Stop using the c-word in marketing

The c-word always made my skin crawl a bit when other marketers used it. When I used it. 

The c-word?

Yes. “Consumer.”

The word consumer is rooted in disdain and negativity: 

early 15c., "one who squanders or wastes," agent noun from consume. 

“Consumers” depicts a soulless Zombie army whose singular purpose is to use up what you have to offer. 

The term reduces the people who give you time, attention, and money to a lowest common denominator. No longer individuals, consumers morph into a mindless act of absorption and resource exhaustion. 

A skewed foundation

Effective marketing messaging places the person you wish to serve as the hero of your story. As a marketer, you must identify with their aspirations, fears, goals, and challenges. As the hero, these people go through a transformation via an unmet or underserved need you can help them fulfill. 

Those of us responsible for messaging strategy must use empathy and sympathy. The consumer mindset strips that all away. And without empathy and sympathy, you can’t tell your story in its more compelling and persuasive form. 

Pick a new c-word

The best B2B and B2C messaging is really P2P: person to person. 

To upgrade your mindset, choose an alternate word to improve your storytelling. Use customer. Or client, if you prefer. 

Now you are talking with individuals who have agency. Independent beings with options who seek options, solutions, and transformations. And maybe you can help them along their journey. Suddenly your empathy improves. And so will the effectiveness of your messaging.

Dumping the term consumer is a small vocabulary change with big implications. All marketing messaging is, ultimately, one-to-one. Person to person. Using the right language helps you keep that mindset front and center, and your messaging will improve because of it.