Do you ever think about the difference between high standards and high maintenance?
Early in my professional career, I learned an important lesson. We worked with a client to create a glossy insert for the daily newspaper. Tons of time went into the piece; yet, somehow all the proofers overlooked a misspelled word prominently displayed on the cover. Oops! Thankfully, it wasn’t my client, but that taught me the importance of quality control.
Fast-forward a few years. The agency I work for has a reputation for high standards. When I first started working here, it boggled my mind that *everything* went through such a rigorous proofing process — whether it was a simple press release … or a high-end brochure. Sometimes, the process would frustrate employees. After all, who doesn’t want things to move along faster?!? But, I get it now. When the quality control process relaxes, bad things happen (e.g., see earlier example).
Economics influence the rigorous quality control process in place for print products. The cost to reprint a brochure is thousands of dollars. But, how do we approach the online world? It’s easy to fix an online mistake, right? After all, it’s not “permanent” … just change some code. (I get that sometimes things slip through the cracks. Surely, we’ve all written a blog post with a misspelling. But, I think that’s a little different than a website that serves as the “face” of a company.)
When agencies send brochures to clients for approval, they’re supposed to be mistake-free. But, when the client receives a test link, is it just about perfect? Here’s the thing: Quality control isn’t just about dollars and cents. It’s about your reputation. It’s a reflection of your standards.
After graduating college, my best friend and I would joke about the fact that we weren’t high maintenance … we just had high standards. At that time, we were talking about our dating habits. (We were just a wee bit selective!) But, that same concept still applies to my life. I’m not trying to be difficult, but I absolutely believe in the importance of high standards. If you don’t have that, what exactly do you have?
Are you noticing a lax in quality control with the increase of online communication? What steps do we need to take to make sure that our clients receive only our best work product — print or online?