Using Jargon is an Assumption that Your Audience Understands Your Language
Just the other day driving, I heard a commercial on satellite radio, a News Talk station, that made my head spin. I am glad I have lane assist because I was swerving to the center line. I thought to myself, “what a terrible commercial”. I heard nothing but babbling, I swear I’m being kind calling it babble. Now, I am trained to listen to commercials, to the content and make analysis. But NOT with this one, all I can do is pass judgement.
Surely, that’s not the reaction the advertiser intended.
As I try to rethink, painfully, that commercial, I can remember it having too much “noise” with a bad announcer. It sounded cartoonish and something quite cryptic too. I barely for the life of me recall what the subject was, other than it was in the financial industry. That commercial was poorly produced using “buzzwords”. It was lacking any creativity. A well-produced and creative commercial would have stayed away from using such gibberish while communicating a clear message. This gibberish or babble is called jargon. Jargon is an Assumption that Your Audience Understands Your Language.
As I think more about it in retrospect, my expertise to recall information, the gibberish, the babble included wording such as: “brain dump”, WHAT are they saying? SERIOUSLY? And then more lunacy, “deep dive” and “thought leader” all of these seemed not to have any relevance or be relational to the subject, that might have been financial. Aside from the lack of clarity in messaging, the announcer, “the voice” of this commercial was something else to be desired. High pitched with a comedic perspective seems mismatched for talking about financial anything as businesses, employees and consumers try to survive in this pandemic. Funny they were not, it was very annoying. I did change the channel to music, I was done listening for a while.
Imagine if I would be spending time talking positively about this commercial? Such as, the company mentioned, the product(s) offered, the service(s) and /or the agent? But I have no clear idea of what or whom? The commercial has failed to meet my expectations and, it’s really just wasted air time. More importantly, it absolutely is a poor investment for the advertiser. Very likely, no Return on Investment. Why?
The producer of this commercial failed to develop a clear, concise and cohesive message. They used poor judgement in using jargon to communicate. It is vague and not actionable. They don’t describe what is actually occurring, or what needs to occur by using jargon. Also, the jargon resulted in very little thought concerning what the audience could understand. Negatively, this impacts the creative approach. Creative drives engagement when the right message is developed. It would appear the producer thought how the announcer would sound was not important. Otherwise, they would have insisted they sounded mature and sincere, credible to “define and fit” the image of the advertiser while supporting the message. Creatively, it was void of holding anyone’s attention because there was no message! Jargon is an Assumption that Your Audience Understands Your Language.
Conversely, jargon can be used to communicate meaningful information IF your audience is known very well to have knowledge of your subject matter. Audience expertise is important. Knowing the context or meaning of the jargon when using it is most suitable; but, still use with caution. Messaging can be effective, but in my example, there was an assumption that all News Talk listeners must be financial experts. Obviously, that is a bad assumption, the producer should have considered that the listeners were relatively lay people. Using it in a short commercial is problematic because you can’t explain what the jargon is to mean! Using Jargon is an Assumption that Your Audience Understands Your Language and we all know the problem of an assumption!
Jargon is defined as the language, especially the vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group that is unintelligible or meaningless talk or writing; gibberish. It is any talk or writing that one does not understand according to dictionary.com. Clearly in my example the commercial was using jargon, and too much of it.
And what exactly did the jargon mean? Let’s explore per straightnorth.com:
• ”brain dump” - this is an overly casual way of saying we’ll teach you.
• “deep dive” - this is another overuse to describe a thorough analysis.
• “thought leader” - meaning guru and is a double edge sword when used because if others describe you as a guru, people will be skeptical. If you describe yourself as a guru, people will laugh in your face.
My, oh my, what in the world was the commercial trying to communicate? A company, a product, service(s), agent or, all of that? One will never really know since it is comprised of jargon that would require expert knowledge of the subject matter. Using Jargon is an Assumption that Your Audience Understands Your Language and we all know the problem of an assumption! The true expression of what is being communicated is hidden among the gibberish. Even with technology today, it is suspect that an App would be able to clearly decipher what it was trying to convey.
Using Jargon is an Assumption that Your Audience Understands Your Language. Consequences of using jargon are reduced credibility, by repeating what everyone else says, you risk not really knowing what you are speaking of and, you appear to “look like everyone else” rather than defining your own being!
The risk of being misunderstood is very real and that can be dangerous, especially if you’re speaking about a highly skilled discipline like the medical field or aerospace. Misunderstanding can be deadly. Often, you hear jargon and shrug your shoulders because we’ve all used it. People repeat what they hear and, if the jargon was used incorrectly before, we’ve just added to muddling of the message and confusion in communication. We develop cohesive communication by having clear and concise messaging. Avoid assumptions, too. If you are struggling on what that sounds like, and how to get started, Blazing Kiss Media has the answer!
Blazing Kiss Media has the perfect communications tool for your business and/or organization. The Recall Audiocast™ as introduced in our previous blogs: WHY IS PODCAST SOUND QUALITY SO ESSENTIAL? And Technology Takeover: It Means Good Business the Recall Audiocast™ has a process to make sure YOUR MESSAGE WILL NEVER SOUND LIKE THE COMMERCIAL DISCUSSED IN THIS BLOG.
We have a process and system to develop a cohesive message that’s communicating clearly and concisely to the listener. We make sure that you speak to your strengths, avoid meaningless jargon, and stay away from assumptions. Your message will be engaging to the listener and the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Management (SEM) incorporated into the Recall Audiocast™ will be proof of its engagement abilities.
The Recall Audiocast™ -The Next Generation of Business Podcasts, The Most Accessible Communications Tool, and Lead Generator IS fast becoming The New Normal in Business Podcasting as we navigate this pandemic. Check it out at Blazing Kiss Media
About the Writer: Becky Blaesing loves owning Blazing Kiss Media and loves collaborating with business owners and non-profits for business development. She resides in Ooltewah, TN with her husband and 2 rescue dogs, Miggy and Sherman affectionately known as “the boys”. Her Alma Mater is Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI.