I'm tired of "solutions"
A few weeks ago I was given some copy for a website I'm working on. They were asking how they should change the wording to get better search engine placement. One thing that stood out was how often they used the word "solution". Who even googles for "solution"?!
It seems to be the popular new approach in business nowadays. You don't treat people as customers wanting to buy products anymore. You have "relationships" with people looking for "solutions" for their "problems".When I hear the word "solution" (speaking as a former chemistry major) I think of solvents, solutes and precipitates--a "business solution" is business dissolved in water. What I think is odd about the whole thing is that it presupposes that there is a problem (and that people are just bundles of problems looking for "solutions"). For example, if you have HP Solutions doesn't that imply that there are a lot of HP problems out there? It gets even more ridiculous. If I have juniper problems does that mean I need Juniper Solutions? What is a "juniper problem" anyway? How many people are thinking to themselves: "I have a problem--a real juniper problem--I wonder if I can find any juniper solutions online"?
Maybe I'm a little too independence-minded. I don't think I have a lot of "problems". I don't think I need to pay businesses money to solve the problems I do have for me. I just have things I'd like to do.
And sometimes I need to buy some products to do those things.