All signs point towards poor marketing?

PAMPARED PETS

This was the headline on a sign I saw for a dog walking service when I took Charlie to the dog park this morning to play with his buddies.

My first thought was, "These people can't spell; how could I let them walk my dog?"

Now, logically, there is no connection between spelling and dog walking. I'm sure there are plenty of excellent dog walkers who can't spell. So why did I jump to that conclusion?

Because I am very quick to judge and the sign is all I had to go on to make my judgment. And I believe this happens a lot on the World Wide Web. When what you see on a web page about a company isn't perfect, it's ever so easy to make a harsh judgment. (Do you do this too?)

I think we need to be a little more forgiving on the one hand, and a little more attentive on the other. Spell check doesn't catch everything (although "pampared" is not a word, as far as I know). But when I think about how quickly I'm typing and how tempting it is to multitask, I do hope others will be more forgiving of me than I often am of others.

I know I'm not alone. At least once a week, I hear someone say they won't work with a resource because there was a typo on their web site. Have you ever done that?

Comments

[Judy Dunn]

You know, I used to be a stickler on this. That was back in the days when content wasn't everywhere (newspapers, web sites, blogs. e-zine articles, etc.).

For instance, years ago, when I saw a large sign in my bank that said, "Hapiness is a rainy day savings plan," I was decidedly unimpressed. It was even more glaring because this was a teachers' credit union.

But now, as an editor, I spend three-fourths of my day writing, and at a pretty fast pace, so I can see how the little mistakes can happen—on an online forum post, in a blog comment, in an e-letter.

I actually had someone catch a typo on our new web site and I was grateful for the tip.

Now, if there's a typo in every other line, that's a different story.

[TurtleBlueBird]

Won't work with a resource 'cause there's a typo on their web site - that's a little harsh.

It's like the people who shout "Got'ch'a!" when they see a typo or two in a daily metro newspaper. And they're out there!

(Only once in all these years did I see a guy who had a "let me know if you see a typo here" request on his web site. Always seemed to me like that was a smart way to maybe get people who noticed typos to report them so they could be cleaned up.)

And a lot of blog posts can't be corrected once they're up - you can't go back to fix something you may have missed. (I always feel bad when I miss something that way, but - really - it's over. Gotta' let it go.)

BUT ... the dog-walkers can't get the few words on a sign right - that may point to a general kind of lackness, IMHO.

[Carolyn Hansen]

Folks have emailed our site saying they'd found grammatical errors that turned out not to be errors -- so rushing to judgment isn't always a great idea.

I say, if it's important, have someone else look at it before you post it. (In the olden days, the dog walker would have taken his/her sign to a neighborhood print shop -- and, very likely, would have gotten a correction from them. Self-service has its drawbacks.)

For me, it depends on where I find the typo. I automatically toss resumes with typos. I would have your reaction to the sign. But if someone has a typo in an email, a blog post (or a blog comment!), I forgive and forget.

[Jack Wallis]

I remember when I was young, and my parents owned a restaurant, my stepfather would intentionally misspell words on the "daily special" sign to get people to come inside. He figured once they were in, they probably would sit down and eat. And it worked!

I agree with Carolyn, however. The place where you can absolutely not afford a typo is in a resume.

[Deidre]

I would jump to that conclusion too. That sign represents their company, and it was done carelessly! If they are careless with the sign that represents their company, what would stop them from being careless with my dog? I can forgive occasional misspellings on websites and blogs, but come on! There are TWO words on the sign- is it so hard to get them right?

To me, that sign says, “I’m careless about how people see my company.”

It's harsh, but it's how I feel.

They might be the best dog walkers in the world, but it’s a bad first impression. Everybody makes mistakes, but I think it’s a lot harder to develop a relationship when a mistake is the FIRST thing you see.

[Allison]

I was mortified when recently we sent out our quarterly email newsletter with a typo in it. EEEK! It was something spellcheck wouldn't catch. We had a lot of great responses to the email content actually, but one person did unsubscribe. And while it may be a bit paranoid. I have to wonder if it was due to the typo.

[EH]

Although it is not always an accurate judgment, most people will judge a company based solely on how the company presents itself on the web or in its marketing. If there are typos or an error of some kind, generally people will automatically discount that company and their capabilities.

[Dani Nordin]

I've actually met people online who are even harsher than this - they'll actively snark people who make even a small typo, or folks whose English isn't quite so good yet (i.e. they're still learning). Even though my English is pretty darn good, I've actually left communities because of this habit.

I do think there's some room for forgiveness on the typo thing - but I think that the more likely cause of your sketchiness around this person's sign is the lack of care it represents. If this is the way the person presents themselves BEFORE you work with them, how will they be if you do work with them? Why should you care about a company that obviously cares so little about themselves?

My favorite example of this was a few years ago, before I started my studio. I was working at a printshop in Providence, and the American Heart Association was one of our regular clients. They came in with a Word File (ack!) to print advertising their fundraiser, which featured the musical "Mamma Mia" (great movie, btw). Along with the expected stuff about enjoying the Tony award-winning blah blah was the phrase "and support the number 1 cause of death, heart disease, and #2 cause of disability, stroke!"

I'm not joking. They wanted us to come out IN SUPPORT OF heart disease and stroke.

Fortunately, I caught it and, after laughing hysterically and creating a poster for the Death and Disability Cheerleaders, I called them and mentioned that they might want us to update the copy. But can you imagine if we hadn't caught it?