Good grammar has amazing power, helping you build credibility and persuade your target market. Do you give it the attention it deserves?
When you communicate, you want people to listen. You want them to take you seriously. You want your opinion to count.
In the world of written business communication, your words represent your organisation and good grammar gives you credibility.
Business operates in an environment where written language lags behind the spoken, and there’s one rule for speaking and another for writing.
Yes, some people argue that we shouldn’t place so much importance (conscious or otherwise) on grammar in writing. They want the grammar-sticklers to lighten up a bit, take a chill pill, go with the spoken flow — so what if we don’t structure our sentences perfectly if people get the gist?
However, we’re just more forgiving of lapses in spoken language: sometimes our brains can’t cast the optimum sentence before we start speaking and minor grammatical mistakes happen. Using ‘me’ where you should have ‘I’, or saying ‘who’ instead of ‘whom’ are just verbal hiccups. People might notice, and slips like these might interrupt their understanding momentarily, but they don’t linger in memory as the conversation moves on.
Written errors, however, hang around like a bad smell. We consider them avoidable and make judgements accordingly about the writer’s capabilities and trustworthiness.
Think about an important face-to-face business discussion: there’s no way you’d deliberately scupper your chances of persuasion by suddenly blowing a raspberry. They’d think you childish and question your suitability as a business partner. In the written sphere, poor grammar is the equivalent of that raspberry — it puts your capabilities under the spotlight. After all, if you can’t use grammar correctly, what else can’t you do?
You put your heart and soul into winning business, so you’d be daft not to make the most of every little thing that could tip the balance in your favour. Your written communications have the power to persuade your target market to believe in your abilities and to say ‘yes’ to the sale. Using grammar correctly builds business confidence — and that’s why it matters.
Our writing team lives and breathes grammar (and air); it’s a vital part of creating copy that gets the job done. Do get in touch if you’d like us to pitch in with your written communications.
