Important Lesson: Check The Details

It seems that it’s an incredibly common mistake to create publicity which looks good, but gets the crucial details wrong. Dates, times, locations, e-mail addresses and spellings of names are all pretty common. Hopefully, you can either correct in time (with tippex and a biro if necessary) or the detail isn’t too important. Sending out 180,000 penalty notices with the wrong number is a particularly spectacular mistake though.

I have a theory about this. The details often get added to publicity early on, fairly hastily, as they are the ‘boring bits’ of info that you as the writer already know, and you are more interested in concentrating on the blurb around the details and the design. Then, at the end, when you’re proof-reading, your eye skips over the boring details, which you assume are correct, and you concentrate more on minor design or layout issues.

Conclusion: be consciously aware of this problem, and triple-check the important details!

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