfort level can come at 30k or even lower. Why demonize them? That’s something I’d celebrate in a client, not shame them for. Great post Shannon!
Maryam, I really resonated with your comment on comfort and lifestyle choices. Too people are feeling pressured and stressed, not good enough etc by this over emphasis on income.
Twitter: feliciaslattery
20 January 2012 at 3:23 pm #
Oh Sandy!
That 6-figures thing has bugged the snot outta me for years. Since WHEN has it been polite to brag how much money you make? Seems only in internet-online-business-land and direct sales where people throw around their income — gross or net, real or imagined.
It’s a blizzard in Chicagoland,
Felicia
Twitter: shannoncherry
20 January 2012 at 3:37 pm #
So what about elevator pitches, Felicia? I am sure you have a few choice words about those!
Twitter: feliciaslattery
20 January 2012 at 3:42 pm #
Oh I shared my mind on that topic below!
I love the mission-critical, user-friendly, best practice solution, Shannon. You’ve highlighted and foreshadowed a perfect storm of fads and fashion faux-pas.
Now we need to organically integrate this sea change into our cultural web so that we can arrive at the Next Big Thing. I hereby commit to pro-actively optimize my Web 3.0-friendly linguistics app to repurpose my neuro-marketing mindshares. I know in my heart it will empower me to generate the state-of-the-art bizmeth to authentically communitize the next generation of B2B stakeholders. It will be my secret sauce to convert the low hanging fruit.
I can’t thank you enough for the out-of-the-box revisualization that delivered this mindset paradigm shift to your most-favored-status end user.
My Semantic Engagement Optimization is complete.
Twitter: shannoncherry
20 January 2012 at 11:00 am #
You hit the nail on the head with your passionate prose, my dear!
Twitter: conniehorn
20 January 2012 at 11:51 am #
Oh my gosh, Matt, that was brilliant and very entertaining–I chuckled all the way through. How many cliches and buzz words did you manage to get in that post?
Twitter: TheStarPolisher
20 January 2012 at 11:57 am #
Matt, you are cracking me up! Thanks for the laugh.
Twitter: shannoncherry
20 January 2012 at 12:05 pm #
You all know that Matt is my husband, right? See what I have to put up with?!?
Oh, Shannon; “husband” sounds so last millennium; I’m sticking with “most-favored-status end user”.
Twitter: maryamwebster
20 January 2012 at 3:24 pm #
Major LOLs Matt, i love reading fellow wordsmiths. You’re a crackup!
Twitter: feliciaslattery
20 January 2012 at 3:26 pm #
Is this comment the ever-brilliant Matt Cherry? I think he might have nailed all the corporate-speak drivel. Nicely done!
Twitter: daniellemmiller
20 January 2012 at 11:21 pm #
oh my word! I find that I am so filled with merriment over Matt’s comment that I may be in danger of having my posterior separate from the rest of my body
Twitter: shannoncherry
23 January 2012 at 8:57 am #
LMAO!
Twitter: kathleenaston
20 January 2012 at 11:10 am #
Shannon, great post and (damn) I need to kill a few words! To add to your list: cutting-edge, ramp up, super-charge, high-powered, (ok…a little brain dead today, OH…wait “Ping me back” Huh?…Ok, maybe I’ll call you!
Kathleen
Twitter: youthsuccessdoc
20 January 2012 at 11:20 am #
I have been toying with 2 statements to describe how I help Parenting Coaches & Consultants so this post was right on time.
You just made my choice crystal clear.
Thanks Shannon.
Twitter: shannoncherry
20 January 2012 at 11:25 am #
Come on. Share them with us!
Twitter: suekasson
20 January 2012 at 11:20 am #
Hi, Shannon,
If I hear “heart-centered” one more time, I will pull out my hair!
Thanks for the great list of words to avoid.
Sue
Twitter: shannoncherry
20 January 2012 at 11:26 am #
You better get a wig then. I fear even though we both hate it, users will defend it!
Twitter: conniehorn
20 January 2012 at 11:54 am #
Shannon, great post! Really gets me thinking about over-used “nothing” words. Thanks.
Twitter: MikiStrong
20 January 2012 at 11:55 am #
We soooo needed to hear this Shannon! I have to admit that I’ve used the dreaded “6-figures” in my copy and it felt high on the Yuk meter (a self-assessment gauge for inauthenticity
)!
