A doctor’s greatest ally, believe it or not, is the well-informed patient. One might think differently. In fact, in popular media these roles always seem to be antagonistic and opposing. The aging doctor feeling insecure when the patient anticipates his diagnosis; a know-it-all patient trusting the Internet over the M.D. and winding up dead because he believed some crack-pot homeopathic cure; both harboring feelings of superiority, and nothing gets done. We’ve all seen these depictions in sitcoms or episodes of ER, but is this reality? Are doctors really so insecure that a patient armed with some clinical study abstracts and pre-conceived notions sends them on the defensive? Are some patients really so arrogant as to disregard a trained doctor’s medical advice? I suppose if every examination room wall could talk, at least several would report back in the affirmative for both questions. The vast majority of doctors actually welcomes well-informed patients – they make their jobs easier and increase the chance that the patient will actually understand the doctor’s terminology.

The result is a streamlined flow of information between doctor and patient. It’s almost as if they have become peers and the two can speak frankly and effortlessly, like two doctors discussing a medical case. That’s exaggeration, of course, but it’s true that treatment moves more smoothly when the doctor doesn’t have to stop to explain every single little detail to the clueless patient.

Young and middle-aged patients tend to be the best-informed. They’re the ones for whom the Internet has become a research staple. Interested in dining out tonight? Hop online for thousands of restaurant reviews. Worried about that rash? You can probably find a decent approximation of a diagnosis online. It’s your elderly patients – the most numerous of all – that are largely computer illiterate and, therefore, mostly ignorant of medical issues (unless they’re talking about their own previous health issues – we all know how Grandpa lives to discuss his arthritis to anyone who’ll listen). They do seem to have a healthy curiosity and willingness to learn, so you just have to present information in their terms.

Aside from perhaps including “Internet for Dummies” with your waiting room fare, your best bet is to set up an assortment of acrylic brochure holders containing informational brochures. When designing brochures, skew simplistic; you have to assume these people are walking in with little to no existing medical knowledge. Give general overviews supported by details. Provide the basic necessary information and the patients will respond with intelligent follow-up questions in the exam room.

Make the Exam Room Wait Bearable

As you guys all know, going in for a doctor’s appointment is comprised of a series of temporary appeasements. First, you arrive on time, but the doctor can’t see you just yet. You put your name down on the sign-in list, though, so that’s something. It keeps you somewhat satisfied that things are moving along. You’re still sitting in the waiting room, but at least your name’s down and the ball is rolling. Now, you’re thumbing through old issues of “People” to keep busy when the nurse finally pops her head out and calls your name.

Yes! Almost there.

You are led to a small side room and told to remove your pants and sit on the examination table. The wax paper

underneath keeps bunching up and you’re waiting – yet again – but at least you’re at the last step in the process. But soon enough, ten minutes have passed and you’re still twiddling your thumbs. What to do while you wait?

Well, doctors, put yourself in your patients’ shoes. Your appointment is set for 10:30, but you don’t even see the doctor until 11:15. Sounds pretty frustrating, right? You can ease the pain of extended wait times by providing some reading material for the examination room. You already provide magazines for the waiting room in order to alleviate patient frustrations, so why not do the same for the examination rooms? Sitting in a bare room with white walls and that ambient buzzing noise from the lights can be incredibly boring and incredibly stressful.

Instead of providing the same outdated magazines they read in the waiting room, cover the examination room walls with interesting, pertinent medical posters. Maps of the human anatomy, little-known medical facts, easy preventive measures everyone can relate to – these are just a few great topic choices for examination room wall mounted posters. Not only will you keep the patients occupied, you’ll also provide good, useful medical information to people who could stand to hear it. An informed patient is always a better patient.

W and WF poster holders are the two best wall mounted poster holders around. Their acrylic, glossy sheen will both protect and advertise your posters. It’s easy to clean, too, so if a patient gets a little handsy, removing smudges won’t be a big issue. They’re easy to mount on the wall, cabinets, or door, and they give your office a decidedly professional air. Just tacking posters up without a holder looks crude and unprofessional, so use the W or WF poster holders and instill confidence in your patients.

