When Should You Use Your Own Language

Chris

Very interesting! Agree, when you're trying to get into the race, drafting off an established meme like Purple Cows, Tipping Point, and Trust Agents, can be a great short cut. But at some point, if you want to become a brand in and of yourself, you need to stop RT'ing others and create a language that is yours.

That's a really important distinction that many fail to understand, especially folks in the knowledge creation world.
@TomMartin

Very interesting. I also agree with Tom's comment.

If a marketer is being completely original then sometimes they may have no choice but to use their own language to express their idea – using others people’s language or brand would hold back what they are trying to achieve.

That was my first thought anyway.

@robertpickstone

Chris, my take it that much of using the language of the champ is part of the process of finding an authentic voice. It is a stage that needs to be pushed through and moved past and is a natural evolutionary step. Where the problem occurs is when a brand or a person does not make it through this step and does not develop an authentic voice.

Using words like trust agents is a way to reinforce a common language of a tribe.

mattkelly makes a good point that we must first cycle through the universal language before we tune into our unique voice.

I've found myself being an imposter as I work through the evolutionary process. . .

Double entendre, meta-meta response (in the words of another (Andrew Bird's “Nomencalture”)) http://blip.fm/~e4cyn (audio)

Hope you appreciate, sir. Lyrics come in meaning, thousandfold :-)

Chris,

You have finely articulated something that should be obvious. Although most companies have always been imitators and followers, the culture of the web endorses the idea of “sharing frames” as you put it.

Companies with unlimited financial resources can pay to maintain their frames and build communities. Companies that rely on guile, no matter how original, are compelled (and advised) to play the linking/networking game which is all about pushing yourself into other people's frames and getting them to push back.

I am not referring to tag lines and ideas, as you have focused on, but your article begs the broader question.

John Ribbler @ribblog

drafting off of other brands, words, or does help connect your emerging idea with those that have gone before you. Could use it to stand on the shoulders of giants (ok maybe not always giants).

Chris–

The posts thus far hit your points from all sides and in my view show the diverse opinions that this topic engenders. Personally, I feel that using language/terms created by others is fine. But, the path can have pitfalls for brands trying to create their own voice while not wanting to support a competitor.

While tangetal, I'm sure that the XYZ Copier company doesn't like people asking them how well their machines xerox things. Yet, xerox is the term many now use to describe the copying process in general.

As a result, XYZ may use the term at times to be relevant yet is also supporting a competitor in the process. Brands using “Just Do It,” “Tipping Point,” etc. may suffer the same fate of benefit and downside. In my opinion – if a brand can borrow equity/language to create relevance and understanding – and is not in the competitive space of the originator – I think there are no issues.

You hit the nail on the head Matt.
How do I follow you on twitter? I'm @ajpape

The initial use is typically intended to shock, to draw attention, and being unfamiliar is key there. So at that point, there's no need to be generally known–quite the opposite.

If you have an underlying concept and contribution to make (and all Chris's examples do, I think), then the shock-term becomes a subculture-defining meme, drawing people into the in crowd with its remaining shock value, capturing and naming a cherished notion for the cognoscenti. This, too, is good. If you don't actually have anything to say, though, then it's all pointless and counterproductive.

Eventually, when people start using the term without participating in the meme, such terms can become meaningless. To the extent that there originally was an actual, useful thought, this is tragic, and should be resisted. If there was an original thought, it should be resisted by calling the abuser to task, reminding the reader of the thought, and rejecting the meaningless usage.

All of those things are social phenomena, not corporate or even classic marketing. The social society has a tool of great power, the legitimate creation of new terms, that's hard to exercise in a classic corporate/marketing arena, due to the corporate self-interest constraints.

I have to share another term you use that has become one of my favs is “social capital”. The idea of getting and hoping to give value to other businesses by what you read and comment on people's blogs. Only after reading Trust Agents and coming across this blog have I found the ways to consolidate and really make sure I am adding value. Using that “backtype” thing and this disqus, I can see my comments and even though it's not good to think, “Oh I could have said this or that”, but it isn't a waste of time to sort of grade your writing and work on improvement. On some people's blogs, comments can be a dime a dozen, but after learning all I've learned about social media – I don't want mine to be.

I agree with mattkelly about “finding your voice”. It reminded me of this great podcast I heard awhile back from the series “A Virtual Perception”. Darlene Victoria had a guest, Saskia Shakin, who said: “When you find your voice” she said “that's when people will listen.” – And I will add onto that and say people will listen and when your message is effective and really taken in, you will hear it back. Whether it be in everyday conversation or reading it out there in “the wild”. :)

Isn't this all really about web presence, and link-baiting online? Mentions of reputable brands bring attention and engagement from online users BUT doesn't equal authenticity and value.

