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The Five Elements of Interior Branding

Okay. You’re a dentist. You even have the diploma on the wall from a

prestigious university and possibly a myriad of other specialization

certificates to prove it. And your very own shingle out front of a practice

that is yours! So what. So do a lot of others. What is going to make a

prospective patient walk through your front door and check you out? What is

going to keep them coming back and telling their friends and co-workers

about you? Yeah, I know, you graduated at the top of your class and the guy

across the street barely scrapped by, but does that prospect know that?

Would she believe you even if you told her? All else being equal, the only

way you can differentiate your practice from your competition is through

branding.

Branding goes way beyond just having someone whip you up a fancy logo or

sign and plastering it on your business card or on the sign out front.

Branding is the emotional essence of what people think about you and your

practice when they hear your name.

What immediately comes to mind when someone mentions BMW? Is it the image

of being behind the wheel of a sleek, comfortable car, effortlessly winding

your way through an Alpine pass; feeling confident in the tight handling and

powerful engine snaking around the steep curves? That is the power of

branding.

For your practice, I want to focus on the five elements I call interior

branding. These elements all take place within the four walls of your

practice and work together to determine whether you’re going to land that

new patient in the first place and more importantly, whether she will keep

coming back. The five elements are:

- Color, Light, & Texture;

- Human Interaction;

- Application of Technology;

- Ergonomics;

- The “Defining Touch.”

In essence, these five elements define you and your brand.

Element One: Color, Light, & Texture

Every time you walk into a room you have an emotional reaction. The room

makes you feel something. This may be happy, excited, calm, cold, or any

variety of reactions. If you’ve never been in that particular room before,

then your memories of times spent in the room won’t be influencing your

reaction. Thus, the feeling you experience comes from the use of three

components: Color, Light, and Texture.

Colors impact our mood. I think most school kids are taught that some

colors are warm colors and some are cool colors. The warm colors (red,

yellow, orange) arouse and stimulate, while the cool colors (blue, green,

violet) calm us down. My high school used yellows and oranges in the halls

to excite us and help us speed from class to class during the five minutes

between classes. Then, the classrooms were painted in blues and greens to

calm us down and get ready to learn. I visited the school a few years ago

and found that the entire school had been repainted using the school colors

of blue and white in the halls and tans in the class rooms.

Obviously, whoever was in charge of the new color scheme missed the point of

the original one. Makes me wonder if kids still make it to class on time?

Similar to colors, lighting also impacts our moods. Soft, dim lighting we

find calming. Bright, intense lighting excites us. Lighting can be used to

create accents and draw our attention to specific objects or areas of

interest. Think of the emergency pathway lights in an airplane that are

designed to guide us to safety. Lighting can be one of the most dramatic

factors in creating a space. Additionally, we must pay attention to the

proper lighting for the tasks at hand. Without proper lighting eyestrain

can occur, which may lead to stress and headaches. Staff that has

responsibilities for interacting with patients may have a difficult time

being cheerful and friendly if the lighting is working to make them

irritable.

Lastly, texture is brought into the picture to round out the interior space

and impact emotions. The materials chosen on a project help dictate whether

an interior looks sleek and polished or rather cozy and earthy. Think about

the how you feel when you walk across a marble floor versus a slate one.

What images go through your mind in each instance? Does walking on marble

feel more formal and cold? Do you think of a bank or insurance company or

maybe even a lawyer’s office? With the slate floor’s uneven surface, do you

feel more relaxed?

Maybe you think of the entryway you had in your home growing up or the floor

in a lakeside cabin.

Now, think about sitting down in a worn, leather wingback chair versus a

wood and cane ladder-back kitchen chair. Which makes you feel more at home

and relaxed? By controlling the textures of the floors, walls, and

furnishings, the emotional reactions your patients, as well as you and your

staff are experiencing can be shaped. Taken together with the colors and

lighting, the mood for the entire practice can be designed.

Element Two: Human Interaction

Moving beyond just the materials that make up the interior of your practice,

the next component to defining your brand is human interaction. The focus

once again is on how patients feel about coming to your practice. Are they

greeted with a smile? Are their questions answered? Are procedures

explained in layman’s terms that are easy to understand or not explained at

all? Positive interactions with patients don’t just happen. In order to

consistently achieve high marks you need to sit down and think about what

the patient interactions should look and feel like. Then design them to be

that way and train staff to perform accordingly.

Probably the best example of a company that does this really well is Disney.

Every employee is hired for a role, whether that is operating a ride,

portraying one of the lovable Disney characters or sweeping the grounds.

