How important is proper grammar in business and marketing? Imagine if the product or marketing materials of a company contain grammatical or spelling errors. What does that tell you about the quality of their product and services? Would you neglect the kind of communication that the company puts forth and still trust your money in it? We believe that the language used by an organization, company or person reflects their attitude, capabilities and skills. Yes. Poor grammar in communications does make an institution look very unprofessional. And if you have people working for you with poor grammatical skills, then where does that leave you? In an article by Kyle Wiens entitled “I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why.” he highlighted the importance of proper grammar to an individual’s performance and how it affects their credibility as professionals working in a firm. It is always best to have people in your company who cares about details even the basic as grammar itself. Grammar does matter in business. And to give you an idea of how crucial grammar is in business, let’s take a look at this article from Kyle Wiens. I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here's Why. By Kyle Wiens If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building. Some might call my approach to grammar extreme, but I prefer Lynne Truss's more cuddly phraseology: I am a grammar "stickler." And, like Truss — author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves — I have a "zero tolerance approach" to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid. Now, Truss and I disagree on what it means to have "zero tolerance." She thinks that people who mix up their itses "deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave," while I just think they deserve to be passed over for a job — even if they are otherwise qualified for the position. Everyone who applies for a position at either of my companies, iFixit or Dozuki, takes a mandatory grammar test. Extenuating circumstances aside (dyslexia, English language learners, etc.), if job hopefuls can't distinguish between "to" and "too," their applications go into the bin. Of course, we write for a living. iFixit.com is the world's largest online repair manual, and Dozuki helps companies write their own technical documentation, like paperless work instructions and step-by-step user manuals. So, it makes sense that we've made a preemptive strike against groan-worthy grammar errors. But grammar is relevant for all companies. Yes, language is constantly changing, but that doesn't make grammar unimportant. Good grammar is credibility, especially on the internet. In blog posts, on Facebook statuses, in e-mails, and on company websites, your words are all you have. They are a projection of you in your physical absence. And, for better or worse, people judge you if you can't tell the difference between their, there, and they're. Good grammar makes good business sense — and not just when it comes to hiring writers. Writing isn't in the official job description of most people in our office. Still, we give our grammar test to everybody, including our salespeople, our operations staff, and our programmers. On the face of it, my zero tolerance approach to grammar errors might seem a little unfair. After all, grammar has nothing to do with job performance, or creativity, or intelligence, right? Wrong. If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use "it's," then that's not a learning curve I'm comfortable with. So, even in this hyper-competitive market, I will pass on a great programmer who cannot write. Grammar signifies more than just a person's ability to remember high school English. I've found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing — like stocking shelves or labeling parts. In the same vein, programmers who pay attention to how they construct written language also tend to pay a lot more attention to how they code. You see, at its core, code is prose. Great programmers are more than just code monkeys; according to Stanford programming legend Donald Knuth they are "essayists who work with traditional aesthetic and literary forms." The point: programming should be easily understood by real human beings — not just computers. And just like good writing and good grammar, when it comes to programming, the devil's in the details. In fact, when it comes to my whole business, details are everything. I hire people who care about those details. Applicants who don't think writing is important are likely to think lots of other (important) things also aren't important. And I guarantee that even if other companies aren't issuing grammar tests, they pay attention to sloppy mistakes on résumés. After all, sloppy is as sloppy does. That's why I grammar test people who walk in the door looking for a job. Grammar is my litmus test. All applicants say they're detail-oriented; I just make my employees prove it. (Source: blogs.hbr.org)

Let’s talk data. Most websites contain information like text, images and video. In general these are what we call data.

Any content you publish in your own website can be considered the data you create in order to build up your identity and to capture your market. In this post we will tackle more of the internet marketing ideas stressing out data and content control.

Demand for more reliable data When you’re building your website’s data, you need to create information that is useful not only for your website to generate traffic, but for your readers to share the content to their networks. When you choose the type of content you place on your site, make sure to base your decisions on verifiable research and ask the opinion of others.

Some problems arise when a decision is made just because an answer is needed immediately. Analyse your sources and think the pros and cons before choosing your data. Here are some steps in decision making:

• Identify the problem

• Filter Information

• Think of the pros and cons

• Analyze

• Visualize

• Criticize

• Create Options and Alternatives

• Decide

• Act on it

Control Data Flow Don’t use data if you only want to earn money. Your clients will realize that every time they go to your site you will be always trying to sell them something.

Be objective and try to think clearly what you want to establish in your website. Try to create a central resource of information where your market can go to and reliably get data and share it. How to create a data driven marketing strategy:

• Determine what data assets you have available (unique information)

• Create goals depending upon what your data tells

• Create a premise that you think might lead to achieving the goals

• Test your hypothesis

• Adapt your tactics (change according to results)

What to do with Existing Content The goal of repurposing content is to revise the old content and mix it with new one. Do not sacrifice the idea to keep it fresh. Update your content once in a while and let your readers get into your message and understand it clearly.

• Maximize the use of other mediums. If you write well why not make videos this time so that there will be variety in your content? Broaden your platform and attract more clients. Show your other expertise and you’ll eventually venture to more opportunities.

