Ask HN: Why is everyone's marketing blurb so bad?

#1

Post by aliqot » Fri, Oct 21, 2022, 6:33 PM UTC

What is up with the amount of high profile projects who can't just say "We do X for Y"? Why does it always have to be some 'value' and 'impact' and 'delivering' and other ambiguous words to describe your thing?

Are these products a form of résumé wankery or is this actually trying to sell me something when I see this? Sometimes I WANT to use or WANT to buy something, only to become very skeptical when it comes to the marketing copy.

Also, contact-sales-for-pricing guy and login-to-demo guy, you're on the list too! I have a single break in the day to review your product, stop resisting.

Re: Ask HN: Why is everyone's marketing blurb so bad?

#2

Post by tpmx » Fri, Oct 21, 2022, 6:36 PM UTC

B2B product marketing is often insanely bad, as per tradition.

B2C product marketing is usually pretty good these days.

Re: Ask HN: Why is everyone's marketing blurb so bad?

#3

Post by chilipipers » Fri, Oct 21, 2022, 6:48 PM UTC

lol too true.

"We're the leading software for increasing sales productivity, driving revenue, and accelerating digital transformation." -Every B2B SaaS Company Ever

Re: Ask HN: Why is everyone's marketing blurb so bad?

#4

Post by sn0w_crash » Fri, Oct 21, 2022, 7:00 PM UTC

What you’re describing is the result of decades of copying other peoples messaging.

B2B marketers pride themselves on “doing it just like the other company BUT BETTER!”

This has led to an endless supply of meaningless corporate jargon.

Re: Ask HN: Why is everyone's marketing blurb so bad?

#5

Post by throwawaysleep » Fri, Oct 21, 2022, 7:12 PM UTC

Engineers may mock it, but the biz people making purchasing decisions seem to lap it up.

Re: Ask HN: Why is everyone's marketing blurb so bad?

#6

Post by oikawa_tooru » Fri, Oct 21, 2022, 7:31 PM UTC

Ai dude. Most entrepreneurs cut the cost of writing copies these days thinking marketing is an automatable job just like any other and just use the bajillion AI writing software like jasper. They even do this for blogging unless they think it's highly technical

Re: Ask HN: Why is everyone's marketing blurb so bad?

#7

Post by bell-cot » Fri, Oct 21, 2022, 8:20 PM UTC

throwawaysleep wrote: post #5

Engineers may mock it, but the biz people making purchasing decisions seem to lap it up.

THIS. Biz people making the decisions (either approving the blurbs, or the purchases) want to feel So Very Important. Making it work, or faking it working long enough for higher-up biz people to have forgotten all the $$$ that was spent - those are jobs for underlings.