Publishing and marketing move at such a speed that often there’s no time for proofreading.
Even if you don’t worry about commas in the right place or correct use of apostrophes, proofreading ensures that basic information is correct.
This is what happened in several cases where text was not proofread properly:
- Editorial staff accidentally mistyped a contact phone number for an event listing so that a private individual was annoyed by nuisance phone calls and the event organiser lost customers.
- Marketing staff at a theatre provided incorrect performance dates for a newspaper events guide so readers could have missed out on seeing a production.
- A PR agency included the logo of its client in a press release but never referred to it in the text, instead mentioning the parent company. The confusion required research into the relationship between the company and its parent to make sense of the press release.
Getting basic information right is essential. Proofreading often highlights simple but important errors. It also highlights confusion or unclear meaning where the reader has no idea what the writer is trying to say.
How much do errors and confusion cost businesses in lost customers or sales? Is it worth building time for proofreading into production schedules?
