I’m a big fan of the MarketingProfs web site and am currently reading the book Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman. Content Rules is well worth reading for anyone who cares about web and social content. The book contains a list that caught my eye (and per the authors, was influenced by one of my favorite books from high school days , Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style). The list is 18 words or phrases that should be banned from marketing, sales, corporate communications, business schools, blogs, and boardrooms. (In the interests of true confession, I am personally not entirely innocent in the use of these words; but I will be now on.) Here are the 18… Impactful Leverage Learnings Synergy Revolutionary Email blast Proactive Drill down 30,000 feet Incentivizing Almost any word ending in -ize Solution Users Almost any word rooted in technology but applied to humans (e.g.,ping, bandwidth, offline) Previously good but now overused words (e.g., robust, granular, strategic, traction) Mashed together words (e.g., buy-in, mission-critical, best-of-breed) Silly phrases (e.g., “run it up the flagpole,” “eat our own dog food,” “out of pocket”) Offensive combo phrases (e.g., “brand Nazi,” “drinking the kool-aid”) Which got me…
Contact Us