• Marketing Framework

Law of
Platitudes

The more broadly acceptable, inoffensive, and consensus-driven a marketing message becomes, the less persuasive and differentiated it is in the market.

What everyone agrees with persuades no one.
Law of Platitudes

Why Platitudes Emerge

Platitudes are the natural outcome of organizational dynamics, not creative incompetence.

Consensus Optimization

Messaging is filtered through legal, brand, sales, executives, and agencies. Each pass removes risk, specificity, and tension. What survives is safe, vague, and unprovable.

False Universalism

Marketers attempt to appeal to “everyone.” Targeting broadens; meaning thins.

Internal Validation Bias

Statements sound reasonable to insiders. They reflect how the company wants to be perceived, not how buyers actually decide.

Fear of Exclusion

Strong positioning requires rejecting some buyers. Platitudes avoid this discomfort.

Common Platitudes in Marketing

These statements are not false—but they are non-actionable and non-differentiating.

  • “We put customers first”

  • “Innovative solutions for today’s challenges”

  • “High-quality service you can trust”

  • “Driving results that matter”

  • “Your partner for success”

  • “Tailored solutions for every business”

Every competitor can say the same thing without lying.

The Real Damage

The Economic Cost of Platitudes

Platitude-driven marketing produces predictable negative outcomes.

EffectBusiness Impact
No contrastHigher CPAs
Low recallWeak brand memory
Price competitionMargin compression
Sales dependencyOver-reliance on human persuasion
Long sales cyclesIncreased CAC
When messaging does not pre-sell differentiation, sales must compensate.

Get To The Opposite of a Platitude

1
Specific

Measurable, concrete, or time-bound

2
Risk-bearing

Implies tradeoffs or exclusions

3
Verifiable

Can be proven or disproven

4
Segmented

Only valid for a defined customer type

 

5
Opinionated

Takes a stance that competitors avoid

Example Contrast

Platitude

Campaign A [cite: 31]

250% ROI

“We deliver fast, reliable service.”

How to Escape the Law of Platitudes

Force Specificity

Require every core claim to pass this test: “Could a direct competitor say this without changing a word?” If yes, discard it.

Anchor Messaging to a Tradeoff

Strong brands are explicit about what they do not do.

Speak to One Buyer, Not Many

Write as if the message will repel the wrong audience.

Replace Adjectives with Mechanisms

“Powerful”how
“Flexible”in what way
“Scalable”to what limit

Introduce Proof, Not Promises

  Numbers   Constraints   Guarantees   Process Differentiation