One more piece of advice for all you doctors out there looking to spruce up your waiting room environment and make it more inviting and welcoming to patients: put up posters! People aren’t going to be satisfied with your old, outdated magazines for very long. They can only read about Brangelina and Bennifer news for so long. Patients are people, too, and they have a breaking point! But don’t be lulled into the ugly habit that most offices – not even just doctors – have when displaying posters: those cheap, totally inauthentic posters with pseudo-inspirational terms like “Integrity” or “Persistence” accompanied by some random, cookie-cutter nature scene. People don’t like those and they’ve become a huge parody of themselves, so lose the sunset shots. A better option would be to put up informational medical posters. That way, the patients will have something substantive to look at while they wait and wait for their names to be called.

I would suggest using a poster detailing all the segments of the human anatomy; that one’s good with the kids and it actually teaches them something useful. If you’re, say, an orthopedist dealing with knees, put up a poster with the interior view of the knee, including tendons, joints, bones, ligaments, with an explanation describing each part. Or this could even work for you dentists. Get a nice poster with comprehensive cross-sections of the teeth from all angles, including what a cavity or decay might look like, and put it up. You could even take it a step further and include some brochures with even more information to clarify just what the patients are looking at on the poster.

Whatever you decide, it’s a good idea to put your posters up in poster holders. That way, you can protect your possessions while presenting them in a professional, distinguished manner. Just slapping some bare posters up on the wall makes your waiting room look like a ten year-old girl’s bedroom; you want to inspire confidence in your patients, not ridicule. Your best bet is to use the style A acrylic sign holder. It’s angled and fits perfectly on a desk or table, so you can display your poster to align with the patients’ eyes. They won’t even have a chance to get bored and annoyed – your style a sign holder will leap out at them! And even better, use a style A with brochure pockets to hold your information brochures and expand on the info presented in the poster.

Last time, I spoke glowingly of my doctor’s inspired use of wall mount business card holders to promote good patient relations. His impressive mosaic of business cards may have increased his business profile, but more basic and utilitarian usage is just as effective. In fact, by using wall mount business card holders with the proper placement, orientation, and location, professionals looking to promote themselves can maximize their cards’ effectiveness.

The basic business card is, for our intents and purposes, a two-dimensional object. Without support, it lies flat. The business card holder not only supports the business card, it also improves its appearance. Instead of shrinking away, a business card in a holder presents itself to the eye in an attractive package: a protective, glossy sheen that streamlines the card’s appearance and draws the eye more than does a dull, matte finish. People, after all, love shiny things, and they’ll be more likely to pick up and keep a business card that they notice. At the heart of everything, we’re still animals with subconscious instincts. A nice-looking business card holder simply taps into those instincts.

Location and placement are absolutely key elements to a successful business card holder implementation. If your business cards are displayed in the wrong venue, no amount of artful placement will get you any significant levels of callback. Likewise, if you fumble business card holder placement in the perfect venue, you’ll have squandered your chances at a ton of business. Say you’re an immigration lawyer looking to get the word out, and you’re trying to decide where to display your business cards. Displaying your cards at an immigration office will likely yield optimum results, but you also have to consider market saturation. There were likely dozens of immigration lawyers with the same idea, so you could be competing against them all for ad space. You could try displaying the cards where your target demographic is likely to frequent: among manual laborers, for example.

You must also be mindful of business card holder placement. The basic business card holder rests on a table, desk, or other flat surface. These tabletop holders mostly count on people looking down. And I suppose that’s a pretty fair assumption; most people are accustomed to finding business cards on tables, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility. But if you also use wall mount business card holders, you effectively cover all angles. The customer looks down, sees a card. If he glances up, the wall mount holder greets him. Cards everywhere. He’s almost compelled to take one.

