Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs

Chapter One: Slogans & Gibberish

Who would have thought that 2009 would witness the continued resurgence of the written word?

The language was sometimes indeterminable, and the conversations often unrepeatable without a blush added to the shrug, but text has proven amazingly resilient as a communications medium. Words “work” on printed pages and mobile phone screens (i.e. cross-platform), fi nd utility for marketing strategies old and new (you can use them to declare, or to converse), and prove convenient and adaptable for users young and old.

But if video killed the radio star, wasn’t multimedia supposed to obliterate text?

2009 suggested otherwise. Text is a “hot medium,” if you buy into Marshall McLuhan’s theories about media (and I do, for the most part). Even when viewed online, words engage a single sense, and thereby establish a direct connection that is richer in specifi c information and meaning than more participatory, or “cool” multimedia experiences. When we’re blown away by a video, we translate it into words to label our reactions, code our memories, and subsequently share our thoughts.

Yet, while text and words thrived, it was a banner year for slogans and gibberish in business communications, from nonsense adjectives in press releases, to incomprehensible statements about branding. Companies spent time orchestrating faux conversations instead of contributing to real ones; corporate strategies were described in incomprehensible doublespeak; popular phrases, like “innovation,” were used to obfuscate the purposes of new management teams, as well as new products.Why do businesses use words so poorly?

Maybe because words seem “free” when compared with the cost of producing a video or sound fi le. Perhaps because social media conversations are so fast and frequently that specifi c word choices seem less important. One of my pet peeves is that we still use words to satisfy ourselves; we talk to our aspirations for our brands, and not to make those “direct connections” to readers.

I think the year proved that what companies say matters, whether as the inputs into social media, or as the tool by which they make those direct connections with their consumers. But it has to be accurate, honest, and credible. It’s harder to get away with a lie when it’s literally spelled out; conversely, if we use words to state truths (and avoid all of the nuances that distract or lessen them), then text is a powerful tool that transports across technology platforms, and works with all age groups.

Here’s what I gathered during the year on the importance of words, whether written or spoken:

1. Consider closely the necessity of every adjective in your next press release. Is your product really “world class,” and what does that mean, anyway?

2. Markets, industry categories, and technology platforms are not people, nor do they possess interests or emotions as nouns in sentences. You’re talking about what you do to other human beings so address them directly. Don’t use buzzwords, like “innovation,” as shorthand for something meaningful (spell it out instead) and, conversely, don’t invent terms to cover-up the fact that you aren’t saying anything meaningful.

3. Tell communities things that really matter, not just what your brand lexicon might dictate.

4. Review your mission and values statements, as terms like “customercentric” or “market leadership” are kind of like saying that your company is going to exist, or that you think people should breathe air. Find ways to translate those goals into real, tangible ends that you can describe without coming across as generic.

5. Th ink action verbs instead of descriptive adjectives. Sentences that have nouns and verbs, and communicate some obvious action, are more compelling (and trustworthy) than phrases full of endless adjectival brilliance. Otherwise, nobody understands them, let alone believes what you’re trying to say.

6. Words get connected to other words, one idea links to another, or news announcement to tangential fact, so you can’t make declarations in a vacuum. Anticipate these various contexts, and write for them.

7. Declarations don’t obscure or override reality, they describe them. This means that your readers fact-check what you say, even if they do so unconsciously.

8. So you can’t declare your way out of one reality, and into another. Words are “hot,” so they mean something.

9. What you say should be preceded by what you do, not the other way around.

10. “Truth” isn’t synonymous with “conversation” or “engagement.” It’s objective fact, not a strategy or process. Don’t tell a story. Tell a story clearly. Finding ways to use words in real, compelling ways will be one of the key strategies for successful companies over the next few years.