Words are powerful. You might not be aware of it, but whenever you’re communicating with customers or potential customers, you are trying to tap into this power. When you write your brochure, your signage or your website, you’re choosing your words carefully because you want to persuade and entice people. “We do plumbing,” for instance, is not quite as appealing as “We are reliable and efficient plumbers.” It’s all about creating a favourable perception in the mind of the reader. So if you’re going to be careful picking your words, you’ll want to be just as careful with the way you arrange them – that’s grammar.

I sometimes get myself in trouble by admitting that I do draw certain conclusions about a business that has spent good money on a sign or an advertisement but hasn’t bothered to get it checked. (I’m including spelling mistakes here along with punctuation and grammar.) You might think that I am just too fussy for my own good, or that I’m one-of-a-kind, but you’d be surprised how many people out there are just like me!

OK, so I’m probably not going to be too worried about the chicken shop that sells ‘Chicken at its’ best’, or the grocer who sells ‘Plumbs 3$ a kilo’. But when it comes to products or services that require real attention to detail, it might be a different story. Would I shy away from a tiler whose huge (expensive) billboard refers to ‘maintenence’ services? Or the hairdresser who offers ‘ladies and mens’ haircuts – all you’re styling needs’? Well yes, to be honest, I might.

It’s not about making mistakes – we all do that. It’s about the subtle message that is given out when you find errors in writing that is meant to be attracting customers. The message I get is that the person just couldn’t be bothered to check their accuracy. These errors whisper to me that they don’t care too much about getting things exactly right.

So what can you do to avoid this situation, if you want to attract customers who care about this stuff? Lots of Australians were never taught grammar at school, so for many of us, it’s even harder than it should be! It’s never too late to learn, but if you need a quick solution to help you get your writing right, here are some suggestions...

• Proofreading is really difficult. If you want to do it properly, you need to set aside some time. Try and give yourself a break between writing something and proofreading it.
• Reading out loud can help you to check if you’ve missed any words and to make sure all your punctuation is in the right place.
• Reading from the bottom of the document and working your way up, one sentence at a time, is a great way to slow yourself down, and will get around the common problem of reading what you think you’ve written, rather than what you’ve actually written.
• If you’re not sure that you’ll be able to spot problems in your own work, you’ll need help. Asking a friend or colleague to check your writing is a great way to pick up typos and small errors, because someone else will spot them instantly, even if that person not a ‘grammar guru’.
• Treat with caution grammar checks and spelling checks in word processing software! They will not pick up every mistake and sometimes might lull you into a false sense of security. Even worse, they might make you feel paranoid about things that are not actually incorrect.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Natasha Reddrop has qualifications in psychology & adult education and is the brains behind Grammar Debugged.  She can be contacted through her website or at natasha@grammardebugged.com.au