Isabellan Times

The other night I was doing origami with my daughter, creating boxes, fortune tellers, peacocks, etc.  Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding.  Most of you have heard of it through the inspiring story, Sadako and the 1000 Cranes.

I’ve been folding origami since I was a little girl…creating the pieces with my mom was part of my upbringing in Indonesia.   It’s a beautiful art that requires a bit of precision.  Any origami book will tell you that to be successful and create beautiful, balanced pieces, you need to work on a solid surface, make sure the edges and corners meet exactly, and your creases and folds are sharp.

On that night, I cognited as to where my perfectionism originated from.  All those days of making sure the creases and folds are sharp, and the edges and corners meet exactly…so that the crane is not lopsided and the frogs can jump straight (or jump at all). Origami teaches you that when your creases and folds are not sharp, when your edges and corners do not meet exactly, you’ll have a lopsided peacock that won’t stand.

So what does this have to do with marketing, PR, or branding?  Plenty.  Time and time again, I’ve told clients that everything coming from your practice (or business) represents who you are.  And time and time again, I see marketing pieces, websites, letters, and forms that are crooked, with spelling mistakes, and the likes.  Guess what this represents?  A crooked business that will provide their clients with crooked and flawed services and products.

Some people may not notice, but others will.  When I was in 6th grade, one of my girlfriends received a typed “marketing” letter from a dentist.  The letter had a word spelled incorrectly.  My 12 year old friend told her mom that she would never see that dentist, because if he can’t even spell a word right, what would he do with her teeth.  Another example is a patient who received a handwritten letter…that was crooked.  The patient came in and showed the letter to the staff member who wrote it.  The patient asked her “jokingly” what kind of day she was having when she wrote that letter.

I’m not saying you have to be perfect in everything, but is it so hard to make sure that the forms and letters you send out to your clients are straight?  Is it so hard to make sure you proofread your typed and published marketing pieces and websites to make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes?

Since I work mainly with dentists…please make sure that the stock photos you (or your marketing people) choose have pretty smiles.  The last thing you want to convey to potential patients are yellow, crooked, or buck toothed smiles…you know what I’m talking about.  I’ve seen the same stock photos with the same pretty girl (with bad teeth, if I may add) on billboards, postcards, and the likes.  By the way, if I received something from a dentist that is crooked, I would be afraid that dentist would place my crown crooked 😉

Are you a lopsided peacock that can’t stand?  Are you the handsome, standing peacock with precise folds and edges?

Simple things to do to improve your image and brand:

• Envelopes – Make sure address labels (and postage) are on straight
• Handwritten letters – Readable and not crooked
• Typed letters & marketing pieces – no spelling mistakes, decent grammar
• Client (or patient) forms – not crooked.

We’ll go over, in a future blog, how using pretty girls and guys in your marketing may not necessarily work for your business.

Disclaimer:  The Youtube video above has Sadako’s surname incorrect.  It is Sasaki, not Salaski.