It’s a competitive marketplace. Typos and avoidable errors may cause you not to be taken seriously. In your résumé, on your website, blog, your e-book or brochure – in any form of written communication. You should aim for perfection.
If you are going to spend the time and energy writing the words you should spend a little extra time polishing them. Especially when you are marketing yourself or your business. This is where it is extremely important to get it right. You can’t rely on the spell check on your word processing package. Here are some reasons why.
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Communication, in its many forms is a powerful tool, if used wisely. Bad communication, quite simply, equals bad customer service – which does not bode well for any business.
And, according to a recent BDO Service 2020 report, “30 per cent of Australian businesses will need to increase their customer service standards if they want to succeed in the coming decade.” A sobering thought.
So, where do you start in evaluating if you and your staff are serving your customers well?
Unless you are a large corporation, and even those companies need to consider this; you or your staff must answer the telephone personally, not with a recording that gives your valuable customers the option to press 1, 2 or 3 or to “please tell me in your own words what you are calling about today” only to be told, “sorry, I don’t understand you”. That reminds me of the ‘Sick of talking to a machine’ AAMI Insurance advertisement featuring ‘Moira’ whom the machine interpreted as being named ‘Moron’.
Social networking, in whatever sphere, needs a strategy which must be backed up by regular interaction and implemented with careful, considered and consumer-focused communication. Adopt a relaxed, informal approach but avoid being overly personal; remember it is your clients you are speaking to, not your best friend. As with all other business communication it needs to be free of spelling and grammatical errors – yes, even on Facebook!
An example of social media gone wrong was Qantas’ Twitter disaster last November. Clearly they forgot the golden rule of ‘client-focused’ when they attempted a ‘luxury’ promotion attempt just weeks after it had left thousands of travellers stranded.
Your website content should answer some (but not all) of your potential customers’ questions. It must:
- provide various alternative methods to contact you – email, phone, address – and make it obvious; don’t hide these contact options in some obscure place, a common and puzzling phenomenon that only serves to annoy web users
- be free of grammatical and spelling errors
- be well maintained with fresh content; nothing speaks louder than a website with old dates, information that is no longer relevant or links that don’t work
- avoid ‘industry speak’, which can creep into your business. Asking someone external to your business to write for you can eliminate this; a good writer will quickly identify industry speak and find better ways to say what needs to be said, in everyday language.
All of your written communication must be clear, concise, free of errors and most importantly respond to the customer request or query in a professional and helpful manner. It is important to always:
- double-check, before you send, for grammatical and spelling errors
- check the ‘tone’ is positive even if you feel the customer request may be frustrating or petty
- respond in a respectful manner.
Good customer service is all about clear, concise and customer-focused communication.
How well is your business communicating?
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So, you’ve spotted your perfect job. You know that you can do the job and do it well. You just need to get your foot in the door.
But your resume is outdated or doesn’t sufficiently reflect your current skills and abilities.
How do you create or update your resume to gain an interview?
Research
Find out as much as you can about the company and the industry of the advertised position. Check out the company’s website, Facebook and follow them on twitter. See if you can identify the employer’s hidden needs. Aim to solve those hidden needs in your resume and cover letter.
Reflect
Find a blank piece of paper and brainstorm your employment history, education, abilities, qualities and achievements – write down anything that comes into your mind under each of the topics. Identify the keywords that appear in the job advertisement and use them throughout the brainstorming exercise.
Relevance
Once you have it all down on paper, go back to each topic and think about what is relevant to your target job. Cross out anything that doesn’t relate. Sometimes a whole previous position may get crossed out; you don’t need to list everything – it is important to be relevant.
Refine
Arrange the topics into two sections – assertions (abilities, qualities, achievements) and evidence (jobs, education), structuring the text into clear, compelling and interesting sentences. Insert targeted keywords, identified from the job advertisement, which will get your prospective employer’s attention. Format into a professional document and above all proofread to make sure your resume is free of spelling or grammatical errors.
And remember the main question in the employer’s mind is “Why should I interview this person?” and “How is he or she different from the other applicants?”
Good luck! I hope this helps you create a compelling resume that says, “Hire me”.
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Your time is precious. Why fill it up with cumbersome chores that you could outsource? We have highlighted five important reasons why writing your own website content, advertising copy, important letters, press releases – pretty much anything with words… can be problematic for many reasons.
Avoiding industry speak
Within your business or industry you can very quickly become immune to industry speak. It becomes your everyday language, but to your potential clients is can seem like another language. Asking someone external to your business to write for you can eliminate this; a good writer will quickly identify industry speak and find better ways to say what needs to be said, in everyday language.
This is our thing
You may be a fantastic accountant, business coach, real estate agent, lawyer or hairdresser, but are you comfortable with writing? I certainly wouldn’t attempt to prepare my own tax, cut my own hair or represent myself in court; just as you may need someone to help with your communication – it allows you to get on with what you’re best at.
Content is king
You may have heard this phrase bandied around, but what does it really mean? It has never been more necessary than in today’s fast moving environment to ensure your online content is well written and effective, but also updated regularly to keep Google happy.
Polished communication is invaluable
Even though communication may not be your core business, and you may be thinking what does grammar have to do with your industry; errors and bad grammar can be really embarrassing… and make you look second-rate. I’ve heard of someone who was referring to the ‘Shifts’ that had taken place in the marketplace. Problem is, he left the ‘f’ out of ‘Shifts’ and posted it online. Woops.