• Consider Content Feeds. Make a series of updates. If you can’t think of any post ask your readers what they want to know. Select from these suggestions and come up with a blog post. You can also choose your best post and make an interactive debate out of it.

• Broaden your reach. Aside from your own website you can post your articles to other article directories for other audience to read it. Make sure you include a link directing to your website if they have their questions.

• Create many but simple blog posts. If you can’t help yourself including a lot of information in your article. Try to break up your big ideas into smaller ones. Create series of blog in order to put emphasis on each idea.

We at The Northern Office-innovative Marketing make sure that your data and content are clear and direct for your market to recognize your brand. We can drive traffic to your website by creating effective content strategies that not only work to improve your online reach but generate leads from your visitors as well. Reach us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or +63 (0)45 499-1082

When it comes to Internet Marketing, strategies can become outdated and useless in a matter of weeks. The online environment is aggressive and you need to think ahead of everybody else since they will all be using similar techniques as you. Here are a couple of tips that you should remember when formulating your next big online marketing campaign:

• Use Time Wisely- Time is money. The amount of produced content is equivalent to the amount of money earned in a certain span of time. The more time you have, the more tasks accomplished which equals to more money invested.

Stop procrastinating and get things going. When something needs to be done, do your best to accomplish it on or before the deadline. Write down your goals along with the necessary actions to be taken in order to achieve it. You must put in writing everything that concerns your objectives so that you can stay on top of them. You can’t start with your next move if you don’t know where to start.

• Balance your time, make a schedule and give yourself deadlines. Through time management, you will improve your productivity and performance. ✓ Increase income ✓ Control and prioritize your tasks ✓ Accomplish small milestones that lead to your main goals

• Make Original and well-informed Content- Privacy and security on web are some of the main concerns in web marketing. The content we produce can be shared, copied and pasted in order to be used in other websites. You have to make sure that the content you create is unique enough that people use your site as a source of valuable information which generates awareness and improve your online reputation.

Owning your content gives you the advantages of:

✓ Control

✓ Credibility/Authority

✓ Quality Leads

• Secure Data- Check your data and own them even if you are paying a marketing agency. Check your contract with the marketing agency and own all the data collected and all the accounts they made for you. You have to secure these important documents so that if any issues arise between you and the agency, you will still own all the data that you paid for. When you prioritize and own your data, you maximize your:

✓ Data Security

✓Company Privacy

✓ Client Assurance and Assistance with Information Focus on these steps for the moment and let’s go deeper.

Internet Marketing can be easy and at the same time risky. Keep checking our website and we’ll give you different tips to help you maximize your online marketing strategy.

At The Northern Office-Innovative Marketing we make sure to give you only latest and most effective Internet Marketing tips. If you have questions about online marketing or the various services we offer, please feel free to email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (045) 499-1082. You can also visit our website, www.thenorthernoffice.com for more information. 

We often neglect the importance of what we are putting out in the world wide web because we are always in a rush to get and publish any information we have to our customers. But the more we rush, the likely chance we overlook what’s really important, and we prevent ourselves from reaching our marketing objectives. In this article, we have enumerated some reasons why content strategy shouldn’t be taken for granted in online marketing. 1. Rankings depend on content. Google keeps on reminding us that high quality content adds a great deal of factor to the search engine criteria. Good content leads to greater potential of online visibility. To get better rankings, your content should be: ✓    Relevant ✓    Organized ✓    Original ✓    Factual ✓    Keyword-rich ✓    Error-free For tips on creating a credible content, you may read our article on creating a killer content for your website. 2. Good content engages visitors. Content is important because it keeps the people informed; and valuable information is what people seek. When you give them information they can not only use but also share, you are giving them a reason to come back for more and creating authority. Come up with clever ideas to engage your site visitors. Give them something useful and beneficial and they will stick around. 3. Content represents your brand. Content is usually the first thing your visitors will look at, aside from the design and layout. Your content reveals the tone, style and image of your brand. While some may neglect it, corporate or brand image through content is important to earn and retain loyal visits. Garnering a loyal following develops you brand’s reputation and at the same time reinforces your brand as an authority in its field. 4. Content provides support. If people want answers, they would typically use the internet to search online to get information. One of the purposes why your website exists is to provide assistance in case your customers need something. Good customer service can serve as a great way to create a lasting impression with your customers so providing good support is key. Content is part of support as it imparts knowledge needed by a person to complete their transaction. These questions should help you analyze the quality of your content.

• Do you give out trustworthy information?
• Is it compelling?
• Is it clear and readable?
• Do you provide a content that actually helps?
• Do you offer solutions?

If most of your answers are “yes” then you are definitely giving out something worthy. Giving your customers something valuable ensures good results in return. 5. Proper planning gives great outcomes. Many companies jump into online marketing without a well-planned content strategy. The purpose of content planning is to ensure that your content maintains its consistency of flow and relevancy. Without a developed content strategy, all your online marketing efforts will be for nothing.Remember, it’s best to always practice the “Content is king” mantra. Content Strategy maximizes your website’s potential in engaging more customers. The Northern Office – Innovative Marketing Support executes a well-planned content creation that could help in your marketing success. To assist you with content strategy planning and implementation, email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call at (632) 499-1082 to avail our free consultation. Posted by John Joe Morgan