They are then trained on how to perform in their role. Nothing is left to

chance or the personal experience of the employee. Think about the impact

this has on Disney’s brand. In order to secure your brand, the same thing

must occur. Yes, a dental office may look different than Disneyland, but

isn’t it just as important when it comes to your livelihood and reputation

and the health and safety of your patients?

Element Three: Application of Technology

The third element is what I call the application of technology. In the 21st

century, we are getting pretty used to having technology pervade almost

every aspect of our lives. How the latest and greatest gadget is used in

your practice can make a huge impact on how patients feel about you, your

technical competence, and your practice.

Having a good scheduling and billing system can make the check-in and

checkout process smooth and effortless for both patient and staff, and a

smooth transaction doubtlessly makes for a better impression on the patient

and causes them to go away feeling better about having just spent money with

you.

Installing chair-side monitors so patients can see what is going on inside

their own mouth raises the comfort level that recommended procedures are

necessary rather than in the old days of having to just take the doctor’s

word for things. These same chair-side monitors can double as video screens

for displaying educational videos before a procedure is performed or

entertainment videos while patients are waiting. Having cartoons for kids

makes them feel more at home and comfortable with the strange things that

are going on around them.

Now, I feel displaying educational videos on a large screen in your waiting

room is a bad idea. Who really wants to see the gory details of the inside

of someone’s mouth or of some miscellaneous procedure while they are waiting

for an exam? These videos are great as an educational tool to help a

patient understand the particular procedure being recommended as part of

their treatment, but wouldn’t watching a movie or music video in the waiting

room put you much more at ease about the whole experience of waiting?

The doctor’s technical expertise cannot only be demonstrated in how painless

the treatment experience is, but in what latest advances in dental medicine

are exhibited both during treatment as well as around the office.

Certificates on the wall can only go so far.

Element Four: Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the fourth element to creating strong interior branding and is

probably one of the areas that often receive the least attention. In order

for staff to have a positive experience at work, the desks, chairs,

keyboards, and monitors must be adjusted to provide a comfortable fit.

Repetitive use injuries, such as carpal tunnel, can result if proper

attention is not paid to the adjustment of these things. As previously

mentioned, improper lighting can cause eyestrain that can result in

headaches and even eventually to having to wear glasses. Storage cabinets

that are not designed properly can result in large or heavy objects being

stored in such a way that precipitates back injury or strain from improper

lifting.

Not all exam chairs are created equally. Some do a better job of

incorporating ergonomic features into their design. The positioning

features can impact how comfortably you work on a patient and how arms and

wrists tire by the end of the day. On the patient side of the equation,

good ergonomic design dictates the comfort of the chair during treatment.

This concern for patient comfort should extend to the waiting room as well.

How comfortable is the seating in your waiting room? Would you want to hang

out and have an extended conversation while seated there?

Element Five: The ?Defining Touch?

The last element is what I call the defining touch. This is some element

that makes you and your practice unique and around which everything else can

be designed. Perhaps it is a favorite painting that will hang in the

waiting room. Maybe it is a love of golf or duck hunting. It may even be

the practice of always having the latest new technological gadget. Whatever

?it? is, it is important and is woven into the fabric of the design and the

brand to help generate the emotions you want patients to experience and to

carry with them outside of the office.

As can be seen through interior branding, the objective is to craft the

total experience for the patient and generate a set of emotional responses

that will keep them coming back and will cause them to tell their friends

about how great they think you and your practice is. By paying close

attention to the five elements: color, light, and texture; human

interaction; application of technology; ergonomics; and the ?defining

touch?; and the interaction between them, what exists and occurs inside the

four walls of your practice will be a strong, strategic tool for building

your business. Competition is stronger than ever and the days of merely

hanging out a shingle and sitting back while the patients roll in are gone.

Every experience a patient or prospective patient has when they set foot

inside your front door defines your brand in their mind. Leaving that

experience to happenstance rather than having had defined and controlled it

is a sure way to gamble with your practice’s future health.

About the Author

Growing up in Indiana, James was enthralled with the sophisticated art deco and art moderne world of 1930’s Hollywood. The scenes and settings Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced their way through in “The Gay Divorcee” struck a chord, leaving a lasting impression. He longed to live in a world like the one he saw in the hotels, apartments, and nightclubs presented by Hollywood
When he designs, he attempts to create spaces recalling these same emotions – spaces which are pleasing to look at, enhance their environment, yet just as the classics, never look dated or trendy.
He founded Küster in January 2002 and immediately registered to exhibit at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. His work has been seen in Metropolis, Metropolitan Home, Home Décor Buyer, and Elle Décor. James’ background in industrial design lends a unique perspective to his work.