Diligence and consistency
Sounds boring, and sometimes it is. Not everyone has the patience or the time to ensure consistent written communication, but the benefits are enormous. It could be as simple as creating a style guide and then referring to this for all your communication. This diligence pays off when you can use your “everyday” information in tenders and proposals because you have confidence in it. This approach will also save you and your staff time if there is a style guide to refer to allowing you to create a professional, consistent look.
Even if you feel comfortable writing, do you really have time for this? Would a fresh approach to your content help? Or even if you have already written something, maybe a ‘fresh set of eyes’ to proofread or edit will make all the difference.
What tasks within your business do you find really irritating, difficult and time-consuming? Can we help you?
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Same sounding words, different meanings – you can get away with it in speech, but in writing it’s another story.
If you’d like some simple explanations for the words that trouble many of us in everyday writing, you’ve come to the right place.
Stationery or Stationary?
There’s a little trick for this one. It has to do with paper and car…..
The word stationery means pens, pencils, paper, envelopes – and the best way to remember is to think stationery, think paper.
The word stationary means still, not moving. So if you think of a car being hit by a truck it is no longer moving, it is stationary. Think stationary, think car.
We will need to order some more wedding stationery. (paper)
You need to remain stationary to avoid being hit by the car. (stay still, think car)
So try to remember paper (stationery) and car (stationary). It has always helped me… I hope it helps you too.
To or Too?
How can one little “o” make so much difference? Well, it does and the easiest way to remember is to think of the extra “o” as excessive. Whenever you use the word “too” it usually means there is extra or additional of something, hence the use of the extra “o”.
When to use too?
There is too much information to pass on over the telephone, we must arrange a meeting. (excessive amount of information)
It is going to be too difficult to do that now, we will have to wait. (It is very difficult; and can you see how the singular ‘to’ is correct in the other instances in the sentence)
Mary will be joining us for dinner too. (Mary is also going to join us for dinner)
You have been late for work on too many occasions, there will now be consequences. (numerous occurrences of lateness, obviously too many for this employer)
Do you get the picture? Too is used when you are saying also, or that more is wanted or allowed.
To is used the rest of the time, unless of course it is the number two (2)!
Please let me know if you’ve found this helpful, or if there are other words you struggle to conquer. And stay tuned for my next blog on the use of apostrophe s (’s); or subscribe to receive notification by email.
If you’d like to find out about when and when not to use the dreaded apostrophe you’ve come to the right place.
In this blog, we’ll cover those that seem, in my experience, to cause the most angst.
It’s vs Its
When to use it’s – with an apostrophe
It’s is only ever used when you want to say “it has” or “it is”. So, when writing it’s, you need to be able to say “it is” or “it has” where you have placed the apostrophe. If you can’t, then remove the apostrophe.
Some examples for the correct use of it’s
It’s time for lunch. (It is time for lunch)
It’s my birthday. (It is my birthday)
It’s been very difficult. (It has been very difficult)
When to use its – with no apostrophe
The correct use of its is in a possessive sense, indicating that something belongs to the subject of the sentence.
Some examples of when to use its
The jury has reached its decision. (meaning the decision, belonging to the jury, has been made)
The dog has lost its collar. (meaning the collar, belonging to the dog, has been lost)
And as for its’ – it’s never correct! Don’t use it.
Now, to explain you’re and your.
Contractions, such as you’re, always use an apostrophe to replace the omitted letters, so basically whenever you use an apostrophe in you’re it means “you are”.
Your is written like this when you want to say the word without saying “are”.
The following sentences are examples of saying the same thing but with the differing use of your and you’re.
It has taken a long time, but your English is improving. (do not want to add “are”, hence your is correct)
It has taken a long time, but you’re grasping the English language well now. (it makes sense to say “you are”)
And, if you placed the opposite you’re or your in the above sentences, they would not make sense or be grammatically correct.
Please let me know if you’ve found this helpful, or if there are other words you struggle to conquer, either with apostrophe use or just generally.
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Examine your website content - is it top quality?
Your website and its content may be the first (and last) impression an online visitor may have of your business.
1. Are online visitors able to navigate easily around your website, and not churn through countless levels to find out information?
2. Can they scan your website and find out what they need? Website visitors only read 25% of what is online, so make it easy for them to get the information they need, quickly and without fuss.
3. Is the content on your website easy to read and targeted at your potential clients? Does it answer their questions? Can it be written in a more effective way?
4. Is there a call to action on every page – have you given your visitors a reason to contact you? Having answered most of your visitor’s questions, the next step should be for them to contact you or place an order.
5. Is your content error free? Content with grammatical errors gives a bad impression of your business. Do you need to have someone who hasn’t spent a lot of time on your website, to give it the once over with a ‘fresh set of eyes’?
Share on FacebookSpending some time assessing the content of your website, or enlisting someone to provide an unbiased assessment of your website can be a vital step toward improving your business.
Tweak Communications exists to help your business communicate.
We genuinely love words. Writing is our passion and when we see easily avoidable errors in business communication, we cringe and just want to fix it!
I am about to begin a series of blogs in various areas of communication – proofreading and editing tips, clearing up those tricky words, website content tips, and ideas for optimising your online presence. Continue reading
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