Shelagh Jones – What do Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation have to do with Spiritual Marketing?

I received an email from a well-known UK business coach, inviting me to a live two-day event.

The headline screamed at me:

FREE SEMINAR SHOWS YOU HOW TO IMPROVE YOU MARKETING RESULTS

I was triggered, I acknowledge it.

I love the English language. I delight in its complexity, its vast vocabulary and its vagaries.

I hate errors of this sort – be they caused by ignorance, carelessness or inattention.

As I glanced down the rest of the email I found a further two glaringly obvious spelling mistakes (Novembe, genertaed) and seven errors of grammar and punctuation in just a few hundred words of text.

Later the same day, I received in the post an attractive postcard advertising the business of a website designer that I know well and have worked with in the past. It had been sent from the US at a cost of $1 making the total cost to her of close to $3.

The headline on this card read:

Need a Domain Name of Hosting?

I was triggered again.

For me, the messages of both the email and the (expensive!) postcard were lost.

Given my value of accurate use of the English language, I was off and running with my own thoughts…

Why didn’t they take greater care? Did they not check – or not notice? And on and on…

Those two incidents have definitely affected how I will decide to work with those people in future – particularly the web designer because I now have a niggling doubt about her ability and desire to deliver accurate work.

The reason I am writing about this is that I was intrigued by the strength of my reaction to those two incidents.

At first I thought it was all about the errors themselves.

But then I realised that in both cases it was the disconnect with my values that caused the upset.

And this reminded me of the great power that there is in connecting through shared values, which is what we do as Spiritual Marketers.

I know that there are many people who do not place the same value as me on correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. They might not have even noticed the errors, and would probably have ignored them.

But I also know that I work most happily with people who share that value, and demonstrate it in how they market to me.

So remember – if you want to get my attention in a good way, make sure you check your copy!

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  • http://www.rarecreativegroup.com Steve Beaumont

    What a great way to articulate ideals and standards. I agree with every point made and I'm speaking from a lack of knowledge and attention to detail in this area. I'll have several people check my writing, and still fear the final result will be incorrect. But what I have found is that some people are attracted to us by what we say, and some in how we say it. We cannot win them all over. I'll take what I get, as I have too much to do in any case. Hvae a greet day know!

  • http://www.kayross.co Kay Ross

    I completely agree. If a company's marketing materials are badly written, that tells me that the company's attention to detail in every other part of its business is poor too. Like you, I'm obsessive and passionate about good writing (not just in terms of spelling and grammar, but more importantly in terms of marketing effectiveness). I recently received a very badly written e-mail from a corporate training company that claims to be “world-class”. Its website was also very badly written and user-unfriendly. I pointed this out to the boss of the company, and he said it was because they didn't have enough time or money to do the task properly. What? And they want to be seen as world-class?! It drives me nuts when a company is not willing to invest in writing/editing good marketing material – they're shooting themselves in the foot. So when the boss of this company asked me to attend one of their workshops and to recommend the company to my friends, I said: “No, I'm sorry, in all good conscience I can't do that.”

  • http://www.MariaAnnell.com Maria Annell

    I completely agree, Shelagh! And being a “foreigner” to most of the text I write or am exposed to, I need to be even more careful! Sometimes I definitely feel like _I_ care more about the language than the people of whom it's the mother tongue…

    Spell-checkers around the world – unite! :)

  • http://www.nokonwood.co.uk Cheryl

    In principle I agree with everything said. However, as my husband and brother both struggle with dislexia in different degrees I would like to some consideration for their bravery in “speaking” up in the world of the online communication. Yes I agree that it is wise to have text proof read before it goes out in marketing circles, but if this is a spiritual debate, consider the lack of spirituality in the criticism.

  • http://internetnetworkmarketing-training.com/members Julieanne van Zyl

    Hi Shelagh, it's funny how attention to grammar has changed so much since we started using computers to write our letters etc. If the software editor doesn't put a red line under it, a lot of people don't take any notice. And, software editors can't possibly edit everything because they don't always know the “meaning” of the sentence.

    I just read Cheryl's comment and I don't think Shelagh is referring to ordinary day to day communication, I think she's referring to marketing material. So please Cheryl, keep speaking!!

  • SpiritusShelagh

    I must echo what Julieanne says above, Cheryl!

    I was absolutely referring to professional communications, not the personal interactions we have on blogs, Forums, Facebook etc.

    In my passion to say something, I often make mistakes in these situations (and I do wish DisQus had a spell check!)

    But a sales letter or any other business communication is totally different.

    And thank you for pointing out the struggle of the dyslexic – I appreciate the reminder. It must take courage to “speak out”.


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