The public’s reaction to such claims illustrates the problem with marketing clichés: the terms hurt our ears because they are overused and they have become meaningless or empty claims that marketers often fail to back up with concrete examples.
Cynicism about worn out jargons is more common than one may suspect, as illustrated by zazzle.com offering coffee mugs that list clichés that poke fun at overused corporate lingo.
Marketers would be well served to avoid the following five common clichés by considering the following tips.
Research Driven
Firms often believe that claiming to have a research-driven investment strategy will differentiate them from other firms, but that incorrectly implies that other firms base investment recommendations on hunches, guesses or emotions.
Rather than make empty claims of being research driven, advisors should instead list specific examples that illustrate their research clout, such as conducting reviews of investments with data from third-party vendors such as Morningstar, providing training for analysts, relying on years of industry experiences to hone interviewing skills, and other items.
Value Added
At first blush, claiming a product or a service has value added sounds appealing. After all, who doesn’t want extra value when purchasing a product or service?
The problem, of course, is that the term doesn’t illustrate the differences between a value-added and a non-value added product. So, over the years, the term “value added” has become meaningless. Firms can avoid the value-added trap by specifying what additional services they provide with their products or services.
These services may include late-night hours for telephone-based service reps, frequent portfolio reviews, financial planning services, web-based tools and other items.
Client Centric
Claiming to be “client centric” implies that other firms aren’t focused on meeting their clients’ needs. In some cases, certain firms may become embroiled in internal politics, reorganizations, regulatory issues and other distractions that prevent them from making clients a top priority.
Yet, those examples are more the exception than the norm. With that in mind, marketers would be better off simply saying that they have a variety of resources and firm characteristics that allow them to focus on their clients’ needs.
Examples may include how they train their advisors and client service representatives, low turnover of staffers, corporate organizational structure and executives that have client service backgrounds and are therefore well prepared to have a positive influence on company culture.
Exceeding Expectations
Many companies like to say that their clients can anticipate having their expectations exceeded. The claim is somewhat amusing because if you anticipate having your expectations exceeded then you have actually changed your expectations to the new level that would occur by having your original expectations exceeded.
As an alternative, advisors should instead provide examples of what they have done in the past to exceed clients’ expectations. Those examples can reinforce the perception that a company has its clients’ best interest in mind.
Give 110%
Saying your firm gives 110%, like most clichés, is worn out. What’s more, if 110% isn’t a strong enough statement, why not say 120% or 130%? Either way, the statement is meaningless and a worn out cliché.
Indeed, it defies logic in that no one can exceed their capabilities, or move beyond giving 100%. Instead, marketers should simply say that their firms use all of their resources to meet client needs.