Understand Your Buyer > Selling Communication Basics > the Vernacular
What is it?
The Vernacular is all about defining what your offering “is” in the simplest of terms. This has nothing to do with branding and everything to do with potential buyers understanding your offering. For example, my company is Clear Sales Message, but I would be classified as a “sales consultant” – that’s what I “am”.
Why does it work?
It works because if you can clearly define what you “are” – whether it’s a known term like sales consultant, or whether you create a term (messaging specialist), having the vernacular defined allows you to explain your offering in a simple and accessible way. Often the vernacular can be the visual / behavioural characteristics of the offering itself such as Yellow Cab.
The vernacular helps your potential buyer to understand what you are and what you offer in the most basic terms, if you have an abstract name or sophisticated branding, it can sometimes miss the basic elements your buyer needs to see to understand what you do.
How can you use it?
If you don’t already have your vernacular defined, consider either using an existing term that explains what you “do” or what you “are”. This could be in the form of a visual description, a series of identifiable characteristics known as a schema, or could be inspired by your competitors who may already have their vernacular defined.
To take things a step further, if you could make your brand name or domain name the vernacular (as we have done with Clear Sales Message™ ) then you might achieve eponymy which is where your brand name becomes the “thing” – think “hoover” instead of vacuum cleaner.
Whatever you choose to do, be sure to have a simple and easy to digest explanation of what you “are” and what you “do”.
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