Clicks 'n Conversions Blog

This article was first published  February 18, 2009 on the Tatum Marketing blog

A lot of marketers do without even realizing it.

BS Bingo (or as Wikipedia calls it, Buzzword Bingo) is a little game salespeople like to play with our marketing material. To play, all you need is marketing collateral and BS Bingo cards, like the one shown below:

Using the collateral as a traditional bingo cage, each player ticks off a square whenever a word on their BS Bingo card matches a word in the collateral. The first person to complete a row, column, diagonal, or all four squares shouts “Bingo” and the fun begins again with a new piece of collateral.

Now I know this is a silly game that salespeople use to poke fun at marketing folks, but the way I see it we can either ignore their attempts at humor, or use it as an opportunity to improve our copy.

You see, I believe we create a credibility problem whenever we engage in BS Bingo. Maybe it’s our enthusiasm for the product, or maybe it’s because “everybody else does it,” but whatever the reason, high-tech collateral seems to be inundated with fancy buzz words. I’ve even seen some collateral go so far as to string a series of buzz words together like this:

“improved security, reliability, availability, scalability”

As a marketer we think “Wow, this is an impressive list,” but to the reader, it’s the same meaningless dribble they’ve seen time and time again from every competitor.

So how does one avoid BS Bingo and the negative effects it can have on our copy?

The first step towards recovery is recognizing that you have a problem. Try playing BS Bingo with your own collateral. If you win more times than not, you have a problem.

As a next step, ask yourself “So what?” each time you encounter a buzz word. The answers you give will help flush out the real value behind the buzz words, leading you to a fresher, more convincing way to articulate value to your readers.

Of course I’m not bold enough to suggest every buzz word can be stricken from marketing collateral. Sometimes there are very good reasons for using well-known buzz words. But if that’s the case, don’t just rattle them off like you’re an auctioneer. Back up your claims of security, reliability, etc. with some supporting evidence.

Doing so will not only help differentiate you from your competitors; it will make your claims more believable.

Sue Anderson
Marketing Lure, Inc.