Like most Moms, mine is excellent at giving advice. It’s often more than just practical advice, but actually pretty great business advice. 

In my personal life and in business, I often follow what I have come to call “the Mom rules”. Be kind, be honest, always give it your all, you can do anything, have fun in everything you do, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all and many more. These basic rules have always served me well.

One thing about these rules is they are simply stated and easy to understand. They use plain language. 

Using plain language is not dumbing something down, it is communicating with a goal of clarity and accessibility. Using plain language improves your engagements with customers before, during, and after they purchase from you. 

Plain language helps people:

• Find what they need
• Understand what they find
• Act on that understanding

Here are some tips on how to use plain language in your marketing:

• Identify your audience
• Avoid jargon
• Write in clear, concise, and audience-friendly language
• Use the active voice
• Use first and second person whenever possible
• Avoid negatives
• Use common words 
• Write like you speak
• Avoid repetition

Here are a few areas where plain language really makes a difference:

Website

If more people can read and understand your web content, you will get more clicks, sign ups and leads. Users spend an average of 5.59 seconds looking at a website’s written content on a given page. So how is it possible to get your message across your website in such a short time? You got it. Plain language.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 

Keyword research, allows you to understand how people are searching for and finding information about your brand and your competitors online. By incorporating keyword research , you’ll increase your website’s visibility and rankings. 

Readability drastically improves  because search engines are so smart now that it’s more effective to write for human beings than trying to write for search engines. Google rewards you for delivering useful relevant information and writing in a more human, natural way, without stuffing content with keywords and synonyms.

Content

Content marketing gets 3 times more leads than paid search advertising, but people forget over 90% of content shared with them. Make your content count by making it easy to read and understand.

Social Media

97% of marketers are using social media to reach their audiences, so your message is competing with almost infinite other messages for attention. Use plain language and craft your message so the information you present is easy to understand.

Email

86% of professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes and they receive an average of 97 emails per day. When communicating via email it is critical to get your message across in the shortest time possible. This means using simple, concise language and quickly getting to the point. When customers understand your offering, they are more likely to buy.

Be economical with your words and say as much as you can in the shortest space possible. As Woody Guthrie said, “Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.”

Debbie is co-founder, chief of customer success at Buzzy Rocket and yellow lab lover. From LA to London, she is well known as an expert in creating that certain elusive magic that drives explosive growth at the intersection of companies, customers and mobile. She has proven strategic vision, and isn’t afraid to get in the trenches. In fact, she’s been doing this at companies big and small for 25+ years. Her background includes executive level positions at both public companies and startups where she has proven over and over again that her passion, drive and results oriented perspective get it done. She is tenacious, loves the game changer and loves to win.

Debbie is co-founder, chief of customer success at Buzzy Rocket and yellow lab lover. From LA to London, she is well known as an expert in creating that certain elusive magic that drives explosive growth at the intersection of companies, customers and mobile. She has proven strategic vision, and isn’t afraid to get in the trenches. In fact, she’s been doing this at companies big and small for 25+ years. Her background includes executive level positions at both public companies and startups where she has proven over and over again that her passion, drive and results oriented perspective get it done. She is tenacious, loves the game changer and loves to win.