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The Revolting Marketeer

Never Mind The B*ll*cks - Why Straight Talking Is Making A Comeback



In this post I will explain why I think straight talking is making a comeback.

Thank goodness the days of fluff, acronyms and general bollocks seem to be over.  Whilst those who enjoy a good game of bullshit bingo will be sorely disappointed, the consultants and business owners I speak to seem to be applauding our no-nonsense straight-talking approach. 

Is it because people haven’t the time to decipher flowery language anymore and just want to get on with it? Are they fed up with marketing speak? Breathe a sigh of relief: the fluffy, non-descript wording used on websites and meetings seems to have had its day. 

People just haven’t the time to wade through paragraph after paragraph of ‘clever’, well worked content. All they want to know is this: when, how and how much? 

I’m honest, real and don’t beat around the bush. I simply want outcomes. I desperately try to avoid words like, 'synergy', 'authentic', 'influencer', 'transparent' and my all-time favourite, 'holistic'! F****g holistic. What a load of bollocks! 

Holistic is bandied about as a way of describing how many people work and what they are all about. It’s a medical term that has been grabbed by every marketing and consultative business to show they really care and that they work with and alongside the client. Well that’s to be expected, isn’t it? 

It’s even acceptable now to swear in business meetings. Personally, this is something I am very happy with. When I get excited, passionate and involved, expletives will often pop out. There’s no excuse, I haven’t got Tourette’s, I’m just a normal guy who uses the ‘f word’ and, now and again, I’ll exclaim that something is ‘bollocks’. 

In my opinion, often the reason for using long words and complex sentences is to make people think you are intelligent. What it actually means is that you have a well-schooled copywriter! And, this is going to sound mad, but I also think this is down to laziness. You see it’s hard to break things down into easy-to-understand sound bites and make your text short and to the point. 

As Mark Twain once wrote: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”. It takes time to break down thoughts, write and then rewrite them so they are easily and quickly digested. This is often something businesses won’t pay for, or haven’t the time or expertise to deliver. 

However, this is what people want. They want - and expect – short, easy to understand information. Our attention span has reduced dramatically in this world of instant gratification.


My mantra is: ‘Speak little, say much, get heard’. Don’t use 20 words where one will do and if this involves a expletive or two, well f**k it, so be it…

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