LinkedIn has revealed the most popular words used by marketers across the nation in a bid to advise its job-seeking users on how best to update their CVs and profiles.
Compiled using analysis of millions of UK profiles, the list reveals the 10 worst buzzwords that appeared the most frequently over the past 12 months.
It revealed that ‘strategic’ – which is used on 31,000 marketers’ profiles – is the worst offender, leaving ‘specialised’, ‘creative’, ‘leadership’, and ‘passionate’ to complete the top five list of undesirables.
‘Creative’ fell from the top spot in 2016 to number three this year, while ‘successful’, ‘driven’ and ‘ambitious’ dropped out of the list entirely. New entries included ‘focused’ and ‘expert’.
The professional network, which found January to be the busiest month for UK profile updates, revealed its list as a way of appealing to marketers to avoid clichés.
Separate research from NewBase revealed some 83% of senior marketers think jargon is adding unnecessary complexity to the digital marketing landscape.
The top 10 buzzwords used by UK marketers:
- Strategic
- Specialised
- Creative
- Leadership
- Passionate
- Experienced
- Focused
- Enthusiastic
- Expert
- Track record
“Marketing is often an industry accused of using jargon,” said Henry Clifford-Jones, director of marketing solutions – UK, DE and ES at LinkedIn. “But it seems that many marketers are using buzzwords to market not only their products, but themselves too, and this means failing to do justice to their skills or achievements.
“Our members are better than buzzwords, and 2017 can be the year they start to show it, by making positive changes to their professional brand.”
