Why Language Matters


Whenever I hear schools are cutting their humanities budgets in favor of the sciences, I cringe a little. Though I work in what would be considered a mathematical field, the importance of learning to communicate effectively cannot be overstated.

I confess that I am a self-proclaimed member of the Grammar Police. I am not obnoxious about it in personal circles, and I overlook it often on social media sites where it seems to run rampant. However, if you want to get on my bad side, go ahead and try to send a mistake-riddled message to one of my customers.

Go on, I dare you.

It is not that I think people are stupid when they make grammar mistakes--far from it. Many people I know who make these mistakes are actually quite brilliant. To the recipient, however, the sender's brilliance is marred by the "your" that should have been "you're", or by the made-up business jargon (synergize, anybody?), or the misuse...or overuse...of punctuation to get a point across!!!!!!!!!!

One key to a business' success is its ability to communicate ideas and solutions effectively to its clients. If you don't take the time and care to make sure your message is striking the right tone while also being easy to read, you instill little confidence in your ability to do anything else with the proper attention to detail.

I'm not saying that people can't make mistakes or that I'm perfect, but I do insist on taking the time to read and understand a message before sending it (as in an email) or presenting it to the world (as in a website).

In this fast-paced world, it is still important to occasionally stop and breathe. It gives us a chance to collect our thoughts and not rely on our stream of consciousness to generate a literary opus to be passed on to the next customer. With a clear and concise message, we give people confidence in the service we provide and demonstrate a concern for the kind of impression we make in all situations.

It is not a recipe for success, but it's certainly one of the more important ingredients.

Do you need help writing or editing the copy on your own website? Contact us, and we'll have someone from our copywriting staff help you frame the right message for your business.

Written by Mariano Di Fabio on February 5th, 2013

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