The BusinessVoice Blog

Those of us who write for a living are faced with grammatical challenges every day, and we all have our pet peeves about common mistakes that we see — usually in “other” people’s work. The scribe who goes by the pen name Johnny Truant has compiled a handful of these in 5 Grammar Mistakes That Make You Sound Like A Chimp on Copyblogger.Com. You should read them all, but here are two of my favorites from Johnny:

First, the use of “an” before the word “historic.”

If you’re bristling at this one, ask yourself if you’d say, “an horse” or “an house.” What would people think if you went into the store and said, “I’ll have an half gallon of milk, please”?

You can and should use “an” if the H is silent and the word starts with a phonetic vowel, like “an hour.” Otherwise, go with “a” as the article.

And a violation that occurs regularly in print and in everyday speaking  — the misuse of the word “literally.”  He says:

I collect “literally” mentions. Britney Spears has been “literally on a roller coaster to hell.” Crowds have “literally turned the city upside down.” And in a particularly grisly turn of events, a mall Santa reported that needy, sad children “literally tear his heart out.”

Whenever you use “literally,” stop and think about whether or not what you’re saying is actually true, in those exact words. If it’s not, use “practically,” “essentially,” or (ideally) “metaphorically” instead.

OK, that’s a good start. Now what are some of your favorite grammar faux pas?

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Between email, text messaging, blog comments, and other forms of social media, the rules of the English language have taken a serious beating over the last few years. Punctuation is out, abbreviations are in, and many Americans, including some marketers, are having a hard time putting together a decent sentence.

What’s the big deal? Stick with me. There’s a larger point.

I’ve read in several places, including this blog, that, when engaging in social media, we needn’t be as concerned with the formalities of the language. Maybe. But I lean toward the belief that, when presenting your company to the public through your marketing copy, it’s always important to make sure you’re using the language properly.

That brings me back to one of my pet peeves: the improper use of the adjective “everyday” and the phrase “every day.”  (Read my first post on this subject here.)

I know I should take up a more exciting hobby, but over the last few years I’ve collected examples of this misuse. Here are just a few:

Here’s the rule: “Everyday” (one word) is an adjective. Example: These are my everyday shoes.

“Every day” (two words) is an adverbial phrase. Example: I go to work every day.

And here’s the larger point I promised. True, many people won’t notice if you’ve made the error, but many people may. Those who do might wonder, “If this company is careless about the messages it puts in front of the public, what other details do they ignore when no one is looking?”

Is that really the question you want prospective customers asking themselves after reading your marketing copy?

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• Everyday vs. Every Day
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If it’s your job is to create marketing copy, here’s a great tip from the weekly newsletter of Daphne Gray-Grant, a writing coach and one of my favorite wordsmiths. When you’re having trouble getting started on a writing project, begin by reading someone else’s work. And before you think I’m advocating theft, here’s what she means:

The main idea is to find a piece of writing that provides a suitable model on which you can base your own work. Not only is this not procrastinating, it’s not even plagiarism provided you’re not looking for content. Instead you should be looking for style and writing architecture.

Gray-Grant suggests building a “swipe file” - a collection of some of the best work of other writers - to use as inspiration when you’re starting a project. If it’s true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, any author would be proud to have you base your next ad or sales letter on their style.

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• Everyday vs. Every Day: Part Two
• Everyday vs. Every Day
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How many times have you said, “I’d like to start a blog,” or, “I should get with this Twitter thing,” only to be intimidated by the fear of not being able to do it well enough?

True story: I’ve owned my own domain name for years but never used it to create a web presence. It’s the perfectionist in me; the voice inside my head that says, “It has to be the best.”  I guess I’m not alone, because blogger Mark Ivey had the same problem. His advice? Try The Seven Habits Of  The “Just Good Enough” Marketer.

Ivey’s list is based on a simple premise — the explosion of social media has changed the rules about how we should craft our communications with customers and prospects. He says:

Every day I see companies that make these mistakes: they want to launch the perfect blog, create the polished video, craft the right message.

