Got handed a brochure recently where the text on the front cover began…

“In a time of hyper discontinuity, relying on old ways and patterns is dangerous”.

I must admit I can't help but read it like it was a promo for a hollywood blockbuster movie.

What on earth does it mean? Who knows.

I'm not even sure that “a time of hyper discontinuity” makes any sense. Obviously it must be more discontinuity than just a common or garden time of discontinuity. But perhaps not as much discontinuity as a time of mega discontinuity.

Sadly, the brochure was handed to me at a marketing conference too.

Why on earth do people write nonsense like this?

Well, I think it's for two reasons. 

Firstly they want to impress. To prompt you to take action. That makes sense.

But secondly, they've got lazy.

The brochure was actually from a bunch of lawyers who help businesses relocate to places where they pay lower rents, but get better access to talent.

(It took me about 10 minutes to figure that out by the way. The rest of the brochure was no clearer!)

Instead of generic puffery about “hyper discontinuity” they could have got their point across by using specifics.

They could have reported on the typical cost savings their customers could get. Or data on the education levels of the inhabitants of their locations to show how you could get access to the talent you needed. Or data on the number of businesses relocating.

Or frankly, no end of real information that proves to you that something big is changing rather than just claiming it with generic nonsense like “in a time of hyper discontinuity…”.

Now the purpose of me sharing this example isn't just to have a dig at these bad marketers. It's a reminder that this is an easy trap to fall into for all of us.

We all want to impress and to get our potential clients to take action.

And we're all busy people. So there's a big temptation to use whatever first springs to mind because it sounds good.

But if we're not careful we end up with our own version of this generic puffery. I've done it myself.

Instead, make sure you do the hard work to dig up the specifics that illustrate your case, rather than resorting to flowery language. It will be much, much more powerful.