Is your brand built on combative military language?

Nurturing a purpose-driven approach to your brand is an ongoing effort. It’s one thing to claim that you are purpose-driven. But it is quite another to embody it.

Your language is one of the most accessible areas that can help you demonstrate your purpose. By being more intentional and adopting a consistent approach to the words you use, you can go a long way to demonstrating that you are serious about pursuing your purpose.

Demilitarizing your brand

One of the simple ways to improve your language is to demilitarize it.

We have become so used to talking about the elements of marketing in military terms that we don’t even give it a second thought. For example, did you know that the word strategy is derived from the Greek word for general?

Here are some other examples of how military terms are woven into our marketing language:

• We run campaigns (a term borrowed from military efforts being called campaigns)
• We talk about our prospects as targets — stop and think about how aggressive that is
• When planning media, we talk about overarching tactics that provide ‘air cover’
• We refer to grassroots efforts as guerilla marketing