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Note: Below is a guest post from my good friend Mike Billeter. I’ve been following Mike on Twitter for about 2 years now and have had some great conversations with him about rap music and marketing, which is why this post totally makes sense. Mike is a very positive person and I highly recommend that you add him to your network. Thanks for the post Mike.

I’m a huge fan of rap music. Correction: I’m a huge fan of good rap music. Thoughtful, intelligent rap music that makes you think and doesn’t revolve around the “money, cars, girls” mindset.

But a large number of people don’t even have the patience for good, positive rap music. One reason for this is that, to an outsider, trying to understand rap lyrics is like trying to follow a foreign film without subtitles.

When you don’t speak the language, you can piece together what is happening, but, for the most part, the details wash right over your head. And when details wash right over your head, you stop caring. Or you decide that you “just don’t like it” because it’s too hard to understand.

This is a problem we tend to forget about as marketing professionals when talking with our clients. When discussing online strategy, it’s easy for us talk about all the reasons to “engage” online. What we forget is that explaining “that Dell sold $3 million dollars worth of products through Twitter” will just make some clients ask why selling computers should matter at all to their real estate company or non-profit charity organization.

Similarly, we’ll explain how “joining the conversation” on a Facebook fan page while running pay-per-click ads to send them to a splash page with embedded Twitter feeds and video players and a blog (that they’ll have to maintain) will let them build a solid foundation of supporters. And THAT will help them earn a profit. In the long run.

And how do they usually respond? Often times it’s a hesitant, “Ok…I guess that makes sense” or a confused “What does click per pay mean?” Or worse, your jargon-laden explanation results in a “Why can’t we just stick with TV and radio spots?”

The point? When you fail to explain things clearly and thoroughly, your ideas and strategies wash right over their heads and they assume they don’t like the plan. Not because the ideas are bad, but because, as non-insiders, clients don’t understand what you’re saying and would rather stick with whatever keeps them comfortable.

It’s your job to guide clients with your insight in the marketing/PR/social media industry. It’s also your job to make sure they understand what you recommend and why. Not an easy challenge to undertake, but success in this business doesn’t come easy. If you do your job well, you’ll have a satisfied client who understands and approves of your plan.

If you don’t do your job well, you might as well walk into a meeting and blast Jay-Z or Snoop Dogg for 10 or 15 minutes. Because, for some clients, brushing the dirt of your shoulders and rocking the hizzle for shizzle makes about as much sense as embeddable Facebook fan page widgets or hosting a tweet-up.

What do you think? How do you get over the hurdle of insider language to help clients understand? Are there any consistently problematic areas you face when presenting online marketing strategies to clients? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and we might be able to help each other out.

Mike Billeter is the Offensive Coordinator and Director of Content at Deep Bench, a marketing research and strategy firm out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @mikebilleter http://www.twitter.com/mikebilleter. For more on Deep Bench, visit www.thedeepbench.com.