Guess what <<Name>>? 😮

My one-year-old has started to talk! 👶💬

Well, he thinks he’s talking. It’s basically a series of nonsense words, brilliantly mimicking the pitch and intonation of real conversation, accompanied by seemingly random pointing. It’s super cute. But utterly incomprehensible.

And it got me thinking - that’s so often what’s happening when we try to talk to our audiences. (Just bear with me here - I know the cheesy segue from charming personal anecdote to genius marketing insight is a little overdone, but I genuinely had a lightbulb moment when I was listening to him!) He knows exactly what he wants to communicate, but I have no idea what he’s trying to get across. 

And it’s because he hasn’t learned my language yet.

How often do we think seriously about the language our audience uses, rather than just thinking about how we want to put things and what makes sense to us? 

I buy tampons from brands that talk about ‘periods’ and stay well away from any that mention (shudder) ‘menstruating’. I chose my accountant because his website talked about ‘money’ rather than ‘income and expenditure’. I resonate with brands that talk about things the way I talk about things. That’s what makes a connection and wins me over.

So next time you read through a piece of marketing before it goes out into the world, just picture a babbling, pointing toddler and ask yourself - am I speaking my audience’s language? 🤔