Dear Dave:

Every time I write something for my company, I end up resorting to jargon: words and phrases like synergy, leverage, spot on, scalable, best of breed, etc. Is this okay? Or is there a better way to write?

Signed,

Stuck in a Cliche

Dear Stuck:

The reason people use business jargon in their speaking and writing is because it’s easy to do. For example, it’s easier to say or write “The partnership between our two companies will create synergies in how we go to market” than it is to figure out exactly what you mean by “synergies” and “go to market” and then explain those terms clearly.

Sometimes I think the battle against jargon might be a lost cause because so many people use corporate-speak that almost everyone knows what each other is talking about. Or everyone is just immune to idiot words and glosses over when reading them.

Still, I will continue the battle for clarity of communication, and you should too. One of my favorite resources is called Bullfighter. It’s a free utility that installs in Microsoft Word and will check your documents for jargon. It also scores your document on the Flesch reading scale, which measures how clear or obtuse your writing style is. I use Bullfighter all the time.  Click here to get it.

For Klein Marketing, I’m Dave