Small Giants writes every piece of content according to AP Style. Annually, the Associated Press releases an updated stylebook to standardize basic writing style and to announce changes to English writing standards. The stylebook acts as a guide and reference for writers across all platforms by offering information on the best practices for grammar, punctuation and more.

When working with clients we see a lot of common mistakes in writing that they have developed. To maintain a professional and articulate image, we always suggest that AP Style guidelines are followed. Here are few examples of the recommendations we frequently make:

Hyphens when talking about square feet

• Use hyphens in a modifier (e.g., a 200,000-square-foot space).
• Do not use hyphens with a stand-alone phrase (e.g., The space offers 200,000 square feet).

Capitalization of titles

• Lower case after a name (e.g., Joe Bob, vice president of Construction Co.).
• Capitalize prior to a name (e.g., Construction Co. Vice President Joe Bob).

Capitalization of roles

• Lower case when used without a name (e.g., The architect, owner and developer)

Numbers

• Generally, spell out one through nine and use figures for 10+.
• Exceptions include percentages (e.g., 3 percentage points), age (e.g., 3-years-old) and dimensions (e.g., 6 feet long and 9 miles wide).

Dates

• There is no yesterday, today or tomorrow. Readers may not find your news on the day that it was written or published, so be exact with dates.
• If an event occurs within a week, use the day. If it occurs further out, use the date.
• If it occurs within the current calendar year, you do not need to include the year.
• Spell out the days of the week (e.g., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.).
• Abbreviate months if they are used with a date (e.g., Feb. 20, 1987).

Remembering all of these rules can be difficult! If you need help writing or editing content according to AP Style when crafting press releases or copy for web and marketing materials, please reach out.