It’s worth a shot, at least.

Hey, folks. I’m still not done with my doctor’s office rant. While I was waiting around, thumbing through the terrible magazines and trying to avoid making eye contact with the people who were also waiting, I noticed something very strange about the doctor’s office.

All over the walls – every single wall, in fact – were hundreds of business cards like so many little pieces of advertising wallpaper. I was puzzled, to say the least, and had never seen anything like it. But my interest was piqued and, being a marketing and ad buff, I had to investigate.

There had to be over two hundred cards in all, attached to the wall with the help of a wall mount business card holder, something I’d never actually seen before. Let me rephrase that – I have seen business card holders before, but never used to create a wall-mounted mosaic of adspace. And in a doctor’s office, no less, which makes it even more impressive.

After talking to the doctor about it, I came away extremely impressed at his business acumen and sense of civic duty. The man supports local businesses by agreeing to display all of his patients’ business cards on the walls using the wall mount business card holders at absolutely no cost. He charges nothing for this service, and judging from the steady flow of happy, satisfied patients in the office, I somehow imagine his own business doesn’t suffer at all for this gesture. On the contrary: it’s apparent that this gesture has proved to be mutually beneficial for all parties involved.

Seeing the way that doctor used the wall mount business card holders made me hopeful, but it also made me a bit sad. As much as witnessing his example of civic goodwill that really paid off puts a smile on my face, its rarity – the fact that I so seldom happen across a positive example of good business practice – can be disheartening.

Brochures are fantastic. They’re easy-to-handle, easy-to-transport, dense, little packets of information that can be produced on any given topic. The layout for all brochures is pretty standard. You know what you’re going to get, and you know how to get it - you simply open the brochure and everything you need to know is presented in a way that makes it easy to find important information. So easy, in fact, don’t you sometimes wish you could get all your information presented the same way? Getting the daily news can be a chore in and of itself. Watching the news on television is just terrible – you can barely pay attention to what the reporters are saying because of all the bell and whistle animations all over the screen. Getting the news in the paper can be a pain, too - the stories are spread out over several pages and interrupted with ads for irrelevant products like evening wear and plastic surgeons. On top of all of this, what they’re saying in the news media is often biased and convoluted - but that’s another story altogether.

Today, however, things can be different. Think of this blog post as your very own online news brochure holder. Today we’ll preview our favorite online source of news that tells you exactly what’s going on in either text or audio format.

NPR.org (National Public Radio’s website) is a phenomenal source of information. The website is pristine - it is full of clearly organized and user-friendly headers (News, Election 2008, Business, Health & Science, People & Places, Arts, etc). NPR.org not only provides up-to-the-minute full length stories written in a smart and unbiased fashion, but most commonly you’ll find a link to an audio recording of the actual radio broadcast. In the spirit of the compact and easy-to-read brochure, the best aspect of NPR.org’s website is the “News In Brief” section, which brings the day’s top stories to you in around 100 words or less. The best part? NPR.org has no outside advertisements, has a Google Page Rank of 8/10, and, of course, is funded by the public.

You can spend 5 hours or 5 minutes on NPR.org and come away completely satisfied, whether you’re looking to understand the complete history of the world or simply get a picture of the last 24 hours. NPR’s reporters are award-winning, multidisciplinary journalists whose motivation to report news clearly and concisely comes from their lack of enjoyment for regular news.

Take a look at NPR.org, and see for yourself! I promise you won’t be dissatisfied.

If you’ve been keeping up with us lately, you know we’ve been talking about interesting connections between education and business world as part of our series titled “Education & the Changing Workforce.” In our most recent entry, we painted a picture of a unique event hosted on a university campus that illustrated the stark differences between the traditional American educational method and that of Montessori schools. Today, we’ll continue the discussion by explaining the differences between these two methods in a more detail.

