In reality, it’s a recent attempt by the “Living Glossary for Influencer Marketing” to coin a phrase that refers to exhaustion that results from trying to keep up with the overwhelming flow of new marketing buzzwords or jargon that the digital industry is constantly spewing.
Indeed, marketing technology articles are peppered with jargon such as organic, native, and journey that, at best, are understood only by industry insiders and, at worst, can be virtually meaningless. The marketing technology industry, of course, isn’t unique in falling into the jargon trap.
Indeed, corporate America is riddled with cliché’s that make most careful speakers cringe. Some corporate executives like to urge their employees to “nail it.” Other examples are found in a recent Clip Tap Convert article that points out the silly nature of terms such as “let’s huddle” instead of let’s meet, and “peeling the onion” as if the inside of an onion is highly desirable.
It also identifies “think outside of the box,” “the 30,000 foot view,” and “seeing with 20/20 vision” as additional buzzwords. Yet, in marketing technology, the combination of rapid industry growth and high levels of innovation, and a need to appear hip, appears to be causing jargon to spread quickly.
The abundance of jargon isn’t lost on AdAge, which recently ran an article titled “Glossary: What Martech Buzzwords Really Mean.” The article starts by acknowledging that talking with individuals who are well versed in marketing technology is challenging and can involve hearing the buzzwords “holistic consumer experience" and "tag management system” in the same sentence.
AdAge takes a somewhat tongue-in-cheek approach at attempting to define many industry buzzwords. “Holistic experience” it maintains, means doing your job and it defines Watson as being good at chess and Jeopardy. It also says Watson is good for branding for IBM and for all of artificial intelligence, which of course is more commonly referred to with the industry acronym of AI. The article also says “digital transformation” typically means playing catch-up and “dynamic ad creation” simply meaning creating personalized content.
VE Interactive is also taking a stand against industry jargon. In a recent article, the publication maintains that “organic” should be avoided because the term is incredibly vague while “growth hacking,” which refers to using technology to sell products, should be avoided because it’s really the same goal as any marketing program. VE Interactive also urges marketers to say teamwork instead of the overused buzzword of “synergy” and to refrain from saying “snackable,” which refers to presenting information in short articles, because information isn’t edible.
Yet, not all industry terms are meaningless buzzwords and every profession has its own terms and definitions. Just think of medical terminology and legal words, many of which are essential for professionals in those fields to communicate. The same is true with marketing technology as illustrated by an Act-On article that lists 63 digital terms that all marketers should know.
The challenge is to discern between legitimate technology terms and meaningless jargon. With the many buzzwords swirling through the marketing technology industry, cutting through jargon and speaking in plain English may seem difficult, yet marketer should simply think about common sense ways to communicate.