Be careful with the PR jargon words

by Kalpita Pradhan Digital Marketer

If you are a PR professional, chances are you already know most of the words and they are a part of your daily life. Many of you may be familiar with the twitter hashtag - #PRfail. It is one of those popular hashtag people use to share the worst public relations communications they find. This particular hashtag categorizes the worst public relations misfires that journalists and industry professionals come across. When you see such words being used on social media, it can be perceived as something hilarious and at the same time are extremely helpful. Through this, we learn what not to say or do when pitching. One practice to avoid when communicating with journalists is including overused jargon in your press release.

There are a lot many Pr jargon words that a PR professional needs to get familiar with. Let’s start with a few popular terms -

Leverage, Turnkey, Utilize, Revolutionary, Synergy, World-leading, Cutting-edge, Seamless, Optimized, Yield, Groundbreaking, Iconic, Disrupt etc. the list goes on and on.

Every profession has their own jargon words. One must be careful about when and how to use them. Overuse of all the words while trying to pitch can make it look pretentious. Hence make sure you know how to go about using the important Jargon words especially in the world of public relation.

PR consultants in delhi often opt for jargon words just like any PR firms around the world. When we first start using words like these in communications, they truly had meaning. However, today, these words have been overused to the point that they've lost their initial meaning. There are often some hilarious cases of journalists receiving pitches with jargon words used up to the point that it had left them numbed. Journalists receive pitches that describe “revolutionary broccoli” or a “hotly-anticipated pen.” These kinds of pitches have numbed journalists to the true meaning behind these fancy-sounding words, so when we do pitch a game-changing stand-up desk, the phrase ‘game-changing’ does little to convince journalists of the desk’s value.

Instead of overly using the jargon, let the facts speak for themselves in your communications. If you truly have a product that streamlines processes, tell the journalist how your product does this. If your company is a world-leader in education, then provide facts that back up your claim.

So be wise and let your communication be free flowing and easy to understand rather than trying to sound fancy and making no sense.