6 marketing terms having a ‘moment’

By Emily Cretella, PR Daily

When we marketers love something, we love it to death. (QR codes, anyone?)

This is especially true with buzzwords. When a word or phrase resonates with our audiences, you bet we’re going to use the heck out of it.

Blame it on our hypersensitivity to SEO, our obsession with metaphors, or too much Dr. Seuss as children. Whatever the reason, new buzzwords are always taking flight.

Here are marketing’s current golden words. Read ’em, write ’em, share ’em. But please, don’t overdo ’em.

1. Epic.

Blame (or applaud) Content Marketing Institute’s Joe Pulizzi for this word’s well, epic, resurgence. His book, “Epic Content Marketing” and its overarching content philosophy—“how to tell a different story, break through the clutter, and win more customers by marketing less”—have made the word “epic” the ultimate measuring stick for content produced by both content marketers and inbound marketers. I mean, who doesn’t want their writing to be “of heroic or impressive proportions”?

2. Storytelling.

Everyone is storytelling these days. Marketers love to talk about telling brand stories online and on social media—but are they the right stories? It takes more than calling refurbished sales communications “stories” to be a brand storyteller. Nevertheless, I’m happy brands are embracing storytelling as a strategy. The term emphasizes conversation and the communal aspect of sharing stories with friends and followers. It’s a step toward more open, honest brand communications.

3. Inbound.

Don’t get on the bad side of an inbound aficionado. Inbound marketers are straight-up passionate about the power of inbound marketing—as they should be. Hubspot defines inbound marketing as “creating quality content that pulls people toward your company and product, where they naturally want to be. By aligning the content you publish with your customer’s interests, you naturally attract inbound traffic that you can then convert, close and delight over time.” Sounds awesome, right? That’s because it is.

4. Content. 

“Create content.” “Curate content.” “Content is king.” Yes, we’re all excited about the importance of high-quality, consistent content. I have my fingers crossed that the term “content” stays in the moment and doesn’t cross over into buzzword territory. In my opinion, content is too important to be thrown around as a blanket term that covers all communication. Content matters because of itscontent. Quality over quantity. Insights over highlights. Creative over common. (I would say that, right? I’m a content marketer.)

[RELATED: Learn how to create content that sticks for the long haul at our December NYC summit.]

5. Buyer personas. 

Though the concept is totally important, I loathe the term. Buyer persona is a highly impersonal term that simply means “an archetype; a composite picture of the real people who buy, or might buy, products like the ones you market, based on what you’ve learned in direct interviews with real buyers” (as defined on Content Marketing Institute). It’s crucial that you understand your buyer personas when developing your strategies—whether they are for content marketing or traditional marketing. But can’t we come up with another term? Ideas, anyone?

6. Rock star. 

As a marketing nerd myself, I’m allowed to say this: Nerds love calling themselves rock stars. Or gurus. Or ninjas. Or superheroes. It’s as if we’re letting people know: “What you’re seeing here—this is the Clark Kent to my Superman. Just wait until I take off these glasses…” I’ve seen tons of e-books and articles with titles like “How to be a Content Marketing Rock Star” or “5 Tips to Create Rock Star Marketing Plans.” Let’s face it folks, we’re awesome and all, but we’re no Mick Jagger.

Now it’s your turn. What marketing words do you hate to love, or love to hate?