Recently I had the opportunity to travel to California with my younger son and my mother. As we sat in t
he Sacramento airport waiting to board our flight home, an airline gate agent’s voice kept interrupting my thoughts and conversations.
Within the span of about 15 minutes, she made the following update, not once or twice, but at least five times: “If you’re in possession of a boarding pass…please proceed to the gate.”
After I’d heard this phrase for the fifth time, not only was I annoyed, I realized there were a few issues:
- The words the gate agent used were not simple enough for everyone to understand.
- The plane which was boarding was not only a different airline, it was nowhere near our gate.
This experience brought to mind two important points:
We must choose our words with care.
When you try to make your product or service sound complex, you risk losing your audience. Which sentence would make you take action?
Option 1: “If you’re in possession of a boarding pass…please proceed to the gate.”
Option 2: “If you have a boarding pass, please come to the gate.”
Don’t use words like “possession” and “proceed” when you can communicate with much simpler language.
We must broadcast our message to those who need to hear it.
Based on your buyer personals, craft content marketing (a blog post, case study, tweet or other content) that will reach them. Regardless of the formant, make sure you’re directing your message to the right audience.
Regardless of whether your message is about boarding an airplane or purchasing HR products or services, make sure it’s clear. If it’s not, you may end up with an empty plane.
