Chances are, you work at a prestigious institution, surrounded by noted faculty, engaged in innovative research that promises to leverage your school to its next level of excellence, thereby transforming the teaching and learning experience.

Visit any college website and you’ll likely find the same hackneyed, clichéd jargon used in an attempt to inform. Why is that? Because, like most disciplines, higher education favors words that are in vogue and we all want to fit in. We fear that if we don’t use them, viewers may pass us by. The other reason we use clichés is because by using them, we don’t have to think up better, more descriptive words to define who we are and what we do.

The problem is that clichéd words and phrases no longer inform. Because of their overuse, they become meaningless and tell the reader that your college is no different than the one across town. Eventually, these template words are abandoned because even the laziest writers come to realize they are counterproductive. Their message: this is an average school run by average people.

In their book, Why business people speak like idiots, the authors offer the following observation: “Companies, and the idiots who occupy them, just can’t seem to let their strengths speak for themselves. So they embellish and contour and augment things until they resemble one of those poor fools who’s made one too many trips to the plastic surgeon.”

And this suggestion from my mentor, Mark Twain: “I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English–it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them–then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.”

Do yourself a favor: take a fresh look at your marketing materials with a red felt pen. You’ll be glad you did, and so will your readers.

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