Marketing and communications is a tricky business. With duties ranging from writing press releases and speech scripts to creating marketing collateral and handling event promotions, succeeding in a marketing communications role can be as stressful as being the face of the company — even if you're just a behind-the-scenes employee.

In any one day, you could be handling calls from local news outlets, answering an intra-office instant message and trying to scarf down something to keep your blood sugar under control, all while simultaneously typing up an email for a client or for the boss. Add to the mix the fact that you're most likely subject to numerous requests for materials review on a daily basis, and it is not hard to see where blunders or even major catastrophes could occur.

As the one who fills the marketing communications role of your company, your hands and eyes must cross every piece of communications material that goes out the door. If you're not careful, you might just accidentally let something questionable slip past your usually-mistake-catching eye.

Take for instance this recent jaw-dropping Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie poster incident (a real cowabunga no-no):

Did you miss it? Notice the turtles jumping off the exploding building, then look down at the movie's release date for this Australian poster.

This graphics gaffe could possibly have been stopped before the presses, but it's hard to know what kind of stresses the employees were under during the review process. Who knows how many eyes actually saw the movie poster. Regardless of where the blame lies, these mistakes were avoidable.

Make sure you aren't tripped up by a similar situation by following these three simple steps:

Step 1: Be aware. We all get busy; there's no getting around that. This is no excuse for laziness. Even if it's 5 p.m. on a holiday-weekend Friday, you have to keep your mind focused on the task at hand. The fate of your company's reputation is at stake.

Step 2: Be thorough. No matter how many people have claimed to review any one piece of marketing material, you must look at each piece with fresh eyes and assume no one else has given their stamp of approval. Even if your best editor, whom you wholeheartedly trust because you trained him/her, brings something to you and says, "You don't really have to look at this it's good to go," you must give it the proper review.

Step 3: Do steps 1 and 2 again (maybe even two or three more times). Seriously. The importance of mindfulness in the marketing communications business cannot be stressed enough. You could catch something minor like the absence of a much-needed comma, or you might just save the day by vetoing the seemingly harmless and less noticeable phallic-shaped elephant trunk on the cover of a children's storybook.

Now, was the Ninja Turtle poster just an accidental slip by a somewhat oblivious marketing communications professional, or was this an evil genius kind of ploy to get people talking about the upcoming film? We may never know, but you can be sure to never let something like this happen to you.