A couple of months ago, I was asked to provide a quote for a copywriting project being handled by a company in Dubai. The company were tendering for the writing jobs for a utilities industry company, so my experience of writing for utilities industry software seemed to make me a good fit. To cut a long story short, they eventually abandoned the idea of having professionally written English due to the cost, and decided to carry on using broken English documentation because ‘it doesn’t really matter if the English is right’.
I can’t comment on that because I have never worked or lived there (but I can’t imagine that having broken English is of any use to any English speaking person, especially those with English as a second language). However, I have heard the same comments from businesses here in the UK, and in these days of mass marketing and the Internet, it always surprises me how many people think having inaccurate English won’t affect their business.
The language you use on your website and in your flyers and brochures can affect your business more than you think. Because it represents your company in just the same way as snazzy graphics and logos – get it right and it creates a trust in your capabilities; get it wrong, and it can make your business seem unprofessional and unreliable.
Now, if you’re unconvinced about the power of writing, consider this – you’re on the Internet looking for a certain type of product. You find two sites that are both selling the product at around the same price, but one site is poorly presented, difficult to follow and has clear mistakes. The other site has a more professional approach and tells you everything you want to know using language you can understand. Which of the two businesses would you buy from? Exactly.
