Chris Sheen, Director of Social at Celonis stops by the Radically Transparent podcast to tackle one of the most common and often overlooked pitfalls in B2B marketing – jargon. With humor and candor, Chris discusses how marketing teams, despite their best intentions, often fall into the trap of using overused phrases that dilute their message and bore their audience, and how to stop it.
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Episode summary
Let’s be real—no one grows up dreaming of becoming a B2B marketer, much less one that churns out the same tired, soulless jargon day after day. Yet here we are, fully possessed by the “thrilled to announce” demon every time we sit down at a keyboard. We’ve all done it: launching a new partnership? Thrilled to announce. Won an award? Thrilled to announce. Got a big event coming up? You guessed it—thrilled to announce. It’s like the moment you enter the B2B world, the creativity switch flips off, and out comes the autopilot jargon machine. If you’re cringing right now, you’re not alone.
In this episode, Chris Sheen of Celonis gets radically transparent about how B2B marketers, often unconsciously, adopt jargon like “thrilled to announce” or similar phrases, even when they never intended to. Chris argues how these phrases, while safe, can make your marketing feel stale and disconnected.
He uncovers the importance of avoiding cliché language that fails to engage your audience and shares different ways he encourages his team to keep content engaging and relevant to break free from boring jargon, one being using Banned Keywords in Oktopost’s Social Media Management solution to ensure nobody is ever “thrilled to announce” big news. Chris also reveals a few practical tips on crafting authentic and creative messaging that not only stands out but engages your audience.
Hot topics
- The Jargon Trap: How overused industry jargon is tanking your message—and how to ditch the clichés.
- Why Less is More: Chris reveals how short, punchy messaging made Celonis unforgettable.
- The Art of Messaging: Chris tackles the tightrope of risk-taking in marketing and how to reap rewards while dodging disaster.
Meet Chris
As the Director of Social at Celonis, Chris Sheen is on a mission to break the mold of traditional B2B marketing. With over a decade of experience leading marketing teams, Chris has a proven track record of driving growth, innovation, and customer experience for B2B software companies.
Chris is passionate about creating content that not only captures attention but also inspires, educates, and entertains. Believing that most B2B marketing is far too boring and unoriginal, Chris leads a talented team at Celonis to build brands that people love and relate to, using the power of storytelling to make a real impact.
For Chris, great marketing isn’t just about pushing products—it’s about making people stop, smile, and think.
