Tweet

Lose the Jargon: “What do you do?”

Guest post by: Patti D. Hill

Article Overview: There is immense value in keeping your messages concise, simple and jargon-free. Your audiences will understand exactly what you do.

Lose the Jargon: “What do you do?”

This simple question often times yields responses as obscure and incomprehensible as "we are an integrated solutions provider" and "we deliver innovative solutions to increase productivity". A recent response heard at an event: "Our disruptive technology solves technical impasses to create solutions that give our partners a competitive edge". (Wha...?!) For "innovative, integrated, solution providers" everywhere, we recommend a positioning and messaging exercise to identify what you do, for whom and what differentiates your offering.

Public relations is all about identity: creating one, improving one and sustaining one. The best way to establish a company's identity is through repetition and consistency of its key messages. In order to have maximum success, a product or service must 'own' a place in the mind of the potential purchaser that differentiates it from its competition. This is the concept called 'positioning'.

We suggest that you avoid confusion by keeping positioning concepts and messages simple and factual, and focus on the major differentiating strength of your company, product or service. Be ruthless about what you want to convey. Anything that others can claim, eliminate it. Anything that requires a complex analysis to prove, forget it. Anything that doesn't fit with your stated perceptions, avoid it.

Be jargon free so everyone can understand you - especially your customers.

Related Articles
  Is Your Message Getting Through?
  Key tips for managing a media interview
  Sales Training – Top Doublespeak Traps Salespeople Want to Avoid
  Be Your Own Publicist: How to Write Savvy Online Press Releases
  How to Write Effective Emails And Drive Traffic
  Hits, Visits, Conversions and other Stuff!
  Sales Training London Pyrrhic Victories Ben Franklin said
  How to Write to Communicate: 11 Tips to Help You Write More Clearly and Concisely
  Marketing is complex - Sales is much easier!
  Website is an Ad
  Choosing an Accounts System
  Writing Good Press Release Copy
  Don't Be a Media Bimbo - Three Rules To Media Communications
  3 Simple Tips for Writing Your “About Page”
  How to Be a Master Interviewee
  How to write an article that will get published
  Preparing for A Media Interview
  Business Letter Writing for Small Business
  Thinking of buying or selling your business in the New Year, how is your Business Plan?
  Anti-Attraction

Article Tags: integrated solutions provider, jargon, public relations



Related Forum Posts
Willing to Fail Your Way to Success - Entrepreneurs in my opinion, must be willing to fail. (This is that risk-taking factor quoted in the other post). If you aren't willing to fail then you don't take risks and if you don't take risks you do I like to call (I am qouting an awesome book called Play to Win!) 'Playing Not to Lose' instead of 'Playing to Win'. When you Play to Win you must risks. Risks are how you build a business and innovate.
Re: How do you conduct negotiations with wealthy clients? Are th - Right Up my ally as a former mortgage banker/broker for about 25 years. Surprising how many could afford the cash, but preferred to leverage their real estate purchase, other has the cash, but didn't want to expose their cash purchase to the tax people, others wash it a little at a time - some here and some there One of my favorite saying "Rich People can afford poor taste" (mostly called neuvo(s) rich) My success in dealing with them 1. Be prepared and confident in your Product 2. Lose you intimation (if you have it), a firm handshake and look them in the eye 3. Think Big as the man said Built a impossible $137 startup into a multimillion dollar business from wealthy clients, Names you would recognize internationally, if I were to share them If you want more, feel free to message me
Re: How do you stay motivated as a startup? - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":oaw6ne0y]Hi Everyone, I was wondering if some of you could share a few tips on how you stay motivated as a new entrepreneur. For instance, what do you do when: • You lose an opportunity, sale or client • You see a competitor doing something very well • An expense costs more than you bargained for • Your hard work and efforts haven't yielded any significant results yet Thanks![/quote:oaw6ne0y] Lose an opportunity - i try to remember that there are millions of fish in the sea... i lose one.. there's still plenty of opportunity to go after more. And depending on who it is.. i feel honored to have even had the opportunity to go for it. Seeing a competitor do something well is actually a good motivator for me. It will push me to finish or upgrade one of my services or marketing campaigns. All of business is about trial and error... so if my hard work isn't seeing results, than i tweak my practices a bit until they do. Test and retest. Talk to others...see what it is that i'm doing differently.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Is the Media to blame for losses in super?

Are You Too Good for Your Job?

Expanding Your Business By Franchising

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.