As a new veteran entrepreneur, you have much to learn as you develop and grow your new business. One of the critical things veteran businesses sometimes struggle with is the terminology used outside the military--with people inside the company, such as employees or investors, and with people outside the company, such as suppliers or customers.

But that’s to be expected. After all, many former service members spent numerous years serving the nation and were trained to communicate using very specialized lingo. This manner of speaking usually involved three-letter acronyms and military-specific terminology and jargon.

Here are a few examples of military terms and their civilian translations:

Unless you own a veteran-to-veteran business, not speaking your civilian customers’ language can make it challenging to connect and do business with them. To win more customers, you must learn to speak their language.

The Right Language for Veteran Businesses  

To win over civilian customers in your new business, put yourself in the shoes of someone with no military background. Review your language in all communications channels—from your website and marketing materials to emails, phone calls and sales presentations.

Let’s look at two examples of translating military into civilian language to help veteran businesses win customers.

Example 1

     Military speak: “Our unit commands an AO much larger than our enemy.”

     Likely reaction:

• Is there a war on?
• What’s a unit? An AO?
• What does this have to do with me?
• Is this supposed to be impressive? I have no idea.

     Civilian speak: “Our company has a much larger market share than our competition in this industry.”

     Likely reaction:

• This company is an industry leader. We like that.
• This level of success demonstrates consistent growth and market recognition.
• This company seems like a more reliable choice than its competition.

Example 2

     Military speak: “Our asymmetric technology provides your subordinates with the ability to red team your force management along multiple lines of effort, thereby enabling mission accomplishment.”

     Likely reaction:

• “Subordinates?” Is this person from 1950?
• Is “asymmetric technology” a good thing?
• “Red team?” “Force management?” “Lines of effort?”
• What should this mean to me? I’m very confused.

     Civilian speak: “Our technology provides a competitive advantage by automating your ability to plan for contingencies in all aspects of your business, thus helping to improve your profit margin.”

     Likely reaction:

• Now I get it. Their product helps me do more with less.
• I like this. I’m all about improving our profit margin.
• This will help me beat my competition.

To succeed as a veteran entrepreneur, you’ll need to learn to communicate in a way that appeals to your employees, prospects, customers, investors, and vendors. You may need to learn a new language—the language of business. Meet your audience on their playing field. They’re not going to take the time to understand you—take the time to understand them and communicate in a manner that resonates with them.

Using Effective Terminology for Results

The good news is that there are many resources veteran entrepreneurs can use to understand and implement the terms that civilians will be more comfortable with. To ensure you’re using the correct terminology consistently and effectively, here are a few thoughts and resources that will help:

• Brand Identity
  • Start by determining the visual and emotional representation you want your business to reflect, which is your brand identity. Then, use that to influence your language choices.
  • Deploy this language everywhere applicable to ensure consistency in your messaging. You may want to use it on anything from business cards, flyers, stickers, and apparel to digital collateral, such as your website, social media, radio, or TV ads.
  • Investigate what kind of language your competitors or industry leaders are using. Consider what language resonates with your target customers, suppliers, investors, and employees. What words do you hear people using in advertisements, and what appears to be working well?
• Professional Networks
  • Leverage your professional networks for best practices. Have industry insiders, including SCORE business mentors, review your materials to ensure they have their intended effect.
• Communications
  • Use Grammarly, Hemingway, Ginger or similar tools to proofread your materials.
  • Consider asking any civilians on your team to draft your communications until you feel comfortable doing so yourself.
  • If you have sufficient funds, consider engaging a marketing professional or a publicist. If you don’t have such funds, consider hiring a freelance marketer. You can look on Fiverr, Upwork or Freelancer to find freelance web designers and graphic artists who’ll create marketing materials inexpensively.

After leaving the military, one of the challenging hurdles that service members face is learning to translate their skills and experience into their next venture. Pursuing an entrepreneurial career entails additional challenges in understanding the business language and communicating effectively with customers and other stakeholders. Diligently tapping into the tips and resources presented here can help your veteran-owned company resonate with a civilian target market—and successfully grow.