ABSTRACT
Individuals who talk as or on behalf of organisations too often use a dialect of English no human has ever uttered. Seven reasons are identified as behind this, from time pressure to organisational structure, poor planning to the language of statistics. The division of business into B2B and B2C (business-to-business and business-to-consumer) is said to be false; all communication should be H2H, or human-to-human. Knowing your audience means observing and following the principles of the Cocktail Party Rule and talking about what’s interesting to your audience - and not all about yourself. This is what's behind the rise and rise of subject-driven content marketing. The chapter concludes with examples of strong, human-sounding communication from organisations and businesses.
