Don't Take This Advice "For Granite", Solopreneur. (And Other Malapropisms...)
I love a good malapropism.
Anytime someone confuses similar-sounding words to a humorous effect (intentionally or not), it tickles my funny bone.
(Obviously, I also just love a random vocabulary word that I'd rarely use in everyday conversation. It's my thing).
I laugh with my friend (and former housemate) Sarah about the Clematis vine I planted by the porch years ago, and how she kept calling it the “chlamydia" vine.
“What are you going to do about that chlamydia?” she'd joke when the vine failed to grow, and I'd laugh, “Yeah, how can I possibly make the chlamydia spread?”
(The humor buffered my disappointment when the clematis vine finally withered and died. Of course we joked that we were "sad, but strangely relieved to be rid of the chlamydia.”)
Another time, I posted on Facebook (using my favorite malapropism):
“I don't mean to be self-defecating, but my outfit looks like crap today.”
My inner circle of friends knew I was doing my usual pun/malapropism wordplay.
But an acquaintance sent me a private message delicately explaining, “Jane, I don't want to embarrass you, but the correct phrase is ‘self-deprecating’. Just a heads up!"
Bless him. I explained that it was an intentional substitution, but I immediately deleted the post: I didn't want anyone else thinking I was being serious (or worse, that I'd literally self-defecated. Ew.)
The thing is, I was so up in my own head with this joke that I assumed most of my Facebook friends would automatically “get” my weird humor.
Which brings me to business:
There's a phenomenon called the “Curse of Knowledge," and it might be hurting your marketing.
The Curse of Knowledge is when you know a lot about your own business, craft, or thought-process, and inadvertently assume that your audience has the same level of understanding.
If often shows up on websites and marketing-copy in the form of “industry-lingo,” and it just leaves potential clients feeling confused.
It's the therapist saying “I help clients release maladaptive and dysfunctional processes so they can live in a more authentic and aligned way.”
Or the mindset-coach saying “I help women plunge the depths of their soul-force to excavate the power of their embodied magic.”
Or the… whatever.. saying “We provide integrative systems to leverage solutions in a 21st century marketplace.”
Huh?
My friend, people can't read your mind.
The things that feel normal/understandable in your head may be foreign to others.
You have to be crystal clear because a confused customer never buys.
Most people decide within 5 seconds of looking at a website whether they're in the right place or not, so make it easy for them.
Here are a few exercises I use with my clients to help them get out of their own heads and get clearer:
Imagine that you're explaining what you do and why it matters to a 6-year-old. Record yourself. (Better yet, find an actual child to talk to, and answer their questions!).
Fill in the blanks with brevity: "I help [population I serve] with [positive outcome, or negative outcome you prevent] .
Get a friend-of-a-friend to look at your website or marketing materials (a friend will be too nice), and note anything that feels unclear or confusing.
I promise, nobody's going to send the Gazpacho-police after you if you get it imperfectly.
(But there's always room to improve).