What type of language do you use for business writing?

Had an interesting discussion this morning with a client.  They are a voluntary organisation wanting a marketing booklet.

Now I’ve written for the voluntary sector several times in the past few years and what generally drives me mad about the jobs is the jargon they use.  It’s bad enough when it’s contained in annual reports and such.  But when they want to use it in marketing documents I really struggle with the jobs.

That’s because people on the whole don’t speak all the time in jargon.  And often when they do, they couldn’t define accurately many of the terms they use.  If you’re writing to people whose first language may not be English, or they’re not too confident in written English, jargon can be offputting at best and terrifying at worst.

The audience for any writing is key.  If you have to impress them by including the jargon so be it.  But please for the rest of us, clear, simple, English please.