Have you ever been confused when reading a website or ad?
I run a digital marketing agency, so I often receive emails about new marketing tools. One email recently caught my attention for all the wrong reasons. It repeatedly used an acronym that, in my world, means something completely different.
The writer assumed it was obvious, but to me, it was confusing. Curious, I visited their website and found other jargon scattered across their content with no explanation. They thought they were being clear, but they were speaking a language I didn’t understand – and I’m their target market!
Every industry has its own jargon – those phrases and acronyms that feel second nature to insiders. They make communication efficient within your team, but when it comes to marketing, they can become a barrier rather than a bridge. The problem is simple: we get so used to our own language that we forget our customers might not speak it.
This is one of the most common mistakes businesses make when writing their own content. They assume their audience understands the terminology as well as they do. In reality, most customers only have a surface-level familiarity with your industry. When your messaging leans too heavily on jargon, you risk confusing or alienating the very people you want to engage.
Now, this doesn’t mean you should strip all technical language from your content. If your target market is highly specialised, avoiding jargon altogether can make you sound inexperienced or even condescending if you over-explain. The key is balance. Use jargon where it adds clarity and credibility, but always check whether it needs a quick explanation or a more accessible alternative.
In my own marketing, one of the services my agency offers is SEO. To me, that clearly stands for Search Engine Optimisation – which means getting your website ranked higher in Google. Most marketing managers and a lot of business owners understand this. However, it would be a mistake to assume everyone does.
Many CEOs and owners aren’t hands-on with marketing and if I use the acronym “SEO” on its own, they’ll have to jog their memory as to what it means. Their world is full of their own acronyms, and SEO isn’t something they discuss daily. So in our marketing, when we first mention SEO, we build in quick explainer phrases like “Search Engine Optimisation to get your website ranked higher in Google”. By doing this, we connect with potential clients who know the jargon well and those who don’t.
The difficulty is that we are all so familiar with our own jargon, it doesn’t look like jargon anymore to us! So when writing marketing content, give it the jargon sniff test: Does this make sense to someone who isn’t in our industry? And better yet, get a fresh eyes review from someone outside of your industry, but inside your target market. Does it resonate with them? Or do they have questions?
Clear communication isn’t about dumbing things down. It’s about making sure your message lands. When your message hits the mark, you can turn prospects into customers.
