Many consumers don’t want brands to use slang terms in their marketing communications, a new survey has revealed.
According to digital marketing agency I-COM, 64 per cent of Britons either dislike or hate companies using slang words and phrases such as bae, babes, YOLO and abs.
Goals AF, totes, sus, fleek and ship were also found to be particularly unpopular words with consumers.
Graham Allchurch, Head of Digital Marketing at I-COM, acknowledged that many marketers are told to communicate in the language of their target audience.
However, he said using popular slang terms opens up the risk of coming across as inauthentic, or completely alienating a segment of the population who don’t use these words.
“It’s always best to be as authentic as possible, and for brand voice to come from within the company rather than be dictated entirely by the target audience or driven by the desire to be considered a peer of those in that target demographic,” Mr Allchurch commented.
Companies were instead advised to spend more time developing their own brand voice, as this aspect of marketing is “often neglected.”
Furthermore, he said all content, from website copy to social media posts, must be consistent and appropriate for their audience.
Don’t call me ‘bae’: 64 per cent of consumers hate brands using slang terms SmallBusiness.co.uk
