On any given day you have things coming at you via email, papers coming across your desk and overflowing your inbox, and you struggle successfully to get it all done. And in the middle of this chaos you are creating social media posts, writing newsletter copy, sending emails….multi-tasking you brains out. You are the company marketeer! Doer of doers! Making it all happen at lightning speed.

But it might be time to slow your roll.

It’s often during these times that you come in to work the next am, open up your email and discover from a co-worker that your last social post has a bit of an issue. So you hop on Facebook and boom….there it is. Staring you (and thousands of other people) in the face. A typo.

In olden days of solely print typos (and grammatical errors) were, and remain, the death of us. However, in the age of digital marketing, things are moving and spreading faster than ever before. No longer are you just worrying about a misprinted ad that ran one time in a local paper. Nowadays your message hits the ground running spreading like wildfire all over the internet.

“So what?” You think. “It’s not a huge deal. I mean, how many people even caught it?” And what harm can it do? Well, for starters it’s the reason I decided to write a blog.

On the extreme end a typo can cause you financial loss, some major embarrassment, and even law suits. Some I found are quite simply amazing – literally made me belly laugh heartily. (I’m still snickering and have shared them below). But on a more real level, what you put out there reflects your brand, and lack of attention to details like this can be harmful.

Here are some tips on how to avoid typos:

1. Spellcheck – seems like an obvious one, doesn’t it? But for those of us in a hurry, or that lack intermediate computer skills, the knowledge of this function evades us. Slow down. Use spellcheck. (Side note – spellcheck will not check grammatical errors, as these are real words misplaced. You still have to read your document)
2. “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” – and the similar can be said for proofing! Reading your document out loud can help you find those pesky typos!
3. Read it backwards – a Carol Felzein 101 trick I learned, reading backwards will help you focus on spelling.
4. Second set of eyes – when you have been working on something quite closely for some time, a fresh set of eyes can be a godsend. A new person may pick up on something your eyes have repeatedly glazed over – and not for lack of trying. Simply your brain just reading it as you know it should be.

Are you a visual ninja? After reading the the sentence. You are now aware that the the human brain often does not inform you that the the word “the” has been repeated twice every time. In fact, many people think that optical illusions are are tricks of the eye – they they are not – they are tricks tricks of the brain – our eyes eyes see them and our brains brains interpret them incorrectly.

Let’s face it – it happens to the best of us, but do yourself, and your brand, a favor. Slow down. Use the tools and people available to you. Hopefully we won’t see each other on any “Top Worst Typos” lists anytime soon.