Most overused marketing clichés. Do they work?

Have you assured customer of “highest quality at lowest price”? Have you used just a little bit of emotional blackmail with the phrase “only now”? Have you posted a stock photo of businessman on the racecourse, indicating dynamics and efficiency of your company?

If you can remember no more sins, read our list. We collect most popular marketing clichés and explain how they come to life and where their power comes from. Since everybody uses them, maybe they actually work?

How a cliché is created?

It starts innocently: with somebody’s original association, unusual juxtaposition of words. Lover compares his beloved’s cheeks to rose petals. Good, isn’t it? But then other men begin using that metaphor, because they can see it helps win ladies’ favor. The phrase becomes overused. Bored ladies sigh: “Third suitor compares me to the rose, mercy!” Even the most original concepts can get conventionalized.

Cliché comes from repetition, repetition is a result of efficiency

Cliché is a phrase or an image used so often, that it washed itself out any actual, definite meaning. It was applied to so many situations and contexts, that its original meaning faded away, not to mention surprise effect.

Cliché is efficient and cheap. Firstly, it doesn’t take a lot of time to produce one: the phrase comes to mind instantly, paths are well-trodden. Secondly, we know for sure that reader will understand it, no room for misinterpretations here. Thirdly, we can feel safe: original, uncommon solutions require courage and raise anxiety (how my recipients will react? How my superiors will react?)

Inability to speak language of benefits

Why so many marketers resort to clichés? Because of their vagueness. They refer to some general, universal, common profits. Customers want profits. But marketers find it hard to translate their product to actual, concrete benefits. Instead of saying: “You will save $40 and 10 hours per month. In that time, no longer wasted for dish washing, you can go to the cinema, for a walk or just read a good book”, we speak of what we all know – “quality”.

Highest quality at lowest price: vagueness backfires

Being too general in communication can hurt. For example if you write about quality. That term is very general, very abstract – it means something different to anybody because everyone fills it individually with content. A cozy guesthouse will mean very high quality to a tramp who usually sleeps in a tent. The same accommodation would be of poor quality for a businessman who prefers four-star hotels.

In other words, quality is a highly subjective concept, so when you promise it, you will find that commitment hard to keep. Try to avoid too general and vague terms: your recipients will fill them with their own meanings … or become suspicious.

General vs. Specific, or the truth about real estate agents

Why? Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner in their “Freakonomics” while analyzing words real estate agents put in ads proved that:

More general, vague adjectives correspond to lower price (fantastic, spacious, !, cute, great neighborhood)
More specific correspond to higher price (granite, new technology, Corian, maple, exquisite)

General, vague adjectives from the first group carry hidden message that given house has no particular advantages to describe. Your customers feel it subconsciously: without specific information they sense a lack, a scam. So they check, look for opinion.

Do marketing clichés work?

Despite problems mentioned above, marketing clichés often work. Why?

Clichés are creative metaphors, unexpected comparisons, which lost their freshness and originality, but gained something else: they became familiar, universally understood, they are part of common language.

Therefore customers will react to them, they will know, what do you mean, the message will be clear before he realizes that’s the cliché.

Cliché fulfill “Don’t make me think” rule

Cliché is economic. We know their meaning without long deliberating. They come to marketers’ heads instantly. They spare us thinking. Aren’t we so overloaded with information that we welcome each facilitation of knowledge consumption?

Clichés checklist: do you use them?

High quality
Lowest price
Combo: Highest quality at lowest price
Customer is most important – read why luxurious customer service might not work for you
Order now
Win-win
You save time and money
Will exceed your expectations
Satisfaction guaranteed
Professional customer service
We give you results
Surprise and Delight Your Customers

Adjectives with no meaning

Best
Unique
Great
Efficient
Innovative

Visual clichés – stereotypical images

Clichés are not only words, but also images. The most popular marketing visual clichés?

Lightbulb as a symbol of innovation
Stopwatch: speed
Handshake: partnership
Open road: new possibilities
Jigsaw puzzle: completion
Piggybank: saving
Chess: strategy
Post-it note: office life
Fruit: new formula

When cliché hurts?

The answer is one: when it doesn’t work.

Inventive, conceptual copywriting might not always deliver biggest profit. Sometimes customers like to feel secure, surrounded by familiar phrases. Not everybody loves surprises.

Most of all, avoid forced novelty and creativity. Your effectiveness isn’t measured by its aesthetical values or originality, but by communication with customers and, ultimately, sales.