When you were little--when you were just learning to put on makeup or style your hair--did you ever run out the door without that last look in the mirror? And, once you were at school, you found out that your makeup was smudged or your hair was just chaos? Now, hopefully you discovered your dishevelment before your classmates did; but if you are like most of us, you probably didntand embarrassment was the likely result. Imagine how much trouble just one quick glance in the looking glass can spare us! Details in marketing matter. Your marketing face to your customer, your Package, is vital. You wouldnt wear a stained shirt on a sales call, right? One of our favorite copywriters, Ann Kozak, points out that the nastiest damage a typo or a misspelled word inflicts isnt the damage to our company image. Granted, that is bad enough, but it is not the worst. Typos interrupt the understanding of our message. Your marketing message needs to move the prospect towards some desired action: picking up the phone, visiting your website, or stopping by your store. But for a few precious seconds the typo or misspelled word delays your prospect on that journey toward the desired action. Her brain stops for the typo, then re-routes the information and processes it correctly. You cant afford these slowdowns. You especially cant afford these slowdowns in our speeded-up world of decision-making and advertising overload--not to mention instant decisions based on first-impressions. No matter how good at self-proofing you become, your own mistakes are hardest to spot. Most of us are fated to repeat certain writing gaffes over and over. We can burn some of these bad habits out of our systems through vigilantly double-checking our work against a good writing manual; others we seem forever blind to. This is why it is critical to tag-team written marketing communications. You need to have both a writer and an editor or; at minimum, a proofreader. Its no different than having somebody else give you their perspective on a picture you are hanging. You are just too close to be able to see it clearly to insure it is level. It is the same with your marketing communications. But prior to submitting your work to your associate for review, its helpful to have an aid to assist you in reviewing your own work. The Elements of Business Writing is an aid like that bathroom mirror; use it to spot-check your work while its still in process. Remember: Brand (who you are) + Package (your Face to the Customer) + People (customers and employees) = Marketing Success. 2006 Marketing Hawks |
