Sloppy copy: why correct spelling, grammar and punctuation matter

Posted on October 31, 2022

It’s Halloween today and in the spirit of the occasion, I’m going to dive headfirst into something which gives me the shivers virtually every single day. Sloppy copy! That’s right, bad spelling, punctuation and grammar are collectively the bane of my life and it makes scrolling through social media a scary experience for a word nerd. But does it really matter if you mix up peak and peek, or shove in an apostrophe when it’s not needed? Let’s take a closer look at sloppy copy in marketing…

I absolutely understand why sloppy copy happens.

My job , day in, day out, is to write words. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t have at least a half decent grasp of English and I’m learning more about the nuances of writing every single day. But what about people who run their own business and are carving out precious time to write content? There are lots of amazing business owners out there who are fantastic at what they do – designing clothes, opening shops, baking cakes, creating art, training horses, crunching numbers, putting on events – but they struggle with writing.

Writing well and understanding the complexities of the English language are not skills that everyone possesses, and that’s 100% okay. There are loads of reasons why people struggle with writing, from lack of confidence and a poor vocabulary to rubbish teaching methods at school or dyslexia. This blog is NOT laughing at bad writing. It’s looking at whether it matters if your posts feature the occasional blooper and how to prevent it happening – and how to avoid falling into a trap with online service providers.

Does it matter if you don’t know the rules of writing?

There’s an argument to say that social media is the best place to speak to customers in their own language, warts (bloopers) and all. The legendary godfather of advertising David Ogilvy once said (and this was many years before social media):

“I don’t know the rules of grammar. If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language.”

Indeed, some of the most famous adverts and taglines break the rules of the English language, usually for one or both of the following reasons – for impact when the copy is read out loud or to give the copy an eye-catching visual layout. However, it’s worth noting that to break the rules deliberately you need to know the rules first. Breaking them by mistake isn’t so clever, and here’s why.

The risks of sloppy copy

There are some hefty risks to having sloppy copy in your marketing, and I think they outweigh the potential benefits. Plus, there’s a big difference between a tagline which is deliberately breaking writing rules to grab your attention or amuse you and a sloppy spelling mistake. Here are those risks:

In a large communications study, the brand behaviour which was found to annoy people most of all was bad grammar and spelling. Do you want to annoy your potential customers? I doubt it very much!
Poor writing impacts the accessibility of your marketing message. To put it simply, this is when the writing is so bad the reader struggles to understand what you mean or what action you want them to take. Ouch.
Customers and investors can judge bad writing as a sign that a company takes a careless, sloppy attitude to everything it does, including service delivery or product quality. Double ouch.

So, a potential customer could spot a typo in a social media post and think that the lack of attention to detail which led to that mistake carries over to the products the company sells or the services it offers. It’s a little unfair, but it’s true. Here’s an example. The Australian Navy once ordered thousands of uniform badges with an extra ‘L’ in ‘Australia’. Does that mean that around the same time it was really bad at defending the seas around Australia? Not necessarily.

Does it mean there’s a chance that similar, small oversights might have been made elsewhere? Very possibly. If I were a sailor in that organisation, I’d be hoping the work of those people designing and building the boat I served on wasn’t as sloppy as the work of the people who designed, checked and ordered the badges.

How to avoid mistakes in your marketing copy

So, taking this back to business owners, particularly those small to medium sized brands who are managing on a shoestring. It could well be worth looking at outsourcing content writing to an expert (like me). It can be far more affordable than you might imagine and together we can create content which you can reuse to make the most of it. Or, if your budget really is too tight to get help, try using a free spelling and grammar checking software, such as Grammarly (though this can strip out your voice from your writing…) or get a friend or family member to proofread for you.

I’m going to finish this blog with a cautionary word about the proliferation of social media managers and content marketers on Instagram right now. As I’ve said, I understand why people make mistakes in their copy – writing is not a strength everyone possesses. But I do have an axe to grind with people who tout their services as social media managers and content creators yet virtually every post they write is littered with errors. That lack of skill is simply unacceptable for anyone wishing to work in marketing and communications.

The same goes for virtual assistants who offer content and blog writing or social media management as part of their services, yet they can’t seem to work out when to use peak/peek, their/there or you’re/your AND use apostrophes willy-nilly. Give me strength. I’ve even spotted a post on Instagram offering proofreading services… with a total of five mistakes in the copy of that single post alone. Did they fail to proofread their work, or do they have no idea how to write? Neither option is a good excuse for that many mistakes, especially given the content of the post. I honestly thought it was a joke post designed to grab the reader’s attention when I first read it.

If you are going to dip your toe in the marketing world and take on someone’s social media or blog writing, please, please learn the basics of writing in English. I’ve seen a fellow copywriter on LinkedIn state that social media posts are as important as adverts in terms of their power to influence customers. Every post does count. If you’re thinking about outsourcing writing to someone else and you’re not confident you can spot whether their writing is any good, why not:

Run it through a spelling and grammar checking tool.
Ask someone else to read their posts for you.
Find out why they are qualified to write for your business.

Those steps might just save you from making a bad investment.

If you would like perfectly crafted copy to help share your message on social media or a super-duper SEO blog for your website every month, drop me a line. I’m open for work at the moment so hop on this copywriting train while the doors are still open.