I never planned to be a marketing strategist. When I was wrapping up my master’s in journalism and beginning to look for Ph.D. advisers, my partner had a “come to earth” talk with me. My children didn’t have any more tolerance for mommy being in graduate school.
I quickly realized that there are not very many jobs for AI ethicists with a terminal master’s degree. But there were lots of organizations looking for marketing executives with AI expertise. I found myself a nice, flexible position as a vice president of marketing at a consulting firm and continued to write for magazines on the side.
I first learned how to write for consumers instead of thesis committees (too long; didn’t read). Then, I began to notice other writing. I realized that to deliver a better marketing product, we needed to avoid the buzzwords that plague most ad copy. I began coaching my intern to do just that.
Here are some tips for avoiding marketing copywriting clichés:
1. Avoid the usual marketing copywriting culprits
If you’ve recently been advertised to, you’ve likely noticed that companies have a tendency to use words that offer very big promises.
I recently logged into Zoom and was immediately confronted by a dialogue box inviting me to “elevate” my communications. On websites I have worked on, I have seen promises to “streamline” everything from recycling processes to meeting cadences. Then, there are the offers to “propel,” ”accelerate” or “skyrocket your business to the next level” and “maximize your profits.”
When reading ads, take note of the words that you see the most frequently. Do these ads stand out to you? Are there more meaningful marketing copywriting strategies you can use? If there are, you may be able to craft a campaign that audiences are more likely to remember—and get a higher return on investment for your marketing and efforts.
2. Don’t rely on journalese to get your message across
My friend and I were lamenting our hastily thought up business names the other day. Hers contains the word “elevate,” and my DBA contains the word “innovative.” We have all fallen back on tired tropes, whether intentional or not.
However, the overuse of clichés in marketing copywriting may not be as ineffective as writers say. Research at Princeton discovered that peoples’ pupils dilate when they read clichés, an indication of engagement. But engagement doesn’t necessarily indicate success.
In On Writing Well, which was originally published in 1976 and has been reprinted in several editions since, William Zinsser puts it like this: “There is a kind of writing that might be called journalese, and it’s the death of freshness in anybody’s style. It’s the common currency of newspapers and magazines like People—a mixture of cheap words, made-up words and clichés that have become so pervasive that a writer can hardly help using them.”
3. Be authentic in your marketing copywriting
Market research suggests that millennials and Gen Z deem brands inauthentic when they hide behind tired buzzwords. These generations have seen it all and heard it all, and they can see right through it right away. They were raised with technology, so brands have to stand out to catch their attention through the noise.
A survey conducted by Roundelthe media arm of Target, found that Gen Z consumers want authentic and transparent marketing. A VistaPrint survey of its millennial workforce also listed using clichés as its number one “don’t” in marketing to millennials.
4. Make sure you are marketing better than AI
Visit ChatGPT and feed it this prompt: “You are a digital marketer for a company in [your industry]. Write five emails for a drip campaign promoting [product].”
As technology improves, we must distinguish our expertise and create work that machines can’t replicate. There will always be jobs for expert copywriters, but there might not be many left for mediocre writers.
My prediction? Brands that hire expert writers instead of leaning into machine-generated writing that is riddled with cheap buzzwords will see a higher return on investment for their commitment to being memorable and real.
Photo courtesy of ADAB Creativity/Shutterstock