They often find out the hard way that this is not what blogging and social media is about. It’s more about conveying compelling ideas and connecting with audiences in authentic ways, not just writing beautiful prose or top-down marketing approaches.

Speed is more critical too. There’s not enough time to go through two rounds of approvals on every blog. Slick videos are meanwhile seen as advertising — they don’t ring true.

The new style — conversational, open, engaging, and fluid — just doesn’t mix with traditional marketing and communications.

Ivey admits that these are hard habits to break, but doing this can get you off the sidelines and into social media faster, and that’s the whole idea. By the way, that web domain of mine that gathered dust for years? It’s now hosting a personal blog that I created and launched in just a few days last week. It’s far from perfect and I still struggle with the urge to do too many re-writes, but I’m learning that “Just Good Enough” is better than “Nothing.’ In fact, it might  be the best way to enter the new world of social media.

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If you do any email marketing and want to avoid being blocked, be sure to check out Jordan Ayan’s list of words and phrases you should never use in an email subject line on MarketingProfs.Com (free registration required).

Besides the obvious references to sex, home financing and pharmaceuticals — separately or together — she says there are a number of normal words that can set off the spam filters. Here are a few examples:

• only
• get
• opportunity
• avoid
• compare
• offer
• lose

This looks like a great list to print and post next to the computer. Just be sure to check it every time you’re creating a subject line in an email marketing piece.

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The word ‘everyday’ seems to be everywhere lately, but in all the wrong places.

In the last few weeks, I have seen the word ‘everyday’ used incorrectly on the menu of a regional restaurant chain (”Our lunch specials are just $6.95 everyday”), on the binding of a pad of notebook paper (”Value Plus. Your Best Value…Everyday”), on a digital billboard for a local newspaper, on a P-O-P sign at a national pizza chain, in a script for a TV commercial, on a T-shirt, and twice on the homepage of a website.

According to the book Common Errors in English Usage:

“Everyday” is a perfectly good adjective, as in “I’m most comfortable in my everyday clothes.” The problem comes when people turn the adverbial phrase ‘every day’ into a single word. It is incorrect to write “I take a shower everyday.” It should be “I take a shower every day.”

At BusinessVoice the words we write for our clients are most often heard, not read, but if you’re going to print or online with new marketing copy, remember to run it past several pairs of qualified eyes.

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So maybe you don’t have a six-figure budget for marketing (OK, maybe not even a five-figure budget!) but that doesn’t mean you can’t be effective. Author Jodi Bash has some great suggestions for direct marketing on a shoestring budget using e-mails:

Offer information you know that your audience wants and needs. One example is a monthly e-newsletter containing information pulled from Web sites that is informative or interesting to the audience. I’ve used material such as key industry metrics and articles of interest, links to recently published reports, and the like. Only one “company offer” was part of the newsletter, and our logo at the end and was the only link to us.

Make sure the newsletter is offered by subscription only to avoid running afoul of anti-spam laws. Like to see examples of what kind of articles you’ll find in an e-mail newsletter? Check out the BusinessVoice Marketer at BusinessVoice.Com.

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Is writing part of your job? For more and more people today, the answer is “yes.” Of course, many of these people dread the thought of finding the time to write. They battle with the demons that lurk on a blank page, saying to themselves “I can’t do this!” and imagine spending hours in front of a keyboard just to come up with a few good paragraphs.

Maybe there’s a better way. Writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant suggests:

Just as the cactus thrives in a hot, dry environment, writing thrives in the absence of time. Writing not only can be done quickly; it is better done quickly. That’s partly because, if you’re fast enough, you can usually out-run and out-write the negative chatter in your head.

Grant suggests writing in 10-minute blocks of time. That might be too little time for some people, but the idea has merit. Next time, try writing in multiple short sessions and see if it doesn’t help you be more productive.

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