Six ways an editor can improve your business content

By Mary McCauley
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This article was originally published in Editorial Excellence, the newsletter of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP, formerly the SfEP), in May 2019.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

What do you think of when you read the words ‘editor’ or ‘proofreader’? Perhaps if you haven’t used our services before, you might think of us as people who look for spelling and grammar errors? People who check that commas are in the right places? And, yes, you’d be right – we do check these things. But we can also do much more to help you produce content that delivers on its business objective.

Business editors work on a wide range of business content including reports, strategies, policies, newsletters, blog posts, websites, brochures, marketing material, catalogues, manuals, presentations, directories and survey results. Here are six ways an editor can add value to these documents.

1. An editor can make sure your content is clearly written and complete

​Often when we are so familiar with or knowledgeable about a topic, we have difficulty explaining it in a way that a non-expert reader can understand. So whether it’s a guide about your services, a marketing material promoting a new product, or a report on a technical examination, an editor can make sure that your intended readers will understand it and take action as you want them to.

An editor can edit and, if necessary, rewrite your content to ensure that:

• the wording, style and tone are suitable for the target reader
• the content flows in a logical order the reader can follow
• there is no confusing or misleading content
• no important information is missing
• no unnecessary information is included
• the layout helps guide the reader, e.g. paragraphs, headings, lists, graphics
• the language, spelling and style are consistent. ​

2. An editor can check that the basic facts in your content are correct

While businesses are responsible for the content they create, editors can help make sure that this content is accurate. We can save you from publishing an embarrassing mistake and the potential customer mistrust that might follow. If, for example, you are writing a business-to-business report, you might include details of your client’s or another company’s name and products. You might refer to relevant legislation or to specific dates. It’s important that these details are correct and that your client can rely on you to get them right.

An editor can check that names are spelled correctly, that you’ve referred to the correct section and year in the legislation and that Thursday 16 November 2018 actually was a Thursday.

3. An editor can rewrite your content into plain English

Writing in plain English is not about ‘dumbing down’ language, nor is it only for target audiences that include people with reading difficulties. Customers are busy and probably prefer not to have to wade through dense, long-winded text to get to the basic information they’re looking for. Writing in plain, simple language can help you deliver your message more successfully. If your customers understand it, you’ll have fewer queries to deal with.

A plain English editor can help ensure that your content contains:

• language your target audience will understand
• positive and active language
• everyday vocabulary.

​And that it avoids:

• long, meandering sentences
• problematic jargon and bureaucratic phrasing
• unnecessary words and phrases
• unnecessary capital letters.

Photo by Lum3n from Pexels

4. An editor can create a style guide for your organisation’s written content

Does your organisation create a lot of written content? Is it written by two or more people? Is the work subcontracted to copywriters, design companies, printers, etc.? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then consider developing your own organisation-specific style guide. Using one means it’s more likely your documents will be consistent in language and style. This in turn helps increase your customers’ confidence in your business.

An editor can create and develop a style guide specifically for your organisation. This will guide the people writing your content on things such as:

• Capitalisation – chief executive officer or Chief Executive Officer?
• Numbers and symbols – 20% or 20 per cent?
• Currency – euros or euro?
• Lists – full stops, commas or nothing at the end of bullet points?
• Dates and time – 13 May 2019 or May 13, 2019?
• Spelling preferences – recognise or recognize?
• Quotations – double quote marks or single?

​An editor can also include an A–Z list of words, terms and abbreviations used regularly in your business and give guidance on the spelling, capitalisation, etc. of these.

5. An editor can deliver editing and proofreading training to your staff

If you would like to develop your organisation’s in-house writing and editing expertise, an editor can design and deliver workshops for your staff based on your organisation’s particular needs. This will help your staff to write better business content.

An editor can provide training on:

• editing and rewriting content
• writing in plain English
• using your organisation’s style guide
• proofreading.

6. An editor can proofread your final designed content before it goes to the printer

Along with all this added value an editor can bring to your business content, we can still help you with that final proofread of your designed and laid-out content. However, this proofread includes so much more than just a check for spelling and grammar errors! Business clients are often amazed by how detailed a final proofread can be and the range of problems it can highlight.

An editor can proofread your final document to check that:

• a table of contents page matches the actual contents
• headers, footers and page numbers are correct and consistent
• the content is laid out correctly and in the right order
• headings and subheadings are correctly and consistently styled
• lists are consistently styled and punctuated
• images and graphics are clear and placed correctly
• tables and figures are numbered, captioned, referenced and styled correctly
• hyperlinks work and are styled consistently.

​The above is just a sample list and by no means exhaustive – there are lots of other things we also check for in a final proofread.
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Your business content is important, and getting it wrong can be costly and time consuming. An editor can do so much more than just check it for spelling mistakes, so consider contracting a trained professional editor to help you create the best content for your business.

​Note: For the record, 16 November 2018 was a Friday and not a Thursday!