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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Marketing » Branding

Branding

Watch the Jargon

By Dan Balowon February 17, 2022
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In early 2018, a corporate consulting firm, Grant Thornton, did a detailed analysis of Fortune 500 company websites, press releases, and social media. What they found was not surprising, but still proved how the use of business jargon (commonly used phrases) pervades the corporate world.

What was the most commonly used phrase by Fortune 500 companies?

“Best in class”

Rounding out the top ten most used phrases:

“Value Add”
“Game Changer”
“Action Plan”
“On the Same Page”
“Game Plan”
“Thought Leadership”
“Brainstorm”
“Price Point”
“Organic Growth”

I’ve made a personal decision to avoid using these phrases. Ever. It’s my action plan to be a game changer and add value.

Every writer–and for that matter, every human who speaks or writes–carries with them a bag full of go-to words and phrases. If they are not careful, these will dominate their communication, creating the impression of, at best, a careless approach to communicating or, worse, a lack of imagination.

Writing with jargon is creative “low-hanging fruit” (which is #22 on the jargon list).

I believe this concept is especially problematic for writers of Christian material. The danger of using corporate and even what might be termed “Christian” jargon is creating a “blah blah blah” section in what is written. Jargon is the black hole of creative thought.

This is not the overuse of certain words, which is always a problem. I’ve read manuscripts where it becomes painfully obvious a writer fell in love with certain words and wanted to incorporate them as many times as possible.

Jargon is a safe haven for writers, giving the impression of great insight, which may or may not be the case. Christian jargon is just as dangerous for writers.

Not long ago, I reviewed a manuscript from an excellent communicator; my first impression was, “Who wrote this?” It certainly wasn’t the person in the byline, because it didn’t sound like them at all. No personality or the distinctive style for which they were known.

It was a reminder how often Christian communicators can unintentionally drive into the ditch of writing to someone else’s expectations. Christians, if not careful, can write in jargon that is decipherable only by a relative few.

I had the privilege of knowing Ken Taylor in my years at Tyndale House Publishers, up until his death in 2005. He started the company because he wanted his kids to be able to understand the Bible, and he paraphrased the Bible into what became The Living Bible, selling millions of copies and launching a company that will celebrate its 60th birthday in 2022.

Ken Taylor looked at the jargon entrenched in the English-language Bible translations of the day and simply used words that could be understood.

Those involved in Bible translation run into this problem all the time. Some languages have no direct translation for many of the concepts found in the original Hebrew and Greek biblical texts. They solve the problem with different words that make those concepts clearer to the reader in their language. Maybe Christian writers should use the same approach when they write.

I don’t want to tell anyone how to write, only to encourage everyone to labor over what you write, making certain it communicates well and doesn’t include overused phrases. Seek to make what you write more “customer centric” (which is #12 on the jargon list).

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Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Branding, Marketing, Pitch, Pitching, The Writing Life

Searching for Books

By Dan Balowon September 8, 2021
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Online search engines are immensely powerful, often anticipating what you want and asking, “Did you mean _____?” when it doesn’t locate what you typed. This is very helpful because making your book as findable online as possible is critical since online book sales are pretty important! Making your book discoverable online is all about keywords. Read a good explanation of them by clicking on the …

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Category: Book Sales, Branding, Marketing, Self-Publishing, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life

Visual Marketing for Your Books

By Steve Laubeon August 2, 2021
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Yesterday, August 1, was the 40th anniversary of the launch of MTV. Back in 1981 Music Television (MTV) debuted on a cable channel initially only available in New Jersey. It eventually changed the way music was consumed in the pre-Internet era. It quickly became a vital part of the music industry and worked its way into pop culture. A number of years ago, many authors began using video trailers as …

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Category: Branding, Marketing, Trends

Platform Planning

By Dan Balowon May 26, 2021
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The never-ending struggle of an aspiring author to meet the requirement of publishers for a big enough “platform” can be frustrating at best, or worse, discourage someone from writing at all. Platforms are always built on content, not the container. Social media doesn’t give you a platform; it is the content that causes it to grow–or not. All medias are simply channels to people, and using …

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Category: Branding, Marketing, Platform

Where Do Your Readers Come From?

By Guest Bloggeron May 24, 2021
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Today’s guest writer is Carla Laureano. She is a two-time RITA® award-winning author of over a dozen books, spanning the genres of contemporary romance and Celtic fantasy. A graduate of Pepperdine University, she worked in sales and marketing for more than a decade before leaving corporate life behind to write full-time. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband, two sons, …

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Category: Book Review, Book Sales, Branding, Indie, Marketing, Self-Publishing, The Writing Life

Your Reader

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon April 8, 2021
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Not long ago, I met with a group of publishing professionals who broached the topic of audience. A couple of them discussed how their company envisions their reader. They went so far as to identify the reader by the name they had given her. They knew her age and discussed preferences that would dictate whether she would like a specific book. As a writer, perhaps you would be helped by working to …

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Category: Branding, Editing, Marketing, The Writing Life

A New Author Photo for a New Year?

By Bob Hostetleron February 3, 2021
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Not long ago, I signed one of my books for a friend. As he received it back from me, he turned to the back cover and pointed to my photo. “Who’s that?” he asked. He used to be a friend. So the book had been out for a few years, but truth be told (not that I’ve been lying up to now), the photo could have been more current. Much more. You may not age like I do (with the speed of a hare and grace of …

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Category: Branding, Career, Marketing

You Provide Our Audience!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 10, 2020
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In speaking with a friend recently, she commented, “I don’t understand why Icabod gets invited to every event. Everyone knows who he is, but no one likes him.” I countered that, in attending every event, Icabod is providing a service. As an attendee, he is helping to make the party a success. Our readers provide an audience. They are our bookwormish partygoers. And though Icabod may be clueless as …

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Category: Book Proposals, Branding, Career, Marketing, The Writing Life

Should You Write Short Stories First?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 20, 2020
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The “Your Questions Answered” Series __________ What are your thoughts on writing some short stories before you jump into your first novel? I don’t recommend writing short stories before jumping into your first novel IF your goal is to be a novelist. Writing where you don’t want your success to be is akin to the dieter craving a chocolate candy bar but eating a container of yogurt instead. I’ve …

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Category: Branding, Career, Craft, Creativity, Genre, Your Questions Answered Series

Marketing with the National Day Calendar

By Steve Laubeon June 29, 2020
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If you blog or post regularly, you know the challenge of coming up with new and fresh content. One idea might be to take advantage of NationalDayCalendar.com. This fun website has indexed over 1,500 national days, national weeks, and national months. Use this to find fun things you can write about! Today is National Waffle Iron Day (no kidding!). Did you know the first patent for a waffle iron was …

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Category: Branding, Marketing
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