Clarity Matters: Avoiding Jargon and Clichés in Marketing

Copywriting is a fine art.

It’s not enough to say something interesting. You need to say it in a way that’s never been said before. Say it concisely. Make it memorable and easily understood. Clarity matters. Remove all clutter. Ensure it’s not overly formal, not too casual. And don’t forget—these words need to sell. They should motivate someone to take an action. Most importantly, it needs to be true. You aren’t doing the client any favors if you oversell or mislead.

As a copywriter, I never imagined I would spend so much time counting beats in a line or thinking about stressed and unstressed syllables. The goal for me is to sneak in blank verse. Iambic pentameter is the dream. Use of alliteration? Alluring. A rhyming couplet? Love it.

The task can appear impossible, but people do it every day. The masters of this craft aren’t as flashy as you might assume. A strong, well-written piece of copy can be as simple as: “Pardon our dust” or “Service with a smile” or “Just do it.”

I spend a lot of time thinking about words and their power. That’s the art. For many copywriters, it can feel like a battle. We’re driven by a sense of duty.

We’re in a battle, and the biggest enemy is a three-headed beast, a chimera known as jargon and clichés and buzzwords. We fight an endless battle against this beast.

Language is malleable, and as a result, we fight constructs like “synergize” and “utilize” and “operationalize.” (Note: “Use” is a perfectly good substitute.) We challenge every “30,000-foot view” and question people’s insistence on “bandwidth” or “low-hanging fruit” when they want to “put out fires.”

Even if you try to limit the phrases, more will pop up. It’s the nature of a living language. Maybe a chimera is the wrong mythical creature. Perhaps I should say a hydra, the beast that when you cut off one head, three more appear in its place. That’s what it can feel like.

A good copywriter asks the question, “What are you actually trying to say?” and then encourages you to just say that. It’s a bold approach saying what you mean and trusting the words to do their work. It should be easy, but to do it persuasively and with personality that’s a fine art indeed.

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