Every group, every profession, even every family has its own special words: Lingo. When you prepare marketing materials—email, print brochures and newsletters, web content—be sure you’re communicating in a language that the uninitiated will understand.

What do I mean by uninitiated? When I was becoming a fan of baseball, I was flummoxed by lingo such as Texas-league single, dinger, blooper, the other way, southpaw, and frozen rope. The more I learned about the game (initiated into its finer points by my college pal Jack, baseball’s biggest fan), the more fluent I became in baseball-ese.

Your business uses particular terms:  You know the meaning of each. Your audience might not! That’s when using lingo can get you into trouble.

Consider your audience

Is your target audience already familiar with your industry? If they’re initiated, you can use more lingo with less explanation. If you sell dental equipment to dentist, you don’t need to define plaque. If you’re a dentist communicating to your clientele, you do.

Take care if English isn’t the first language of many in your customers.  It’s normal for Americans to refer to aspects of our culture, but we’re using terms and references that mean nothing to someone who grew up on a different continent. References to sports (we’ll have to punt), movies and TV (beam me up!), and politics (whistle stop tour) can be puzzling to the non-native speaker.

Just explain it

You can explain your terms either simply within a sentence, or tidily in a footnote, or thoroughly in a glossary. For example: When plaque (an often-invisible biofilm) builds up on your teeth, it can harden into a mineral called tartar.

The first time you use an acronym, spell it out. I could tell you that I’m experienced in the preparation of CSI formatted documents. You might wonder if I’m writing TV scripts. I should instead clarify my meaning: I prepare documents that follow the CSI (Construction Specification Institute) formatting standard.

Be consistent

On the NBC Olympics web site, I read this: …if a skier does not qualify (DNF)…. Oops! DNF means did not finish. Sure, that means the skier did not qualify. But qualify and finish are not identical. Be consistent with your usage of terms, phrases and aconnyms. Don’t assume your reader will figure it out. They might not. And why should they?You’re trying to get your message across.

Be clear and consistent in how you use lingo. You’ll educate your reader and build their confidence that you’re an expert in your business.