Does grammar reeeally matter?
When people think of what ‘good’ writing looks like, they’re often transported back to their school days. Sat in English lessons, learning about correct grammar, the difference between Adverbs and Adjectives and whether to write in the past or present tense.
But guess what? You can start a sentence with the word ‘And’. And you can do it as much as you like in marketing. As a copywriter, my job is to get across a message for a business, one that sells their product or service in the strongest way possible. A lot of the time this involves playing around with words to craft copy that first, attracts attention and second, engages with their target customers. It hardly ever means writing one grammatically correct paragraph after another.
So, when someone asks me the question, ‘does good grammar really matter in marketing?’ then my answer is generally, ‘Nope’. Well, more of a ‘no, it’s not the top priority’.
Good grammar isn’t going anywhere
Of course it still matters to an extent, grammar is there for a reason – to make sentences and paragraphs make sense and flow correctly. And while we’re at it, please get your ‘they’re’ and ‘their’ the right way round. But, outside of writing an essay for your A-Levels, it’s OK to have a bit of fun with copy when it comes to writing marketing messages.
Why marketing copy can break the rules
We can all think of memorable advertising slogans that use a great play on words. Often the most effective marketing messages are those that mix up the tenses or go against the grammar grain.
Think:
Find your happy (Rightmove) which should technically be Find your happiness.
I’m lovin’ it’ (McDonalds) which should read without the apostrophe on loving.
Be more Dog (O2) and Think different (Apple) are both grammatically incorrect but made fantastic ad campaigns.
And who remembers the infamous ‘Whassssuuup?’ Budweiser campaign? That would never have had the same impact had they used ‘What’s up?’ as a slogan. It was more about being catchy, funny and getting audiences talking.
When it comes to advertising and marketing, in the most part, the grammar rules are there to be broken if you want to. And that’s fine, as long as it fits in with your brand and makes sense to your target audience.
Speak to your audience in their voice
Colloquial language comes into play here too. Using informal expressions and sometimes slang words and phrases can make for memorable copy. Yorkshire Tea always get it right (and I’m not just saying that as a Yorkshire Copywriter!) with their ‘Everything’s done proper’ slogan-filled ads featuring Sean Bean and Sir Patrick Stewart. The odd ‘Ey Up and ‘Ow Do can add a bit of authenticity and personality to Yorkshire based brands.
It's important to write how your audience speaks. A good copywriter will always adapt copy to a brand or business’s specific ‘tone of voice’. Whether that be playful and fun with room to use slang words or more formal, for example copy for a hospital leaflet or a legal website.
So does grammar really matter?
Of course, good grammar matters overall but when it comes to writing marketing copy, you have permission to pop the rulebook to one side and write the strongest words that best meet the brief.
That doesn’t mean you can just write badly. Poor grammar looks unprofessional and can put potential customers off what you have to offer. Playing around with grammar to create clever and compelling straplines and slogans on the other hand? I’d say go for it!
Have fun with your brand copy and if you’re unsure where the line sits then get in touch with a professional copywriter (hello!) who can help you craft creative copy with a call to action.
I’m Christie, a copywriter based in Yorkshire, writing words for clients all over the UK.
Looking for support on your next copywriting project? I’d love to chat, email christieforcopy@outlook.com and we’ll go from there.