Proofreading is one of the least glamorous tasks we undertake here at BatesMeron Sweet Design. As the primary proofreader, I sometimes feel like a professional nagger. Get rid of that comma! You missed an apostrophe! The wording on this page doesn’t precisely match the wording all the way back on page 19! Don’t use so many exclamation points!
However, proofreading is essential. If you don’t include proofreading as a formal part of the creative process, you risk more than embarrassing typos—your message can be lost entirely.
We received this note from a vendor last week. (Personally identifying details have been removed to protect the innocent.) It’s a great mailer—an uplifting message of togetherness and growth, a giveaway that we’ll actually hold on to—but the effect is marred by one little typo.

The typo.
Now this isn’t ruinous or brand-shattering. But it did distract me from the message of the piece. Instead of thinking about how this vendor supported our company, I was thinking about how the error slipped through their production staff. Were they so focused on the letter that they overlooked the tagline at the bottom? Are they so familiar with their tagline that they read what they expected, not what was on the page?
I doubt that anyone cut ties with this vendor over a typo, yet those who noticed the error might now have a slightly different opinion of this brand. Typos signal a certain lack of care or inattention to detail, even when we do our best to catch them. After all, many of us move resumes to the reject pile if we notice glaring spelling errors, so it’s not a stretch to imagine that a typo or grammar mishap could cause customers to think less highly of a company.
So while there are times that I rue being the grammar police, proofreading is an essential step for companies that care about the integrity of their messages and how their brand is perceived. We all make mistakes—so it pays to have someone watching for them.