When I reviewed business Web sites for
Webby Awards earlier this year, one of most common and annoying obstacles I ran across was jargon - insider language that got in way of understanding what business behind site actually did for its clients. The same barrier detracts from effectiveness of many press releases.Troublesome jargon comes in at least three varieties: buzzwords, or trendy phrases used by people who consider themselves on cutting edge of their field; acronyms, dizzying alphabet soup of obscure abbreviations; and technical or specialized phraseology that just isn't much known outside of a particular niche.
"GCKL's Enterprise-level Viral Marketing Solutions Offer Leading Value-Add for P2P Revolution": that's a fictional headline containing no less than seven buzzwords. Most journalists hate buzzwords, and you should therefore avoid them, just as you should try not to complete previous thought in this sentence with "like plague." If you think my made-up headline makes perfect sense, then please take my word for it that number of people who truly understand such messages is extremely small. Usually when you attempt to translate buzzwords, all that comes from effort is mush.
Acronyms such as "CRM," "CSS," "CSP" and "CTR" are a bit trickier to provide advice about, because they are much likelier than buzzwords to become elements in searches of Internet at large or press release databases. In other words, potential clients and media people might actually search for "CRM for small business" or "CSS tutorials," so that you want those phrases to appear in your release if that's what you do.
