6 Steps Toward Turning Around Your Emails, Social Media Posts, Articles, Newsletter, and More

I still get home delivery of the newspaper seven days a week.  While you might wonder why, since most people get their news online these days, I wonder why due to the mistakes that I see as I read it each day.

Unfortunately, when you’re a one newspaper town, the lack of competition means that there is no alternative when readers get frustrated seeing mistakes each day.

That said, there are other options.  As I said, most people get their news online, so there certainly are other sources, although maybe not the exact same medium.

If you are a performer and you are lackadaisical, even if you are a top selling superstar, there are always other options for listeners, venues, and record labels.

And, as I’ve shown through a presentation that I give, small businesses could likely be losing customers due to mistakes that can be prevented if you take the time and, more importantly, are committed to presenting a first class image.

Yes, your (bad) writing could be causing you to lose opportunities.  I feel so strongly about this that not only do I go out and give presentations on it, but, I might very well have written a blog about it before.  Picking up that newspaper every day and wondering not if I’ll find a mistake but how many, I had to publish this blog today.  On top of that, I saw some very careless mistakes in a singer/songwriter’s Instagram posts the last few days that pushed me over the edge.

What can you do to combat this issue?
1.    Use spell check.  I know, it sounds like common sense, but it is apparent that people are skipping this step before publishing what they’ve written.  And now here’s the bonus part of this suggestion: If you’re working in another program or even just posting on social media, copy and paste into Microsoft Word first so you can check for errors.
2.    Ask a co-worker to read through your work.  That person might be more apt to find mistakes since they should already know the subject matter and not be reading to learn something.
3.    Allow yourself enough time to finish writing such that you can put it aside for, say, 24 hours to come back around and re-read it when it’s no longer fresh in your head.
4.    Learn from your mistakes.  When you find something wrong, make a separate note of it somewhere that can serve as a running list so that you can check to see if perhaps you’re, for example, spelling the same word wrong consistently.
5.    Stick to grammar rules and text formatting that is available to you through software such as Microsoft Word.
6.    Also utilize the AP Stylebook.

I also have a list of what not to do, which is in the second half of my in-person presentation, but the above will get you off to a good start.  This should also help remind you that your emails, social media posts, website articles, and even your e-newsletter are likely getting read by someone who might’ve had an opportunity for you but decided to pass and move on to someone else when they saw the lack of professionalism that was your writing.

If you are interested in having me present to your company or group, or, if writing is just not your thing and you need to hire a professional to safeguard your image, get in touch.  In the meantime, talk about this blog in our Facebook group.