Public Relations Propaganda, Hype and Fluff – Words Not to Use

I was doing some press material editing recently and read the phrase “state-of-the-art.” That’s a big red flag for me and I know it’s a media pet peeve. So I decided to come up with a list of words and phrases that you should avoid in your public relations outreach. This included press releases, media kits, pitching, blogs, etc. These words lessen the credibility of what you have to say.

• Always
• Best
• Best-of-breed
• Biggest
• Boasts
• Breakthrough
• Cutting-edge
• First
• Flexible
• Never
• Next generation
• Only
• Out-of-the-box
• Perfect storm
• Revolutionary
• Robust
• State-of-the-art
• Unique
• User friendly
• World class

David Meerman Scott hits the nail on the head. Check out www.webinknow.com, and The Gobbledygook Manifesto -- Cutting Edge! Mission Critical! An analysis of gobbledygook in over 388,000 press releases sent in 2006.
If you have words you want to add to this list, please post a comment or send me an email. Gina (at) furiarubel.com.