Don’t say ‘avail’: the language and position of the communicator

Imagine telling someone you are thirsty and being given the response, “Avail yourself of a sweetened, carbonated beverage.” No doubt, you would have to stop and think about that response. “Grab a cooldrink,” would be easier, and quicker.

I once worked for someone who uses the word ‘avail’ in conversation. He has the personality of a stop-sign and is generally ignored by everyone except himself. The way you speak is your personality. If your brand uses the wrong language, it expresses a distorted or fake personality, leading to mistrust. Personality is one of the most important ways that you form an emotional connection with your audience and establish trust.

The bottom line is that you need to remove barriers to the sale and the connection as quickly as you can. At the end of the day, the sale is the purpose of the brand and marketing, not showing off your linguistic capabilities.

You need to understand the personality of your brand and use it to build the relationship. That means language as well. I wrote a column on personality a while ago. You can find it at https://www.pressoffice7.com/brandguy. If you haven’t read it yet, read it now. It’s a matter of competitive advantage.

The rule of thumb is to talk to the audience in the voice they expect from the personality. The main idea is to reduce the brand gap, the difference between the projected identity and the interpreted image. If the brand gap is narrow, it is what is expected, and the brand will have a greater degree of trust.

I use Jennifer Aaker’s personality dimensions. If you reread the column above, you will understand why. Sincerity is one of the dimensions in the scheme. Imagine a brand that pins itself on solutions with a strategic component of aftersales support for retention. How will you phrase the proposition? Will you say, “Avail yourself of our meaningful support,” or ‘We’re here to help you?”

Stop using the word ‘avail’. Also don’t use ‘whereby’, ‘inter alia’ and ‘therefore’. If you don’t use the word with your children, don’t use it.

Part 2… Reading up on SEO, I found this interesting information on Google rankings. What the algorithm factors in is four elements on the position of the communicator, which are equally valid to establish the credibility of the communicator in the eyes of the audience: experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness (EEAT).

Experience rates the actual experience of the content creator. If, for instance, the content creator talks about fixing a car, but cannot be seen to have fixed a car, experience is downrated. Expertise refers to the quality of the information. Is the information on the specific fix for the car correct? Authority refers to consistency of material provided. The article on fixing the car should not be diluted with links to a recipe for pudding, for instance. Trustworthiness refers to the comprehensiveness of information. Don’t leave important steps out.

This implies that Google finds out who is the site owner or content creator. It also implies that content creators will need to work on multiple channels to establish their EEAT.

What is interesting here is that the EEAT will also be a judgement on the quality of the brand as a content creator. If the brand doesn’t have the relevance of EEAT, is bogged down by irrelevant matter, the brand gap will widen.