Appearance is everything
How to always look good in print

A well-designed ad can cause readers to stop and check it out. A nice design also can keep the reader interested in the ad long enough to get enough information to make the right decision. On the other hand, faulty, amateurish style and grammar can drive readers away.

Below are some of the more common problems we see in a wide variety of ad types. Correcting them is easy, once you know what to do.

Apostrophes
Use an apostrophe to form a possessive – Marty’s house; The store’s window. Do not use one to form a plural – Marty’s house’s; The store’s window’s. Also use an apostrophe to form a contraction: don’t, I’ll, would’ve, etc.

Then there’s the word “it,” where possession is not shown with an apostrophe: Its finish is very shiny; I don’t understand its meaning. But do use an apostrophe to contract: It’s the best hamburger I’ve ever eaten; It’s happened before, it’ll happen again.

Quotation marks
Quotation marks are used to show what somebody said: “There’s something I want to ask you,” Cindy said; Randy said the speech was “the most boring speech ever made.” (And remember – sentence-ending punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.)

They’re also used to show that a word or phrase is not to be taken in its most literal sense but as a figure of speech: The band was “into it,” but they still couldn’t find their sound; This “pie-in-the-sky” attitude must stop.

Be careful using quotation marks around company slogans, because if the slogan isn’t obviously a quote from someone, it could be interpreted as a figure of speech. “We offer the best deals in town”; “Where service always comes first.”  You certainly don’t want either of these important statements to be taken as a figure of speech, so remove the quotation marks.

Capitalization
Contrary to popular usage misuse, most words aren’t capitalized. For instance, titles such as manager, president, community liaison, district representative, bus driver, etc., aren’t capitalized. Names of programs and projects should be capitalized only when they’re official names and when they’re used in their entirety. (In many cases, the dictionary can help you with this.)

Examples:
Janey Kloss is our business manager. (Yes.)
Janey Kloss is our Business Manager. (No.)
Starland International President Michael Parker was happy with the results. (Yes.)
Michael Parker is the President of Starland International (No.)
The Helping Hands Program now has 23 members. (Yes.)
The Program feeds 600 children per year. (No.)

Officiality
It’s commonly accepted in literary circles that a business need only include an Inc., LLC, or other extension of its name when the name is used in an official capacity, such as on a contract, a tax document, a legal paper or other official record. The first reference to the business name in your ad or other marketing document can include the extension, if you feel it’s necessary, but there’s no reason to keep repeating it throughout the text every time the name of the business is used.

Also watch that you don’t over-title people. It’s fine to link titles such as M.D., Ph.D., Esq., etc., to a name when doing so adds clout to your message by showing that the person so titled is an expert in his or her field. But in most cases, throwing in all those letters does not impress the reader. It appears self-serving on the part of the ad-writer.

Spelling
There are only two excuses for misspelled words: 1. Somebody didn’t do a spell-check; 2. You used a word that’s so complex, no computer could recognize it – and even then, if a spell-check was performed, it would have returned that no suggestions are available, which means go to the dictionary.

Solve the first problem by doing a spell-check. Solve the second by not using complex words, or by using the dictionary.

In the end, it’s your words that sell. Take a little extra time to make sure those words are doing their job.
     

[Back to Writing Samples Page]