Business editing: Reports, marketing content and moreWhy would a business use an editor?When your customers and prospects are reading your written material, you need them to focus on the meaning of your message. They may well be busy people, and unless they can absorb each sentence quickly and at the first attempt, they can easily lose interest and patience.
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Your written communications will only work for you if they’re:
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‘Graham’s work has consistently been accurate, comprehensive and insightful. His can-do attitude and efficient approach make him a valuable asset to any publishing enterprise.’ Editor, B2B content marketing agency |
Professional editing can be a great help with things such as:
It's easy to fall into common traps such as writing too much, using your own jargon instead of the customer’s language, using ‘big’ words to try to make a good impression, overusing capitals and not using a consistent style.
Also, avoiding errors will help your credibility: poor spelling or grammar is often a turn-off for potential customers.
If you’re a marketing, communications or PR firm, all of the above also applies to material that you write for your clients.
Your internal communications also need to be clear, concise and easy to follow. Otherwise your staff or colleagues will collectively waste hours trying to understand them, and waste both their time and yours by asking for clarifications.
- Business documents: reports, plans, reviews, proposals, bids, tenders, financial statements
- Marketing content: brochures, leaflets, flyers, catalogues, website content, blog posts, social media, magazines, newsletters, product descriptions, fact sheets, guides, advertorials, press releases, mailshots
- Internal communications: training documentation, staff memos/emails.
It's easy to fall into common traps such as writing too much, using your own jargon instead of the customer’s language, using ‘big’ words to try to make a good impression, overusing capitals and not using a consistent style.
Also, avoiding errors will help your credibility: poor spelling or grammar is often a turn-off for potential customers.
If you’re a marketing, communications or PR firm, all of the above also applies to material that you write for your clients.
Your internal communications also need to be clear, concise and easy to follow. Otherwise your staff or colleagues will collectively waste hours trying to understand them, and waste both their time and yours by asking for clarifications.
What I can do for you: the standard service
My business editing service can provide value by refining and polishing your writing, bringing clarity and smoothness to it. I’m trained and experienced in the art of checking for errors, inconsistencies, ambiguities, omissions, poor style, unhelpful jargon, superfluous words, and wording that can be improved. I also know how to fix these problems.
I can do any or all of the following, according to your needs:
- Improve the quality, clarity, readability and conciseness of your written material
- Fix errors and inconsistencies in spelling, grammar and punctuation
- Make sure the material is suited to your target audience (this can include reshaping it into plain English if needed – see next paragraph)
- Make sure it follows a suitable style
- Highlight suspected factual errors (although I don’t offer a full fact-checking service, I will report anything that strikes me as being potentially wrong)
- Advise on structure, layout and formatting where needed
Other needs
If you’re aiming at a wide or non-specialist audience, plain English can make a big difference to the impact your content will have. I can help with this, as described here: just mention it when you’re asking for a quote, and I'll include it, perhaps as an optional extra.
For a designed publication, such as a brochure or client magazine, I can copy-edit the content before it’s converted into its final format for publishing, or proofread the formatted version afterwards. This is similar to the work I do for publishers.
I can help with your website content, including blog posts – for details, please see this article.
Could your document benefit from a high-level editorial review before you finally get it ready to send it to an editor for a more detailed check? My document assessment service can do this for you.
I can also help you to define a consistent style for your written material, by creating or enhancing a style guide.
Please note: I don’t write content from scratch – for that, you’d need a copywriter.
For a designed publication, such as a brochure or client magazine, I can copy-edit the content before it’s converted into its final format for publishing, or proofread the formatted version afterwards. This is similar to the work I do for publishers.
I can help with your website content, including blog posts – for details, please see this article.
Could your document benefit from a high-level editorial review before you finally get it ready to send it to an editor for a more detailed check? My document assessment service can do this for you.
I can also help you to define a consistent style for your written material, by creating or enhancing a style guide.
Please note: I don’t write content from scratch – for that, you’d need a copywriter.
Keeping it confidential
As an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), with its code of practice, I assure you that I’ll respect the confidentiality and commercial sensitivity of any material you share with me. I’ll gladly sign a suitable confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement if you ask me to.
Please get in touch and tell me what you’re looking for. I can consider doing a sample edit, to help make sure we agree on what’s to be done, and to give you an idea of what my finished work would look like.
