National Punctuation Day!

Happy National Punctuation Day!

Now, once you've finished celebrating with the appropriate use of commas and exclamation points, I'll turn your attention to spelling and grammar on the web.

Somehow, in the era of tweets and pins and likes, we've lost our way on the road to good writing. And I'm not talking about lofty, eloquent phrasing or Jeopardy-worthy vocabulary. I mean the simple use of proper grammar, good spelling, and (of course!) appropriate punctuation.

1) When did it become acceptable to CAPITALIZE EVERYTHING? So you want to emphasize a feature, or point out an important detail. Okay, great. But when everything is emphasized, nothing is. Also, it's just, plain incorrect.

• Use capitalization only where they're meant to be used - proper nouns and the start of sentences.
• Use bold or italics to make something stand out in your text. 

Every Word Of Your Sentence, or EVERY LETTER IN YOUR WORDS makes your content hard to read, not to mention it comes across as yelling. Don't yell at your customers. Nobody likes a yeller.

2) Who decided that commas and semicolons were interchangeable? They're not. It seems like suddenly semicolons are the new commas when it comes to writing out lists of products or brands or services. It's strange and, again, just incorrect.

• Commas represent the natural pause(s) in your sentence, or breaks between list items
• Semicolons separate distinct, but related sentences, or can technically be used between items that also have commas (i.e. between addresses, like Boston, MA; New York, NY; etc)

When commas and semicolons are used incorrectly, your content looks and reads poorly, which in turn reflects poorly on you. Your business deserves to be taken seriously!

3) Spelling. Oh my goodness, spelling. In these post-AOL dial-up days, we've come so very far from "c u nxt wk" and "omg ttyl." Or have we?

In an era of digital content and spellcheck, there's no excuse for bad spelling. And yet so very many people, and businesses, still publish poorly written, terribly spelled content to their websites!

• Read your own content. Read it early, read it often. Have a friend read it to catch what you miss.
• Use spell check! Technology is amazing; take advantage of its helpful tools. That red squiggly line is there to help.

A spur-of-the-moment Twitter post with an accidental typo can be forgiven, but when it's your online presence, your first impression to potential customers - your website - there's no room for spelling mistakes.

Just because words have gone digital doesn't mean that using them, and all their accessories, is no longer important. In fact, I'd argue that it's more important than ever! With unlimited resources available to you to check, double-check, and question the writing you publish to the web, there's no excuse and no good reason to put bad spelling and grammar on your website, social media, or any other medium of online presence.

This National Punctuation Day, help a poor, struggling writer in need. Correct their dashes, dots, and symbols today!

Small Businesses and their Social Phobia

Day in and day out, the marketing industry deals with customers who don't understand the digital space, are afraid of it, or just don't know how to use it properly. From websites (they are not like yellow page ads - you should only have one) to search campaigns (no you can't use that keyword - you don't even offer that service), there's unending misinformation and confusion surrounding online marketing tools.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Social Media.

Now social, even the big guys still can't quite get this one right sometimes. Small business owners have an even harder time understanding the whats, whys, and hows of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the multitude of other platforms available.

Some SMB owners have never used Facebook before in their lives. Others have 18 different social network accounts and all are managed badly. Still others have or want accounts, but are just completely unsure of how to post, what exactly they should say, and where their audience is looking.


The rules can be confusing, the mediums constantly changing, but the fact remains that local business owners, in general, are completely overwhelmed by social media. My friend (and former colleague) recently wrote a post all about why, and, more importantly, how to tackle those fears:

Why Many SMB’s are Still Afraid of Social Media…

It's a really great summary of the most common comments and objections we get from clients from all industries as to why social media is too hard, too confusing, or too -something- for them to handle.

Overcoming those objections, and presenting reasonable solutions to address their main concerns, puts your average small business owner at the head of the pack, engaging with their customers and driving traffic through their door - completely digitally.

Social media is the new word-of-mouth. It's time to get on board!

Apples and Apples: Match your voice to who you are

I've talked a lot, both on this blog and in other venues, about developing your brand's tone of voice and messaging personality. However it's crucial to understand that you can't just pick whatever you feel like.

It's important to know, when you're choosing your brand's voice, that it has to match your actual personality, who you are.

For example, even in the early days of the Mozilla Firefox browser, their messaging was clear about the personality of their business. It was fun, humorous, and human. When a page wouldn't load, you'd get a clear error message saying "Well, this is embarrassing."

It's shows humor, humility, and brings out the humanity behind the big, shiny, digital world. It's easy to think of the internet as a big machine, so this message is a nice reminder to users that there are real, live people behind it all. It also makes it immediately evident that Firefox is a friendly, low-key business.

Now, would this same message work for the bank or financial organization supporting your IRA or big, serious investments? Probably not. As the world changes and becomes a little more laid back about business interactions, there might be a place for this, but for now, these witty, fun tones of voice just don't jive with certain companies or industries. Would you trust the funny, bumbling "oopsies!" guy with thousands of your dollars? Probably not.

It can be a jarring experience to expect one thing from a business and get another. It turns people off and makes you lose potential (and maybe current) customers. If it doesn't feel right or you don't know who you're dealing with, you'll bounce and go to someone who better communicates their values.

If your company culture encourages fun and humor, make that come through in the way you speak with your customers. If you're in a serious business where everything is very structured and to-the-point, your tone of voice should reflect that.

Pair apples with apples, not apples with oranges. Be true to who you are in all your messaging and communications, and it'll all flow naturally!

What's in a name?

Everything.

From naming your products to naming your blog post, the title you choose can make or break your success.

Take, for example, a tv commercial for some medication. I sat at home one day, enjoying some lazy couch time, when an ad came on detailing the typical struggles and strife of being a woman. Oh the pain, the moodiness, the this, the that. They finally get to the end of this seen-it-before commercial, and what's the product called? Previfem.

I can't even make this stuff up. Who decided that was a great brand name? I can only imagine some group of men sat around thinking "Okay, we've got this birth control, right? Ok. It does what all the other ones does... it prevents, uhhh, female stuff. Like, feminine business. Let's call it Previfem!"

Granted, it's memorable, I'll give you that, but Previfem? The last thing a lady wants to do is ask her doctor for something to prevent femininity. It sends the completely wrong message. Why not focus on the positive - something about strength? About taking control over your body, your life? Now, pharmaceuticals may not be the best case study, but you see my point:

With one, simple mistake - like naming your product something that ridicules your target audience - you edge yourself out of the market.

Your product name should speak to its purpose, but you need to be careful with being too detached from how it makes people feel. Say it out loud, check how it sounds and what feelings/images it evokes.

Beyond individual products, naming your blog posts and articles is almost more important than the information you put in it. A well-crafted title draws readers in. It entices your audience and makes them want to learn more.

While you may want to be clever or funny, or think something off-the-wall will intrigue people, your title isn't something to play with. It should be eye-catching, maybe include numbers, be engaging enough to make people want to click, but straightforward enough for them to know what they're getting into.

Whether it's a single product, and whole line, or a title of an article, the name you choose can have serious repercussions. Consider your audience! Will it speak to them? Does it make sense? Will they want to take positive action from it?

Have you found any blatant naming missteps? Any examples of great names?