I think the problem is people don’t know WHO they are in business, and HOW to say it in copy. Especially when we have 160 characters or less to sum up our expertise, quirks, likes, dislikes … jargon would seem easier but it’s a cop out.
For some reason, “biz” urks the heck out of me. It feels a little sleezy and reminds me of a slick, cheesy, used-car salesman. And the phrase that is on my all-time never-use-EVER list is “Who else wants (fill in the blank)”
And I emphatically agree Shannon & Sandy – it IS about showing who we are, not telling. Actions always speak louder than words.
~ Miki xo
Twitter: deannamaio
20 January 2012 at 12:03 pm #
Well said. Thank you.
Another I’d love to recommend is “in transition.”
If I hear another person tell me they help “People in Transition”..
What transition? Menopause, job loss, career change, marriage, breakup, divorce, empty nesting? Life IS transition. Good luck getting clients if you message your target market as is “People in transition”
Urg! Ok, I’m done venting now.
Twitter: coachjaynine
20 January 2012 at 1:04 pm #
Your post made me laughing trying to visualize someone being a menopause coach. I can only chuckle thinking about how those coaching sessions would go….
Twitter: coachjaynine
20 January 2012 at 1:02 pm #
As always I love it. When I first started coaching I think all those terms where forced down my throat and I was too business immature to realize I didn’t have to use them too. They never felt comfortable coming out of my mouth or being typed on my computer. Once I stopped trying to be someone I wasn’t and reverted back to being me – a mean old retired Marine I found I attracted the clients that were the right fit for me and my business. It was an expensive lesson learned. A lesson everyone needs to learn sooner or later…but with your latest blog hopefully they will learn it sooner.
Semper Fi!
Jaynine
Twitter: feliciaslattery
20 January 2012 at 3:40 pm #
Ugh Shannon!
It’s because so many people cannot think for themselves. They see these over-used phrases, have a sense that those words/phrases describe them and then use them as if they are the only ones doing so.
Marketing communication happens when we find the right words to describe who we are in a way that the people who most need to hear it can understand. Using those buzz-words sadly doesn’t help and does not build any kind of connection.
It’s the same crap we see in the “elevator speech” problem. People have been asking me for years to teach a class on how to write & “deliver” an elevator speech. For years I’ve resisted. So I finally decided to write a book describing why. It’s called Kill the Elevator Speech. Those collections of verbal vomit do NOTHING but make you look like a jumble of well-rehearsed jargon.
JUST TALK TO PEOPLE LIKE THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS!!!!!
That is all.
Twitter: shannoncherry
20 January 2012 at 3:42 pm #
Yup. I think you DO have enough fodder to write a book on it!
Shannon, funny my favorite coach Sandy and I just talked about the “six figures”. Here are some more of my “favorites”:
Heart – Centered
Goddess (used for marketing, not Greek mythology)
Soulfull (meant for business, not music)
“10 clients in 10 days”
Playing Small (meant as not reaching your potential, not the playbox)
“Yummy” (related to clients and businesses, not cakes)
Show Up (meant sa a way of being rather then what it means)
Wealthy, rich -are there any other goals in life?
My 2c:)
Twitter: shannoncherry
20 January 2012 at 6:40 pm #
Goddess? Then you will love my post on monikers: http://www.shannoncherry.com/1716
Twitter: beavanni
20 January 2012 at 9:45 pm #
I can tell I found my group of people. I downsized my life in a big way back in 1995 to the shock of many of my friends and colleagues. Thanks for saying it’s okay to live as I wish and serve where and how I wish.
I find the word “trending” to be enough to make me sick every time I hear it. Can that word be thrown into our list?
P.S. I love Cherry Bombs and cherries!
Twitter: shannoncherry
23 January 2012 at 8:59 am #
It really is about happiness. For me I could make big, bog bucks, but the reality is my time is more valuable spent with my kids. No amount of money can be worth that.
Twitter: franticmommy
23 January 2012 at 12:14 pm #
I personally need to stop saying “engage.” I catch myself saying it so much I make myself queezy. Great article!
I am using my new authentic leverage to make heart-centered and conscious decisions to succumb to integrity and fill my day with purpose-driven actions…..and Fritos. Maybe Cornuts. Most def. Diet Coke. Movin on now…
Twitter: shannoncherry
23 January 2012 at 12:32 pm #
As a Fritos girl myself, I gotta say, you write some tasty prose.