Is your nutrition brand speaking in marketing language that’s brief and clear?
You may have heard a quote that goes something like, “If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter.” While the idea behind the quote has been attributed to Thoreau, Ben Franklin, Cicero and Mark Twain, the original, according to numerous sources, is credited to French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal.
Why am I telling you this?
- It’s interesting trivia for a writer
- It contains a critical lesson for marketers
The point these and other historical figures have made, using their own variations on this quote, is that it’s extremely difficult to be succinct, clear and meaningful. Which brings us to your marketing language.
Is it English? In other words, do your materials speak to potential consumers in a way that allows them to understand what you’re offering — or is it jargon, which attempts to sell in a way that, in the end, is more confusing than persuasive?
The evidence, seen at trade shows, on store shelves, in advertising and online, would suggest the latter. In an effort to separate ourselves from the competition, we’ve actually separated ourselves from the clarity and resulting brevity that can win over consumers.
Want a real world language test? Call in the spouses.
Your marketing/advertising/design agencies just love it when you hold up their work proclaiming, “I showed it to my wife/husband and she/he hated it.”
Beat their (and your) copywriters to the punch with this dead-simple test:
- Collect your packaging, sell-sheet and website copy
- Create three mini-focus groups comprised of spouses/partners of your employees — give one piece of communication from the list above to the individuals in each group
- Ask each person to highlight the phrases that are absolutely understandable and have them circle everything that’s even remotely confusing or that awakens the internal skeptic
- I’m willing to bet the circled items (confusing) will outweigh the highlighted (clear). And that, hopefully, will point out both a problem and an opportunity. Because if your language is confusing, chances are your competition’s is as well (for extra credit, repeat the same exercise as described above with your competitors’ materials).
- Once you’ve isolated the opportunities, really take the time that Pascal and all the others lacked and recreate copy that’s brief, clear and free of marketing jargon. In other words, complete step four:
- Fix your own Offending Offenders
Go through this exercise with every new change or addition of language and I guarantee your communication will be clearer, more transparent and more persuasive.
