10 Words We Can Retire in 2011

Words, when wielded effectively, can carry great power. But that’s for another post. As we near the end of 2010, I’ve compiled a list of words that have simply lost their meaning from overuse. Many of these are perfectly good words that just need a time out.

The age of social media has placed an emphasis on easily digestible content and PR has followed by simplifying messaging and press releases accordingly.  While Woody Guthrie was talking about music when he said this, we should think about it in the context of how we communicate as marketers:

“Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple.”

In honor of simplicity, I asked the InkHouse team to send me their lists of words that we should retire after 2010. Most of these fall into the category of overuse in marketing materials, but we threw in a few pop culture terms for fun.

1. Best-in-breed and leading-edge
2. Leading provider
3. Next generation and revolutionary
4. Disruptive
5. 2.0
6. Robust
7. Cost-effective
8. Paradigm shift
9. Rock or rocking, as in “to wear”
10. Fashionista, maxinista, frugalista, bargainista. Need I say more?

As we sit back and toast to 2011, let’s pull out our thesauruses and think about some new analogies. At InkHouse, we plan to revolutionize communications by providing next-generation PR 2.0 services based on disruptive, best-in-breed social media tools so we can facilitate a paradigm shift for our clients. Meanwhile, being a fashionista and a bargainista, I’ll be rocking some new designer jeggings I scored down at the Basement.