The other day, I drove by a billboard with the words Trans-Radical Heart Catheterization in giant letters next to a picture of a doctor. There may have been a few other words on there, but I certainly didn’t catch them.
Now I don’t know about you, but I have no idea what trans-radical heart catheterization means. Obviously, it’s a procedure for the heart. But I can’t tell you what it fixes, or who it’s for, or why someone would need one.
Major advertising fail.
But it got me thinking about how often we, as makers, are guilty of the same thing.
To a non-craftsperson, some of our technical jargon sounds as foreign as trans-radical heart catheterization. Yet, in our desire to share how our products are made, we pepper our product descriptions, blogs, and marketing copy with words most people, including our target customer, don’t understand.
(Come to think of it, maybe this is why most of the people who read my old blog, which was supposed to promote my business, were other metalsmiths and jewelers.)
Instead of helping sell your product, those very technical words are a turn off to anyone thinking about buying your product. At the very least, they’re confusing. At the worst, they make your customer feel stupid or uninformed. And that’s not the way you want your customer to feel.
So my challenge to you is to go back through your writing with a critical eye. (Or better yet, ask a non-crafty friend or family member to do it for you.) Look for all the instances of “trans-radical heart catheterization” and figure out how you can describe your products more clearly.
By all means, keep sharing how you make your products. Just do it in a way that your customers can understand.
Editor’s note: Correction – apparently the name of the procedure is trans-radial, not trans-radical. But I think that just proves my point!
This is such a good point. I have trouble understanding some peoples product descriptions when they use technical words or terms that you would only know if you made them.
I’m sure I’m guilty of it too. I do like to run my ideas past my family who have no understanding of what I do and I find they are great at telling me when I’m getting too technical.
You do realize that, because of this post, you will now rank number one on Google for “trans-radical heart catheterization”.
I think about this very thing every time I use the term “Tiffany foil method.” It is an accurate term for how my pieces are constructed. But I’m not sure the potential customer even really cares how it’s made, beyond the fact that it’s “oooo-shiny!”
I’ve always written for the people in the audience who haven’t the faintest clue about what I’m doing or how I’ve done it. It’s a tip I learned as a journalist – don’t assume everyone knows what you’re talking about. And 90% of the people never do, so it works well 🙂
Oh, absolutely… Weaving (what I do) comes with its own rather large vocabulary – and if I start throwing around weaving words that I’m really comfortable with, I can practically see the eyes glazing over… In my written descriptions I try to explain the few terms of art that I do use. (No idea what the Tiffany foil method is, BTW, lol).
The ones that drive me slightly bonkers are the artist statements jam-packed full of jargon. Yuck. Reminds me of briefs written by opposing council who threw around a lot of legal jargon to try to hide the fact that their argument was weak. (In my former life, I was an attorney.) Just say what you mean. No need to obfuscate/attempt to impress with fancy language.
Hello are using WordPress for your site platform?
I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying
to get started and set up my own. Do you need any html coding knowledge to make your own blog?
Any help would be really appreciated!
Since the admin of this site is working, no
uncertainty very rapidly it will be famous, due
to its feature contents.
Hello, of course this post is actually nice and
I have learned lot of things from it about blogging.
thanks.
Wow, awesome blog format! Howw lengthy have
you ever been blogging for? you made blogging look easy.
The overall glance of your web site is excellent, let alone tthe content!
Hi colleagues, pleasant post and nice arguments commented here,
I am in fact enjoying by these.
I must thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this blog.
I am hoping to view the same high-grade content from you later on as well.In truth, your creative writing abilities has encouraged mee too get my own site now ;
)
Hurrah! Finally I got a weblog from where I be capable of in fact
obtain useful facts regarding my study and knowledge.
Hi there, after reading this amazing paragraph i am ass well cheerful to share my familiarity here with colleagues.
In our opinion, you need to think about what you LOVE to do.
There are plenty of franchising opportunities available, from designing baby shower diaper cakes
to a full Build-a-Bear Studio. The franchisor
gives up a certain degree of control over its trademark in exchange for
an initial fee and a pre-agreed portion of revenues.