Agencies love their buzzwords.
Most don’t know what the words even mean.
I love etymology.
Not in a crossword-puzzle kind of way, more in a why-did-we-start-calling-it-that-in-the-first-place kind of way.
In agency land, words are our tools. We pitch, position, persuade, using words that have often drifted miles from their original meaning.
That drift is usually where the positioning problem starts.
Here are five of the worst offenders.
1. Agency - Latin: agere - “to act, to do” 1
An agency was meant to act on behalf of a client, to move things forward.
Somewhere along the way, most became order-takers.
We stopped acting and started billing.
If you describe yourself by outputs; ads, posts, campaigns, you’re not an agency.
You’re a vending machine.
Positioning lesson:
Sell the action you take on the client’s behalf, not the stuff you crank out.
2. Campaign - Latin: campania - “field of battle” 1
A campaign was a coordinated military push to win ground.
Now it’s what we call three LinkedIn posts and a webinar.
If you’re not trying to capture market share, open a new vertical, or defend territory, you’re not running a campaign.
You’re just keeping the ad account warm.
Positioning lesson:
Stop selling “activities.” Sell the battle you’re going to win.
3. Brand - Old Norse: brandr - “to burn, to sear”1
A brand was a mark burned in; a permanent sign of ownership.
Most agencies and SaaS founders still treat brand like a mood board.
Fonts, colours, a tagline.
The truth is, your brand is the mark you leave in someone’s head; how they describe you to someone else after you’ve left the room.
If all you change is the surface, you’re not branding.
You’re redecorating.
Positioning lesson:
Make sure the thing you’re burning in is the promise, not the palette.
4. Niche - Old French: nicher - “to make a nest”1
A niche isn’t a limitation; it’s a nest, somewhere built for you to thrive.
Most agencies think niching down means saying no to opportunity.
In reality, it’s saying no to the wrong opportunities.
It’s the place where every project compounds your expertise.
Positioning lesson:
If you don’t have a niche, you don’t have a home.
You’re just a bird hoping for crumbs in someone else’s territory.
5. Pitch - Old English/Latin: pic/pix - “tar or resin used to seal”
A pitch was about sealing something watertight.
Now it’s what we call a 40-slide deck full of half-baked ideas.
A good pitch doesn’t throw spaghetti at the wall.
It binds the client to your point of view and seals the deal.
Positioning lesson:
Your pitch isn’t about options.
It’s about making the relationship stick.
Closing Thought
Words used to mean something.
They still do, if you let them.
If you call it a campaign, fight for something.
If you say you’re an agency, act on your client’s behalf.
If your brand doesn’t leave a mark, you don’t have one.
And if your pitch isn’t sealing the deal, it’s just a presentation.
At Waye, we help agencies and SaaS companies build campaigns, brands, and pitches that actually live up to the words we use, because when you understand the true sense of a word, you either rise to meet it or stop using it altogether.
P.S. The word etymology comes from the Greek etymon (“true sense”) and logia (“study of”). Literally, the study of the true meaning of words.
Disclaimer:
Etymology isn’t destiny, words evolve. The roots here are historically accurate, but the lessons are metaphorical, not strict definitions.
1 Agency: From Latin agere (“to do, act”), via Medieval Latin agentia → Old French → English.Source: Etymonline – Agency
1 Campaign: From Latin campus (“field”) → Late Latin campania (“open country”) → French campagne → English military sense “military operations in the field.”
Source: Etymonline – Campaign
1 Brand: Old English brand / Old Norse brandr (“firebrand, burning piece of wood”); later “to burn a mark for ownership.”
Source: Etymonline – Brand
1 Niche: French niche (“recess, alcove”), possibly from Old French nichier (“to nest”) related to Latin nidus (“nest”).
Source: Etymonline – Niche
1 Pitch: Old English pic from Latin pix (“tar, resin”); the sticky/sealing sense led to figurative meanings. “Sales pitch” emerges around the 1940s.
Source: Etymonline – Pitch