What is the impact of inconsistent terminology management in companies on us, consumers?

Creating a strong, consistent corporate identity is the most effective way for business success. In order to get new consumers and keep existing ones, a company needs to grab their attention by means of an active marketing approach, which includes an eye-catching product and/or service branding strategy. When communicating with clients, it is of foremost importance to choose the right words and any other non-verbal means of communication, so that consumers can remember the brand and relate it with the products and/or services of that specific company.

Consumers however also need other type of information – usage and problem solving related. This brings us to technical documentation, where documents such as guides, specifications, reports, online help and even marketing material are included. All these documents are part a knowledge base that, in particular without consistent use and management of terminology, can be misused, the information in it misunderstood, and may even lead to business failure.

Within a company, terminology – and the need of terminology management – is present at different levels. One can identify at least three: corporate terminology – as part of communication in and among companies; process terminology – used in the communication by the different players that take part in the production of a product or service; and product and/or service terminology – which follows the whole product lifecycle, from development to marketing.

Terminology is not necessarily about creating each and every word that a company uses. It is a communication process that includes management and control of key terms that constitute the corporate identity. The use of consistent, precise and adequate to target audience terminology within and outside the company – from the engineer to the end-user – is therefore essential to make proof of and guarantee the quality of a company’s products or services, and, as a consequence to its success. More.

See: TermCoord

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