In content marketing and in journalism, the word jargon has come to be used mostly as an insult. It’s a label that people put on unfamiliar language they dismiss as gibberish.

Jargon has another meaning, though, and it doesn’t have an inherently negative connotation: the specialized vocabulary or language that a profession or group uses. Often riddled with industry-specific acronyms and colloquialisms, industry jargon is difficult for outsiders to understand.

Content marketers contemplating whether to use that sort of jargon need to note whether their target audience is general and broad, or specialized and narrow.

If you’re targeting a general audience (say, you’re writing a beer commercial), you should comply with conventional wisdom and avoid jargon. But if you’re writing or speaking to a highly specialized group, as content developers are increasingly doing, you should consider embracing jargon.

Here are three things jargon can do for you

Don’t avoid jargon reflexively; first consider the following three criteria for useful jargon that can help make your content more effective.