Volume 1, Issue 8

February 16, 2006

Hi!

Somehow, we whizzed through January and landed smack-dab in February...already!

Are you blue...or are you on fire?
I read somewhere about 'Blue Monday,' the day in January (this year it was the 22nd) when the holiday season's expenditures and debts catch up with us, when the gloomy weather is, well, gloomy (except for here in sunny South Florida!) and we begin to realize that our New Year's resolutions may have been a bit overzealous.

Do you believe the hype? This is the year we can get caught up in gloom and doom, or we can decide that this is the year we stay positive and change our way of thinking, and in the process, our lives. If you haven't already, I URGE you to buy a copy of The Secret on DVD. This movie changed my life (and I was always someone on the cynical side) for the better.

Even Oprah has discovered it (and we know
what Oprah says is basically law to millions of
women.) You can pick up a book companion to the movie (here) or the audio CD (here) (thanks to my buddy, Margie Fisher, of Zable Fisher Public Relations for giving me a copy of this awesome book!).

Mind control
The premise of The Secret is that thoughts become things. Think good ones and your life will reflect your thoughts. Think fearful, defensive, negative thoughts and your life will reflect that as well. How's that for being in control of your life?

Speaking of thoughts and life (you like that segue?), do you enjoy proofreading? Most people don't and even those who do need someone else to read their work. At Get It In Writing, we proof one another's work and use an outside proofreader (thank you, Karyn Martin!) as our second set of 'eagle eyes.' We really hate typos. I mean, REALLY hate them. What about you? What bugs you and what will you take control of this year in your business and in your personal life? I know for me, this is the year I'm making a conscious effort to be aware of my thoughts and to do everything in my power to
make them good ones...how about you?

Yours In Success,
The Get It In Writing Team

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From Our Desk To Yours

Quick Tip Strip

Writer To Writer

Get It Write

How Typos are Costing Your Company Big Time

Typos. We all make them and at times, they may seem rather inconsequential. And maybe they are - if they're in personal e-mails or instant messages. In business communications, it's a different ballgame, and these 'minor' errors will cost you big time. Besides making your company look unprofessional, typos may hurt you in ways you may not have considered.

Typos and the snowball effect

There are varying degrees of typo severity.  For example, if you have a word misspelled on your website, your visitors may just  think your writers are uneducated (not good for a copywriting company, especially!).   The good news on web pages is that these typos are usually fairly easy to fix. Print is a whole other issue - reprinting costs are not much fun.

Another example: You're promoting an in-store sale with a flyer to be mailed out to thousands of customers. Halfway through printing, you realize the date is wrong. What do you do?  Do you stop the presses and reprint? This is a very costly option. Do you finish the printing and fix the error with a sticker?  This involves paper and manual labor costs.  Neither is a fun choice.

Consider this: Your instruction manual has a typo - one of the parts is mislabeled.
You sell bicycles the customer needs to assemble. This may lead to increased
customer service calls, which could back up phone lines and cause missed sales.
It could also lead to your customer taking things into his/her own hands to attempt
assembly without directions. This could potentially lead to an injury, which could
then lead to a lawsuit.

Bottom line? Always proofread. Don't assume.  Don't rush. Always err on the side of caution.

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Extras

Copywriting Tools That Mean Business

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