Wondering about the difference between dashes and hyphens?

DASHES (—) are used to set something apart in a sentence. They break up the flow of the sentence and are often used for dramatic emphasis (“Filled with anticipation, she grabbed her pink sneakers and ran to the check the mail — nothing came.”).

HYPHENS (-) are like mini dashes, but they are used to connect words together, often as compound modifiers (“They had a long-distance relationship.”)

Note: A single dash and single hyphen are not interchangeable. If you need a dash and can’t type one on your computer, put two hyphens together instead.

WHICH and THAT are both used to set off dependent clauses in sentences, but the clauses should be punctuated differently.

Dependent clauses that use WHICH should contain a comma on either side (“My lunch, which my boyfriend packed for me, is sitting on my desk.”). The word WHICH should precede non-restrictive clauses that are not essential to the overall meaning conveyed: The fact that the boyfriend packed the lunch is extra detail, but not necessary to the main point of the sentence (my lunch is sitting on the desk).

Use that, not which, in a restrictive clause — a clause necessary to the reader’s understanding of the sentence: Dependent clauses that use THAT don’t need commas to surround the clause (“The lunch that my boyfriend packed for me is sitting on my desk. My regular lunch is in the fridge.”). In this sentence, the lunch in question is not just any lunch, but specifically pointed out as the one packed by the boyfriend. The use of THAT with the restrictive clause puts more weight on the now essential detail.

This handy phrase makes the rule easy to remember:

Commas, which cut out the fat,

Go with which, never with that.

Check out this blog post from NYTimes.com for more that and which examples.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, this grammar post is all about relationships, or more specifically, how to use a semicolon.

Typically, SEMICOLONS are used to connect two independent clauses (complete sentences) that are closely related (“I love dogs; poodles are my favorite.”).

Because a semicolon points out the relationship between two sentences, you wouldn’t want to use one between two unrelated sentences (“I love dogs; it’s sunny today.”).

Semicolons can also be used to separate items in a list that already contains commas (“I love big, small and medium-sized dogs; brown, white, orange and black cats; big elephants; and tiny penguins.”).

Unless you’re documenting actual quotations or listing song titles, quote marks should be used sparingly. When used around a word or phrase in a sentence, the punctuation can denote that you mean the opposite of what your words actually say or that you disagree with the word choice. It’s like saying “so-called” before the word in quotes. For example: That “dinner” was awesome. (That so-called dinner was awesome? Yikes.)

If you need to draw attention to a particular word or phrase, first consider how to drive your message home with your sentence structure or paragraph breaks. Simplicity rules! If you still want to add extra emphasis to a word or a phrase, consider italics or bold instead of quotation marks. Again, use sparingly, so you don’t overdo it and lose effect.

Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Westminster College as they have researched and worked on coming up with a new tagline to capture and convey the college’s unique mission and marketing position. Congrats on a job well done to Westminster’s Kris Lensmeyer and her marketing team. They unveiled their new tagline this week: Educated to Lead. Inspired to Achieve.

Westminster empowered a team of outside help and inside staff to develop the words that will best carry the institution forward in the years to come. Regardless of your business’s size, taking a step back to assess your strategic positioning is crucial for success. The words you choose give focus – they lead  staff and stir clients and customers.

Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind …

Your tagline and mission should not be written in stone. Running a business is a journey. You change, the market changes, your customers’ needs change. Make sure that you adapt and stay in tune.

Talk to your customer. Set up focus groups to find out key points about what your customers need and want, so you can then evaluate how well your company is serving them. Send out a survey to reach even more people. Using a third party can help you get honest feedback, but even if you simply ask some questions informally, find out how they see your business and why they are loyal to you.

Talk to your staff and supporting partners. How do they see your business? Bring in their voices – again, utilize focus groups, surveys, interviews. You’ll gain even more perspective and empower your team to take ownership of the work you collectively provide.

Words matter. A tagline may be short, but you want it to be powerful. Test out your ideas. See what is the best fit.

Considering taglines and missions isn’t just wordplay. Raise your head and take a look at who your business is and what direction it is going so you can steer the way.

Don’t worry — You’re not alone in tripping over the following list of commonly misspelled words in business. The problem? Double letters and shifty vowels get tricky.

