How do we avoid using the cliches in your messaging like seamless, best-in-class, #1 industry leader etc?

1. Speak like you would speak to a human: We often write messaging that speaks to corporations rather than individuals. Think about how you'd explain what you do to a client on a sales call. Now think about how you'd explain it to your mom, a friend, a child, or a stranger at a party. What do all of those descriptions have in common? What are some of the most salient concepts for you to communicate? Focus on those. Pro tip: Use AI to help you riff on your messaging if it's feeling a little stale. Ask ChatGPT to 'summarize this for a 10 year old', 'phrase this more colloquially' or 'rewrite this without corporate buzzwords'.
   

2. Show it's the best in a specific way: Often, the goal of using these cliches is to show something is "the best". Ask yourself to be more precise. In what way is it the best? Is it the cheapest, the fastest, the easiest to use, the most scalable, the most well-known etc.? Lean in to your specific advantages.
   

Ha. Take off your marketing skin and try to channel your inner human. Is this how a normal non-marketing person would say it to their ride share driver or Trader Joe's bagger?

Read it aloud.

Then, read it aloud again to your friend or partner. If you can't say it with a straight face or any tinge embarrassment, then scrap it.

Okay, but also, some cliches exist for a reason. They're convincing to enough people. Lots of companies say #1 for a reason. Some people might roll their eyes or ignore it completely, but others will believe it.

Healthy compromise is: speak like a human, use regular words, but don't shy away from promoting your business - people believe what you tell them to believe.

I get it - it is so hard to avoid using cliche terms. These words are front and center in our marketing vocabulary but we all know that they are watered down and abused by the market.

• Is the cliche actually true? If your product really is the industry leader or the best in the world and you have the data to back it up, then go big with that. For most of us, that just isn’t the case and customers know that.

• Get closer to the customer - When I’m stuck on cliche terms, I go back to my customers. It is marketing gold if you can get your customers to tell you, in their own words, the benefits and advantages they experience with your product. Using words and phrases that are closer to how your customers think will resonate better with them. 

• Just say the thing - If your product is seamless, what makes it seamless? What is the benefit of it being seamless?

While I was working at Intercom under Matt Hodges he recommended our entire team read 'On Writing Well' and I still go back to this book often for tips on good writing. Although, it's not specifically teaching how to avoid cliches, it does help the reader with tips on keeping writing clear and succinct and compelling. So I'd check that out.

I also follow Emma Stratton at Punchy and I have consumed SO MUCH of her content. She does specifically tackle how to avoid jargon, and why it doesn't work - so start following her ASAP if you don't already.

And more tactically, I try and write like I speak as much as possible. I don't use works like best-in-class or seamless in my day to day speak and neither do our customers. We have to remember that even if we work at a B2B organization the buyer we sell to is a human - who wants to be talked to like a human.

If you have the resources to do so, partner with great copywriters to help bring your message to life in a human way that aligns to your brands tone. And lastly, message test as much as possible.

It's not cliche if it's true and you can prove it—if you're #1 in something, say it! But be specific: Are you #1 in App Store rankings? In consumers? Make that clear.

For more "throwaway" terms like "seamless," I recommend being descriptive. Explain what makes your product seamless versus that you are.

And finally, let your consumers speak for you! Your consumer saying it goes a lot further than it coming from the brand.

If you’d be embarrassed using those words when describing the product to a good friend, don’t use it.

Then you’ll have two options:

1) Eliminate altogether, since those words are often just duplicative to the word following it. “Seamlessly integrates” becomes just “integrates”

2) Replace it with more “how” detail. “Seamlessly integrates” becomes “initiates an HTTP request” in certain situations.