In literature displays across the country, you can stories or special notices about the Montessori Method. The public interest persists, and it makes sense that it does. Many of us have never heard of the Montessori Method, and, if we have, our understanding rarely does it justice.

My attempt to define the Montessori Method goes something like this: It is a type of school that fosters an environment conducive to self-directed and self-corrected learning, appreciation for all fields of study, and development of practical life skills. Teachers are not called teachers, but “directors” or “guiders” instead. These directors or guiders communicate to students that they should perform well for themselves, not for adults, or other children. This approach is believed to be beneficial to the development of the student’s creative and imaginative domains. If true, this is an interesting concept, for if students adopt a resourceful way of doing things at a young age, it becomes a part of how they work, solve problems, and develop their communication skills.

In addition to fostering a self-directed style of learning, the Montessori Method is one that encourages students to understand any topic from a multitude of different angles – is the number one (1) still number one (1) without the numbers two (2), three (3), or four (4)? Is ‘American History’ the same without ‘South American History’ or ‘European History?’

This approach is built upon the idea that learning should be natural, and one should learn relative to what he or she can sense and understand. The reality is that Children are not small adults; they don’t think the same way, they are not required to think about the same things, and they don’t have the same physical capabilities. Montessori “directors” understand this reality, and, in turn, abandon the concept of “teaching” or “lecturing,” and focus instead on guiding students by asking questions that challenge and inspire them to learn and grow on their own.

Come back next time for the next part in the series, where we explore the potential effect the next generation of Montessori students will have on the American workforce and business world.

Today, we continue our series on the often intricate world of modern day advertising and marketing. On Monday, we discussed ways companies can supplement standard advertisements with more content and context. Today, we delve deeper into what content and context mean, and how they can be applied in advertising.

Content

The term content, in the advertising market, is a piece of writing for public consumption. It can be anything from a press release, a bio, or a one-sheet on a new product. Content is a service provided by a company to educate customers. Whether it’s inside a brochure holder, on a company website, or on the side of a milk carton, content gives the reader (or customer) easy access to more information.

For example, say there is a store in Portland, Oregon called “Midnight Rydahs,” that sells road bikes and road bike accessories. The store reports on a recent cycling incident involving a friend, and they post a news article in their store, and on their website. The article might look something like this:

“Portland, Oregon recently saw yet another bicycle related injury this past Saturday. The cyclist father of four, Richard Madison, was riding in the right hand lane of southbound Harrison, a street frequented by cyclists of all ages. After signaling for a sufficient amount of time, a bystander reported, Madison’s left side was greeted by a large white sport utility vehicle. The bystander later added that the SUV, which was originally behind Madison, passed him before making a right turn. The driver of the SUV, a shaken Mr. Adam Stahm, adamantly believes he did not see Madison. Madison was seen to be lacking protective headgear.”

“We here at Midnight Rydahs are saddened to report another story involving cycling-related injuries like those Richard Madison sustained. We hope city officials and community members get more involved in the formulation of policy conducive to the health and wellness of its enormous cycling population.”

What Midnight Rydahs has done here is describe an event related to the product they sell.

Content like this is the first step in showing their customer base they are in touch with current events, and they have an interest in the important aspects of their market.

To continue along this path, Midnight Rydahs could regularly create content describing current events, and could make them available in print, in a brochure holder near the entrance and register of their stores. Equally important would be the placement of the content on their website or blog (obviously our favorite route). This both archives their information for future retrieval, as well as offers visitors the opportunity to comment, which, in a world where online participation is influential and informative, is a big plus.

Make sure to join us next time. We’ll define context and its importance, and we’ll make our “Midnight Rydahs” example context friendly.

Bad news: There’s a rather unfortunate epidemic reigning terror over our ever so important financial sector. Good news: It might be fixed with some brochure holders.

Surprisingly, we’re not here to partake in popular efforts to analyze the category five hurricane that is the recent state of the housing marking or mergers and acquisitions. No, today, in equal stead, we’re here to talk about how unfortunate it is that so many of our favorite companies and businesses take little or no interest in educating or getting to know their customers. It’s hard to understand why this happens when there are so many advertising avenues these days.

