By Darren Gilbert
Having said that, it’s important to look at a few phrases which are, quite frankly, past their sell-by-date.
Content is king
The idea that content is king has been bandied around for a while now. The recent rise in the demand for more content is one way of explaining its prevalence. However, the time for it to be put away has come.
That’s according to Kevin Power, MD of
Conversation LAB. “It’s actually flawed in its basic premise, and most people who use it don’t understand what it means,” he says.
Instead, conversations are king. “A Product & Price TVC or insert is content, an SMS and Tweet is all content in some form or another, but content that doesn’t not ignite a conversation is fairly meaningless,” he adds.
The antidote to this particular phrase thus seems easy to correct. Power says; “Rather create content that starts or changes a conversation, get your audience to adopt the idea as their own and propagate it through their networks.”
Second Screen
The recent increase in mobile and tablet use has brought with it the buzzword, second screen. Essentially, it’s refers to any portable device that is used to consume content.
As Greg Schneider, head of marketing at
Quirk, points out, ‘second’ tends to imply that it’s less important or, at least, not commonly used. This is, of course, not the case, he believes.
At the same time, it’s detrimental to define the mobile experience as the second screen as this is not the way we should view our digital presence.
“The reality is that our mobile experience is no longer our second port of call,” he says. “Rather, it is the primary way many consumers engage with content.”
Instead of this phrase, Schneider believes we should be using terms like ‘omnichannel’ or ‘responsive experiences’. “When designing with these approached in mind, we give mobile the same weighting as desktop and the experience is ultimately better.”
The top of Google
It’s every business’ dream, being at the top of
Google. And why shouldn’t it be? At the top has obvious positive connotations. In fact, according to
study findings by online ad network, Chitika, and published on
Search Engine Watch in 2013, the number one position in Google gets 33% of the search traffic.
However, for Luke Marthinusen, MD at ad agency,
MO, which recently
rebranded from Markets Online, being ‘top of Google’ for specific keywords or phrase is technically impossible for all but the smallest percentage of websites.
“Clients that request it, and agencies that peddle it, are living in a world of dreams,” he says. “Depending on your browsing history, your propensity to purchase online, and a myriad of different metrics, you and the person sitting next to you will be served an entirely different set of Google search results across both paid and organic search results.”
It is thus better to focus on increasing traffic to your website while making sure that it’s relevant. You don’t need to be ‘Top of Google’ to get that right.
Integration and Synergy
Talk about integration and synergy has been doing the rounds for a while now too. However, for Jacques du Bruyn, MD at
Flume, it’s just that; talk.
“Honestly, hardly any marketers put this into practice,” he says. They all believe in ‘Integrated Marketing’ and the ‘message synergy’ but they don’t know how to make it happen.”
As for what should replace it, it’s not so much a new phrase as it is an action. “[The consequence] is that more and more marketers are selling themselves as knowing jargon but being inadequate at delivering,” he says. “Instead, they should just deliver results.”
Now it’s your turn. What marketing phrases do think need to be banned? Tell us below. Better yet,
email them to us explaining why you think so and we could feature them in our next piece.