In B2B marketing we are surrounded by jargon, buzzwords, and clever phrasing that makes us feel smart but often does the opposite for the people we most want to reach. So, in some ways, we are masters of our own frustration and only have ourselves to blame.
Confusion is the enemy of decision making. When your audience does not understand what you are saying, they stop listening, they stop engaging, and they choose someone simpler, clearer, and easier to work with.
Speaking the language of your customers is not about dumbing things down. It is about meeting them where they already are, using the words, explanations, and examples that make sense in their world.
Do this well and you may see an impact on sales cycles, build trust faster, and make your marketing feel like a conversation, not a lecture.
1. Listen to how your customers actually talk
Your customers are not experts in your product. They are experts in their own business. That distinction matters.
To speak their language, start by understanding how they describe:
Their problems
Their priorities
The outcomes they care about
The risks they worry about
The way they talk about suppliers and competitors
The fastest way to learn this is not dashboards. It is real conversations.
Sit in on sales calls.
Go to sales meetings (marketers are allowed believe it or not!).
Listen to discovery.
Read RFPs.
Review call transcripts.
Ask customers to explain things in their own words.
Write down the phrases they use. The metaphors. The shorthand. The emotional cues. This is the raw material your messaging should be built from.
2. Spend time in their world, not just your own
You do not become fluent in a language by reading a dictionary your French class. You become fluent by living in France for a while, hearing it used in context.
The same is true in B2B.
Attend the events your customers attend.
Read the publications they read.
Follow the people they follow.
Watch how they talk to each other when they are not being sold to.
Build your only relationships and rapport with clients too.
You will start to notice patterns. Certain words come up again and again. Certain problems are described in very specific ways. Certain phrases signal credibility and others trigger scepticism.
That is the difference between sounding like any other vendor and sounding like one of them.
3. Test whether your words really land
Once you start using your customers’ language, do not assume you have nailed it. Check.
Ask:
Does this phrase make sense to you?
Is this how you would describe the problem?
What would you call this in your world?
If people hesitate, rephrase, or translate your words back to you in different terms, that is a signal your language is still too internal.
4. Remove confusion to speed up decisions
Sometimes people do not engage because they are not sure what you mean, what you actually do, or how you are different. The more mental effort it takes to decode your message, the more risk it feels like to engage.
Strip out anything that requires explanation.
Replace jargon with familiar terms.
Swap abstract claims for concrete examples.
Say what you do in the words your customers already use.
Clarity is not simplistic. It is respectful. Crowbarring ‘optimizing efficiency’ is not.
5. Use the same language everywhere
Once you have earned fluency, use it consistently.
Website
Sales decks
Case studies
Emails
LinkedIn posts
Proposals
Onboarding
When the same words and ideas show up across every touchpoint, people feel understood. And when people feel understood, they trust faster.
6. Keep listening as language evolves
Markets shift. Priorities change. New pressures emerge. The language your customers use will evolve with them.
Build regular listening into your process.
Review calls.
Talk to customers.
Debrief with sales.
Sense check your messaging every quarter.
The goal is not to sound clever. It is to stay relevant.
Reality check
If your marketing sounds smarter than your customers, you are doing it wrong.
If your customers have to translate your language before they can engage, you are creating friction.
If you could substitute your product name for any other, you are wasting your time.
If your words reflect how they actually think and talk, you are making their lives easier.
That is what speaking your customers’ language really means.
Want help sense checking your messaging?
If you want help pressure testing your messaging, sense checking whether you are really speaking your customers’ language, or getting an outside view from people who have been on both sides of the table, get in touch. We can connect you with experienced B2B marketers who have lived the problems you are trying to explain and know what clarity actually looks like in the real world.