If it’s so easy to get a hold of your customers because there are so many new methods by which information can be shared, why are they wasting money and time by advertising unsubstantial content lacking context?

The epidemic is not too much advertising. The epidemic is too much advertising with little or no content.

Businesses seem to love the flow of money, but they are rarely keen on having conversations with their customers. Businesses should embrace the realization that they can, much to their advantage, advertise and converse at the same time, and, they they’re beholden to their customers. In turn, it is nothing short of obligatory that they frame their company to their customers in a broader context, whether they think the customers want it or not.

Throughout the week, we will be addressing the problem of business being disconnected from their customers and community, and recommend ways business can start and sustain conversations with their patrons.

The Problem

With the financial sector the way it is, consumers are becoming far more interested in answers to the question “Why should I buy this?” Still, most contemporary advertising campaigns are relying on the less informed, less educated, and more emotional aspects of psychology to drive sales.

The Solution

Companies can augment their advertising campaigns with more content and context in the following ways:

o Make public the relationship between your business philosophy and the product or service you provide.
o Become an authority in your market by providing commentary on your markets current events.
o Become more active in your community by sponsoring events.
o Encourage your customers to be inquisitive and provide feedback.
o Make available any conversations you have with you competitors, and draw public comparisons to show where and how you stand out.

The Methods

We’ll be talking about how these key points could be implemented through the following two advertising avenues:

o Print frequently updated and community specific brochures or newsletters and make them available to customers using brochure holders placed strategically throughout your venue.
o Internet blogs (!), press releases, forums.

Make sure and stop by on Wednesday to read a little bit more on this topic, and hopefully join the conversation!

Today we’ll be talking about scientific conferences again, and tackling press release dos and don’ts. As we started to mention earlier, the social dynamics of a scientific conference vary. Patrons of these events spend anywhere from ten minutes to ten hours walking around, and it is your job to accommodate these people and everyone in between. Because you’re not going to be able to talk to every single person walking by your display, you need to have something informative, readily available to hand out. The most efficient way to get everyone in that building to know about your presence is to exhibit your press release in an acrylic easel. Let’s go into some depth about what should be in your press release, how it can be used, and where it should be placed in relation to you and your poster.

The Press Release

The press release is a piece of paper that has every piece of information vital to the story of your display. Near the top, denote who worked on the project (save room by just writing your firm or institution), and the name of the specific conference you are attending. Your reader will be pleased to know that this press release version was specifically edited for this occasion. The press release should include an enticing and informative introduction that summarizes the goal and findings of your project, immediately followed by a logical outline of your projects various sections. You always want your press release to be double-spaced, and you never want it to be in an irregular or uncommon font, or go over one page in length.

Where It Should Be Placed

The goal here is to make your press release available to passersby, without making their acquisition a hindrance to your current audience. Do this by posting multiple acrylic easels on each side of your poster display, as well as one on a stand directly in front of you. You should be able to get a hand on a couple press releases without looking away from your audience, and your audience should be able to get one from you without interrupting.

How It Should Be Used

First and foremost, never hand your press release out to someone who is not interested. The press release is to be used only if someone comes up to you and asks for one, or if you’ve just finished speaking with someone and wish to offer them one. Someone who comes up to you for a press release may be insinuating they wish to hear your presentation, but more often than not, they wish to be left to their own. Let your text do the talking, but be quick to jump on any specific interest shown on their part. If written well enough, that is, if it is clear, concise, and complete, you’ll get the right questions from people. If you notice people asking questions you feel you’ve adequately addressed in the press release, you may need to modify it.

We’ll stop here for now, but our next entry will be a very important one along this same theme: How is the presenter supposed to act? Which situations are you, and are you not ready for? How forward is the presenter supposed to be? All will be answered!

Stay tuned.