How to edit your own marketing materials

By Kamea Zelisko

There’s really no way around it – if your business is going to do any marketing at all – whether it’s a website or an advertisement – you’re going to need editing services.

A spelling error on a poster or website really makes a bad first impression – it can make your company look unprofessional and kind of shady even, so when it comes to your marketing materials, it’s important to catch any spelling and/or grammatical mistakes before your materials get published.

Not a great writer and/or speller? Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. While hiring a Writer and/or Editor would be the best choice, we realize that’s not always a possibility for all business owners. So if you’re going to do your own editing, here are some quick tips to help your company’s marketing copy look professional:

Spell Check it.

Spell Check is a great starting point to help minimize spelling errors (and even some grammatical ones). So make it a point to add a quick Spell Check to all documents before doing anything else.

Read, re-read, and read it again.

Like we said above, Spell Check can be a great starting tool, but it is not the end all and be all of editing. If it were, Editors would no longer exist.

Spell Check may catch the big mistakes, but wrong words can still be left in the copy (e.g., “He” instead of “The). And because Word is an American program that has still neglected to add the Canadian spelling choice to its program, you will end up with the American spelling of numerous words (e.g. Theater vs. Theatre). This is enough to drive any cold-blooded Canadian absolutely nuts.

So once you’ve done your Spell Check, be sure to read your copy over and over and over again (three times at least). Also, here’s a great tip – read it out loud. This really helps to not only point out spelling mistakes but also fix grammatical errors and improve the overall flow of the copy.

Pass it Along.

Once you’ve poured over the copy until your eyes have blurred over and you know you are no longer useful in your editing role, pass the copy along to someone else who is capable of making any spelling, grammar or content edits it may need. If you have more than one person who can fill this role, then pass it to them person as well – the more eyes the better.

Sometimes mistakes are inevitable.

Even Editors know that mistakes can still get through the editing process, so if you’ve taken all these steps and your copy goes out and there are still mistakes, don’t beat yourself up about it. Editing is a skill that is learned over time, and during your journey you will pinpoint your own editing strengths and weaknesses and be able to fine-tune your editing skills as you go.