I sometimes work with companies that want to capitalize words that they feel are important, but which grammatically should be lower case. Example:

We offer Stability, Innovation, Excellence and Value.

A capital offense?

To an educated reader, overuse of capitals makes a poor impression. It implies that the company doesn't understand or respect grammar, or doesn't realize their messages are being compromised by a subtle form of redundancy.

When lots of words are capitalized, they tend to cancel each other out in importance. This defeats the whole purpose of giving prominence to certain words.

My advice is don't go crazy with capitals. Raise capital for your business, but keep a lower profile in your paragraphs.

© Miller McMillan