I know, I know, I should have studied computer science at Stanford, but noooo, I had to go somewhere cold to study Shakespeare.

I’m not proud of it, but I did learn one thing that’s stuck with me: we have to be careful about the metaphors and descriptors we use.

If I ever wrote “this”/”that”/”these”/or “it” without explicitly saying what “it” was, you’d better believe I got marked down.

If I ever used a cliché/trope/or tired metaphor, there was zero chance of me getting an A.

Most of the people I work with today chose a much smarter path than me, pursuing medicine, computer science, or robotics instead of just arguing about triangles in Poe's "The Purloined Letter".

But today, when companies everywhere write about their products, they consistently use clichés/tropes/and tired metaphors. And AI is making things worse.

It’s certainly easy to say on your website that your product is like David vs. Goliath. But what does it mean? Are you aware of what, exactly, you are invoking when you say such things? And all of the baggage that comes along with it? The problem with most of us is that we don’t really think about the language that we use in our marketing; we just let auto-complete finish the sentence for us. And AI is the best auto-complete in town.

The quickest way to improve your messaging is to systematically go through and remove every cliché, every well-worn phrase, and everything you’ve heard before and start fresh. Describe the situation and problem as it really is. Instead of reaching for multiple old metaphors, try to create a new one that is uniquely yours.