Proofreading and Copy Editing

It’s not just about commas and semicolons—though using them correctly is important to conveying your message. The Gordon Group, LLC, can be your last line of defense and your marketing partner for your written and web communications!

There is a significant advantage to having your advertising, marketing, website content, prospecting letters, RFP responses, presentations, transcreation projects, or other promotional material copy edited and proofread by someone who also has a marketing background who is not too close to your business. Our brains tend to “self-correct” as we know what we meant and we know the industry jargon though our prospective readers may not. This is an important difference we offer.

Our work brings not only fresh eyes to review your content… it also takes full advantage of many years of marketing and advertising experience to make sure you convey the right impression that is appropriate for your specific audience. Presentation copy is one of the most overlooked areas yet the effect of a typo or inconsistency in a presentation showing larger than life on a screen or handout at a conference or in a meeting can be a distraction that can also diminish your brand and credibility. Creative agencies can also outsource these services to us to help ensure consistent and accurate quality and bill their clients for the work, as well.

Mistake-laden copy tends to cast doubt on your own quality-assurance systems. Don’t short-circuit your business and marketing plans by communicating the wrong image and differentiating yourself in the wrong way as not being accurate or thorough.

Style note: You’ve likely noticed that we have been lower-casing “web” and “website,” and that’s based on the current style guides, which have switched to that style.

What is the difference between proofreading and copy editing?

The following service descriptions are very general; please contact us for more information regarding levels within and beyond these categories.

Proofreading

Proofreading identifies and corrects grammatical and technical errors as well as inconsistencies within your own style. If your document is a Word document, we turn on change tracking so you can each all edits that were done (and some are very tiny such as deletion of an extra space after a period or colon), and you are also provided a version with changes accepted. If your document is provided as a PDF, we use comment “bubbles” to note the corrections and any queries. Good proofreading requires knowledge and vigilance!

Copy Editing

Copy editing is more substantive than proofreading and entails a line-by-line examination of a document for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and conformity to style as well as meaning and appropriateness for the target audience. The language can be polished and the writer’s meaning clarified, if needed. The first review of existing material is typically considered to be copy editing, and, in most cases, we create a personalized style guide for your firm or agency to help ensure consistency for your materials or for those you develop for each of your clients

The Gordon Group, LLC, can be your last line of defense and your marketing partner for your written communications!

You are likely to find that it is less expensive to use us than not to. (By the way, that sentence was a good example of some poetic license with the language; it ended in a preposition.) Good grammar doesn’t need to strangle your creativity, but it can help assure that the impression you create with your written words is a positive one. We can be that “fresh set of eyes” that can help protect you. An error-prevention system is almost mandatory as today’s competitive environment may preclude our getting a second chance to communicate. We can also prepare a custom style guide for you that will be a helpful reference tool for future projects so that even your first drafts will be more consistent.