I mean, there was a time when Chris Brogan himself has said to tap into the “Google Trends Page” for a new audience (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/40-ways-to-deliver-k…), isn't this in itself NOT using your own language??

So much for my idea to start Blogs R Us. :)

One problem with tying yourself to someone else's brand is that if the main brand suffers, you get pulled down along with it. Years ago, a football player proudly referred to himself as Michael Jackson – until the musician was accused of child molestation. In a similar vein, I know of a transportation company that uses “A-Rod” in its business name.

Sometimes I wonder why sports teams are so willing to sell sponsorships. Yes, I know why – because they want the sponsorship money – but you have to pause and wonder when your sports stadium has Enron's name on it, and I'm sure that some Manchester United fans take pause every time they see AIG's name on the Man U jerseys.

Now if you'll pardon me, it's lunchtime and I have to head out to Crust Agents Pizza. (I'm kidding…I think)

I just laughed out loud. Crust Agents. That's PERFECT!

Chris – I've worked with many clients who are very attached to using an industry segment's buzz words/memes as a way to seem “in the know” and, when companies are trying to create differentiation from a big, powerful brand they may need to reference the familiar in order to define their difference. The common terminology connects people and makes new entrants to a market seem part of the in crowd. That said, I do think that an authentic and unique voice helps build brand over the long term–if you have something interesting to say that is!

Saw a LIC Plate the other day that said “UCLA NOT” — It was on a red BMW no less. I thought that was really stupid on the part of this obvious USC grad. It's like downplaying Coke when you're Pepsi. Why advertise for your competitor?

chris – i think when you quote someone else, use another company's phrasing, not matter why, you rob people (customers, audiences, publics) of your unique voice. and if you haven't found that voice just yet, that means you need to keep working at it instead of taking the easy road out by quoting someone else.

my challenge is to do the opposite, to take insider language and translate it into human.

Provocative post, I know that I use other's taglines, concepts, and contexts to short-hand my delivery of ideas. I never really considered the risk in that style. Godin, Ferris, Collins, Gladwell, Tappscot are some of my favorites for this purpose, its likely I too often assume the other side of the conversation 'gets' the references much less 'gets' them in the same way I do. However, I am a big proponent of 'there is no such thing as an original idea, just original executions of the idea' using other people's tags is a great way to make the idea more clear more quickly and get down to what matters, making the idea real with real value. If someone has already said / wrote what you are thinking why not leverage it? Thanks for pushing this button Chris, I will need to give this more thought.

I agree there's a lot to aligning yourself with the ideas of others; and also acknowledging the source as often as possible. These big ideas are like passwords, a lexicon or vernacular that can define a community and/or isolate it from others.

I try to acknowledge the source as often as possible, because it would be a shame to lose that Ze Frank came up with “A Brand is the emotional aftertaste” or your own phrase about people who come on too hard, too fast in business- “I was trying to shake your hand, and you kept trying to stick your tongue down my throat”- priceless phrases I always try to credit. While I wish I thought of them, they become almost like proverbs of new media. (Now there's an idea for a blog post right there…)

At Twitter I am momentumpfc

The seven habits of highly effective people who reach the purple cow status and reach the tipping point are:

1. They become a Trust Agent
2. They Never Eat Alone
3. They realize the World is Flat
4. They take themselves from Good to Great
5. They avoid the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team
6. They know how to Make Friends and Influence People.
7. They know that Some Assembly is Required to Make, Grow and Keep Their Business Relationships!!!!!!

Oh, was that all too much??? he he.

Fantastic post! As a student of literature and language, I spend my time examing just how language shapes our understanding of the world as well as how we and the world shape language.

It's a beautiful thing you and Julien have done with “trust agent” (new dictionary word, 2010?) and it is my experience that when these words and expressions catch on it is because they express an idea that was already in circulation in that particular culture.

Thanks again!

In another life, long ago, I taught rhetoric/composition at Penn State. One of the principles of rhetoric is the “known-new contract,” a rhetorical device that maintains cohesion. Basically, you start an argument (or even a sentence) in familiar ground before you branch off into something new in order to increase comprehension and build affinity. In conversational marketing (to address Chris's point), this means that if you want to appeal to the same audience that, say, a Godin or a Gladwell has, you start with the familiar and then branch into your own language. So it isn't an either/or, zero-sum game. It's ALWAYS rhetorically effective to do both at the same time.

I would prefer to invent the keyword people chase than chase other people's keywords.

I've a few phrases in the pipeline, with associated domains, we'll see what happens!

It's fun when you're a part of something like this too. I was there when coworking took off. Not really a player, more a supporter, still very cool.