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When I worked with a banking client, the best marketing effortswere often derailed in branch by staff armed with a felt tip pen and poorly suppressed creative urges.
Everyone from the local greengrocer to global finance giants messes up when saying something simple about an unexpected event or when making a request to retail customers.
For example, just after the credit crunch (and when a cold snap had hit) a shop in Bristol city centre had a sign on the door saying Closed due to cold - please come in. This had a particularly unfortunate effect when posted among shops that had closed permanently due to bankers' cocaine habits. It would be better to write Open as usual - please come in.
A local restaurant used to have the following notice on every menu: Order strictly from the menu. Any variation will incurr a £1 additional charge. Apart from the obvious hostility to customers implied, they were actually missing a marketing opportunity. Maybe they would have made more money by saying We will be pleased to accommodate off-menu orders at additional cost.
As a final example, an entire retail development (also in Bristol) had this sign distributed liberally around when building work was underway:
Over 300 shops open during refurbishment. We look forward to seeing you.
This starts well but why put the 'seeing you' in the future tense? Come on in would be better, given that the shops actually want me to visit them today, not at some point in the future.
See also how to say yes. | 
