Five Words and Phrases Marketers Should Avoid (Or Learn to Use Correctly).

Better Writing for Marketers

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

- Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride.

Marketers, and I say this with all the affection in the world, since I am one of you: stop using words you don’t understand. Contrary to what you might think, I’m not a language purist. Language is developing all the time, and I’m absolutely in favor of that evolution. What I’m not a fan of is laziness in writing. If there’s already a word that’s the right word for something, why co-opt a word that’s not right for it for the sake of convenience?

#1. Myriad

“We have a myriad of products to suit your needs!”

Now, if you go by the dictionary definition, you can use “myriad” as a noun or an adjective. But if you write to strictly dictionary definitions instead of a reputable style guide (like the AP Style Book or The Chicago Manual) you’re never going to write with simplicity and clarity.

I have a writer-friend who says that “a myriad of” is only used by blowhards who want to impress others with their nonexistent vocab. She’s right. Just think for a moment about what you want to say. Think about it in terms of, oh I don’t know, actual quantities.  Do you have hundreds of products? Say that. How about your competitors, do you have more products than them? Well say that. Just don’t say myriad.

If you absolutely have to use myriad, even though you’re going to look pretentious, use the adjective form rather than the noun. You can say, “We know that small business owners face, and overcome, myriad problems every day.” Not “a myriad of.”

You should use it just like you’d use “many,” and you’d never say “a many of” anything, right?

#2. Unique

“ …millions of combinations of unique rings.”

In the last few years, unique has become unavoidable in marketing materials.  The boast above comes from a popular national jewelry chain, and we can’t really talk about it without talking about what “unique” actually means. It does not mean interesting, custom, esoteric, or idiosyncratic. It means that it is the only thing of its kind.

So read the quote from the jeweler again. It implies that there are millions of one of a kind rings that can be combined in some way. What they mean to say is that between settings, bands, and stones, there are millions of combinations that can help you create your own ring, which will probably be unlike any other in the world. So the sentence should read “…millions of combinations to create your unique ring.”  Which is not only better use of the word, it might actually be factually correct, too.

Unique poses another problem, though, and it’s in having modifiers and superlatives applied to it. Unique is binary. A thing either is, or isn’t, the only thing of its kind, so it doesn’t make sense to say it’s very one of a kind. It doesn’t make sense to say “very unique,” either. Nor should you label things pretty unique, most unique, or quite unique. You can say almost unique for something that has a quality that is extremely rare. For example: “Insofar as we use tools to adapt our environment, humans are almost unique – only a few apes, rodents and birds also use tools. However, in our ability to use tools to make better tools, humans are unique in the animal kingdom.”

But, like myriad, the potential for misuse is enormous, so it’s a word best avoided in your marketing materials. If you mean “interesting” use that word.

#3. Comprise

“Our products are comprised of the finest materials.”

Comprise is a simple word that is misused most of the time. The phrase “comprised of” is mistakenly used instead of “composed of,” to describe that a single thing is made up of other things. Try replacing it with a word like “contain,” or “include,” or even “embrace.” This simple substitution will let you know if you’re using it correctly. Easier still, don’t use “comprised” unless you’re talking past tense  (“The seminar comprised attendees from many companies”), and never use “comprised of.”

#4. Technically

Okay, let me make this one as simple as I can. You can use “technically” if you’re referring to something that requires skills, or if you are presenting a confusing assumption and following it with a clarification. For example, my name is Duncan Connor. Technically I have two last names (and also two first names if we’re being really technical), so I usually give both names when making reservations or ordering pizza, to avoid being called “Mr. Duncan,” which makes me sound like a pre-school teacher.

It’s often misused in sentences like  "Technically, you could be fired for that..." when the speaker means "You could be fired for that, but nobody ever is." There's nothing technical about it. Some people might say, "Technically my kid's birthday is December 25th, but we always celebrate the week before so he gets two rounds of gifts." The kid's birthday is actually December 25th, and the use of "Technically" at the beginning of that sentence is unnecessary.

As a rule of thumb, try your sentence without the word “technically” in it. Does it still make sense? Okay, then drop the word.

#5. Foundational

“These values are foundational to our business success…”

It’s easy to see why this word gets so easily misused. Marketers and (bad) copy writers want to say that something is so important that it forms part of the foundation upon which everything else is built. But foundational is not that word. Foundational should be used when referring to organizations, as in: “NPR relies on individual donations and foundational support from organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.”

If you are talking about something that forms the foundation you can build on, the word you are looking for is “fundamental,” but media coverage of loony religious types of all persuasions has tainted that word for a lot of people. Try using “key,” “important,” “critical,” or “essential” instead.

Sadly, most marketing collateral is written by people who can spell, not people who are writers. And sure, I know that some people will be offended by that accusation.

But the rest of us, the writers, are cheering right now.