Here’s a list of some of the most often misspelled words to keep in mind — and near your desk:

accommodate

acknowledgement

commitment

deductible

inadvertent

indispensable

liaison

occurrence

personnel

prerogative

supercede

Affect vs. Effect

Don’t know if you had an effect or affect? Here’s help.

The majority of the time, AFFECT is a verb and should be used to denote action in a sentence (“The heat and humidity affected the athlete’s performance.”), and EFFECT is a noun and can be used as the subject or object in a sentence (“It’s difficult to determine what effect the heat had on the athlete’s performance.”).

There are rare instances, however, when the two switch places.

AFFECT can be a noun when referenced in psychology as the mood a person appears to have (“She presented a sad affect.”).

EFFECT becomes a verb when it’s used to mean “to bring about” or “to accomplish” (“The employee hoped her proposal would effect change in the office.”).

Since those two instances are less commonly used in everyday speech, keep them in the back of your mind, but remember the basic rule:

Affect = verb.

Effect = noun.

Hope today’s post has a positive effect on your writing!

In the midst of Christmas preparations, I’m reminded how the best basic principles to follow in social media are good life practices in general. The holidays are an opportune time to focus on what’s important, so I’m sharing some of the insight I took in at Michael Stelzner’s session on social media at the International Spa Association Conference in Las Vegas in November. (Stelzner is well-known for socialmediaexaminer.com – a great resource!)

Stelzner’s advice …

(1) Focus on “free stuff.” Give content away in order to build a customer base that trusts you. The best things in life are free and from the heart.

(2) Shine the spotlight on others, not yourself. “When you lift people up, they’ll lift you up.” When we do more for others, we are rewarded with great gifts.

May your holiday be filled with great bounty of immeasurable worth, and may the New Year find you surrounded by those who help you shine bright!

– Jenny

I recently saw a QR code in a spot I never expected to see one: on a billboard on Interstate 70. 

I wanted to take a picture to show why it is a bad idea to have a QR code on a billboard, but I couldn’t. It’s on a major interstate. Not a good idea to drive and try to use your phone’s camera at the same time – which is precisely why you shouldn’t put a QR code up on a billboard.

QR codes are good for offering an easy link to something special, but you have to put them in a situation where they are easy to scan. Driving by high speeds is not conducive to scanning. Think how the QR code can add real value to your marketing or communications plan, instead of just using as a high tech way to say “Look at me!”

For example, instead of embedding a QR code with a link to your web site on your business card, link to a vCard so that all your info goes straight to the scanner’s phone with no fuss, no muss, no typing.

All flash and no substance doesn’t take you far, so think about if you have a viable purpose for your QR code before you use it.

Does your spa have a social media presence?

Can you define the purpose of that presence in one sentence?

Can you look at your social media accounts and clearly see that purpose revealed?

How do you know that your social media presence is supporting that purpose?

“Social Media Ruined Everything,” a recent blog post on WebsiteMagazine.com, points out the need for accountability in social media participation. A couple of key points deserve to be reiterated:

(1) Businesses (and consumers) are confused by social media.

“Information management software company Endeca released results of its 2011 E-Commerce Analytics Survey recently and found that 61 percent of respondents admit they are currently making decisions based on half or less than half of data available to them. To make matters worse, nearly half of the survey respondents reported that they were using multiple tools (at least three ore more) to support business intelligence (BI) decisions.”

If prospective clients or guests are researching spas in your area, how is your social media presence helping them make that decision? If the only see half of the picture, what information are you giving them upfront and fast? How does your presence make you stand out from your competition?

Look not just at your own social media profile, but also that of the competition. Look at where you are represented, where they are represented, and make sure you have all bases covered.

(2) Too many businesses spin their wheels with social media.

“If you’re not on top of your game when it comes to your enterprise’s specific social media participation goals, you’ll be lost in a sea of competitors all clamoring for attention and loyalty from the same audience — and have nothing to show for it. “

But what does it mean to be on top of your game? If you don’t know why your business has a social media presence, it’s hard to evaluate how well you are doing.

If you want your Facebook page to be a place to drive last minute spa deals, then you should have a pretty clear picture of how your posts correlate to making the phone ring for appointments.

But if your goal is to build community and awareness of your spa, you can’t just limit your tracking to a quick look at how many times the phone rang today. Are you driving your online fans to your web site to sign up for e-news or to check out more information? Is your spa’s business finding more loyalty from your online fans? Slow and steady can still win the race, so don’t look solely at social media as a quick fix-all.