- By: Mark Jakobsen
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Attention to detail in marketing: Why the small things matter
You are rocking this marketing thing. Your strategy is pure gold, your visuals are sharp, and campaigns have the creativity of Steven Spielberg. But if you’re focusing too much on the overall picture and letting the details slip, like grammar and spelling, what does that say about your brand? Perception matters a lot in our current world, which means attention to detail in marketing isn’t just a nice to have, it’s a must!
We’re all human, and sometimes we are under pressure to get something out, so things may get missed. Unfortunately, small things in marketing aren’t small, they’re signals and these signals can speak volumes about the quality of your work.
What attention to detail says about your brand
When your content is polished and precise, it will build trust. It shows you care about the details and, through extension, it builds faith that your products, services or solutions will have that same level of attention to detail.
But should you find yourself with content that’s full of errors, it can raise doubts, with customers asking:
- Do you apply the same level of care to your products, services or solutions?
- Are you as professional as your brand claims to be?
- Can your audience trust that you’re thorough in other areas?
All of a sudden the conversation has moved from your grammar ability to your credibility.
Attention to detail in marketing builds confidence
Your main goal in marketing is to build confidence… well actually it’s to generate strong hot leads to pass onto your sales team. But in order to do that those leads need to have confidence in the company you are marketing. That’s why if you get the small things right, it will help you to protect your brand reputation, build confidence in your audience, and show that you take your work seriously. It is a reflection of your company’s standards, and in a competitive market it’s those standards that matter.
Mistakes happen in marketing, we know
I’ve had countless conversations with colleagues (past, present, and no doubt future) on mistakes that have happened. There are Reddit boards dedicated to them as well. I remember one conversation with a marketing agency (who will remain nameless!) who talked about this time they created a stand for a customer, with multiple rounds of edits and photoshopping to get the images right, everyone completely missed the fact one man ended up with six fingers on one hand!
These things do happen, the good news is a lot of marketing material these days is online based, so a mistake like that can be quickly picked up and corrected. But when it comes to printed work it’s a different matter.
When this happens the best thing you can do is just own it.
The devil is in the marketing detail
Attention to detail isn’t about getting everything perfect, we are human, we err! It’s about showing your audience that you care enough to get it right. So before you hit the publish button, take a beat (as my favourite character from Blue Lights would often say). Have it peer reviewed, again if needed. Checking the small stuff might just be the thing that makes the biggest difference to your next campaign.