5 Digital Marketing Buzzwords We All Pretend To Understand (But Don’t)

Digital marketing is full of words that get thrown around in meetings, strategy decks, and pitches. We nod, smile, and even repeat them in conversations… but do we really know what they mean? When we mindlessly mouth off that "the synergy for our 360-degree campaign is going to disrupt the movers and shakers of our industry," what the heck are we actually saying?!?

If none of that made sense to you, but you pretended you did anyways, this one's for you. Let’s count them down.

5. Synergy

What It Really Means: Two things working together to create more value than they would alone.

When things are synergistic, they tend to enhance each other.

What We Think It Means: “If I say this, you’ll believe we actually have a plan.”

Sometimes, the two things we claim are synergistic actually aren't. But because the idea sounds so wild and "synergy" is such a sexy word, some bad ideas end up sounding better than they ought to.

How We Often Misuse It: “Let’s put the interns together with the influencers. Boom — synergy!”

Yeah, no. That's a recipe for disaster.

Instead, We Should Say: “These campaigns complement each other really well.”

It's that simple. Bonus points if we show exactly how.

4. Disruptive

What It Really Means: Something that changes the game in an industry.

That's literally not something you expect to come up with in the middle of a meeting that should've been an email instead.

What We Think It Means: “This TikTok dance is going to overthrow capitalism."

You actually might be confusing that with something going viral. Viral trends are not necessarily disruptive. Especially not with our current attention spans.

How We Often Misuse It: “Our new logo is disruptive.” (No, it’s just purple now.)

Disruptive to good taste, maybe. To the industry? Not so much.

Instead, We Should Say: “This approach is different enough to grab attention.”

That's what you probably meant in the first place.

3. Viral

What It Really Means: Content that spreads rapidly and organically across platforms.

There are levels to this stuff.

What We Think It Means: “Anything with 10k views in 24 hours is viral.”

If that's your norm, congrats! Great numbers, but they're not necessarily viral, especially if you boosted them.

How We Often Misuse It: “This birthday greeting video went viral in our office Slack.”

If it came with a message saying "I Love You," maybe we'd believe it. #MyAgeIsShowing

Instead, We Should Say: “This performed really well compared to our usual reach.”

That's a good metric to measure by, and far more meaningful than just calling something "viral."

2. Low-Hanging Fruit

What It Really Means: Easy wins or opportunities that don’t require much effort.

They're low-hanging, thus easy to get.

What We Think It Means: “I sound strategic if I say this.”

Unfortunately, some people forget the "easy" part, and assume that if it's likely the first thing people would think about, then it's "low-hanging."

How We Often Misuse It: “Focus on the low-hanging fruit so you can win big accounts.”

How, eactly? Non sequitur (Oh, no, Latin! That's another article for another day.)

Instead, We Should Say: “Here are some quick, simple improvements we can do first.”

It reminds people that the reason we go after low-hanging fruit is so we can do them first. Figure out what we should do first, and the rest should follow.

1. Move the Needle

What It Really Means: To make a measurable impact.

You'd think this is self-explanatory, but you'd be surprised.

What We Think It Means: “Something important is happening, but I can’t explain it.”

More often than not, people talk about moving the needle in ways that are actually intangible. This is literally the exact opposite of the meaning of the expression - just like the word "literally."

How We Often Misuse It: “The font change on our website really moved the needle.”

If you don't follow this with the "how," this is all pure sophistry.

Instead, We Should Say: “This will actually improve sales, awareness, or engagement.”

It's ultimately important to say what particular needle is being moved, rather than pretending everyone will just get it.

The Wrap-Up

At the end of the day (Look, there’s another one!), these buzzwords aren’t useless. They’re just overused. If you can cut through the jargon (We wanted to use a stronger word here, but this is a family-friendly site.) and explain your ideas in plain English, you’re already one step ahead of the game. Would you really lose a client just because you didn’t say “synergy” in the middle of a presentation?

Probably not. So live a little, and be more purposeful with what you say. Here at 14:59, we’d love to help you with your digital marketing needs, all without drowning you in buzzwords. Hit us up, and let’s synergi… err, make something great happen together!