It’s every designer’s nightmare. Spell check didn’t catch it. Six people looked at it and STILL. We missed it. I call this overexposureitis. It can happen. I will spare you the details of the recent South Bend, Indiana billboard debacle advertising their public schools, but just know my heart ached for all parties involved. It was a reminder to all of us to check our work.

The truth is it happens to the best of us. In December I got an email promotion from Kohl’s advertising their “Doorbuster Memorial Day Sale.” And just last week I got the latest One Step Ahead catalog (every overprotective new mom’s favorite) only to see that they had misspelled “First Look: Sun Smtarties™ 2011″ right there on the cover. I am pretty sure that the higher ups at Sun Smarties were a little bitter about that one.

But still, I can totally see how it happens. We all get so caught up in meeting and exceeding deadlines that the finer details can sometimes slip through the cracks.

Here are some easy solutions for designers and clients keep from becoming their own cautionary tale:

1. Run spell check. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, RUN SPELL CHECK.

2. Get a fresh set of eyes (or ten) on the project. Bother another designer for five minutes to look at your work. Pull Jim out of sales, Pam from reception and Ted from accounting to give it a look-see. Chances are that the two, too, to, your, you’re, who’s and whose that spell check didn’t catch, fresh human eyes will.

3. Read the copy aloud. It may seem tedious but you’d be amazed at what jumps out at you. Taking the time to do this has saved my hiney countless times.

4. Turn it upside down. Literally. Turning a layout upside down can make inconsistent leading, paragraph spacing and even kerning hop right off the page and smack you in the face.

5. Call the telephone numbers. Telephone numbers are some of the biggest pitfalls and spell check offers zero help in this department. So pick up the phone.

6. Email the email addresses. Click on the web addresses. At the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, I am required to include this. People tend to check a web address but not the email. And if you’re worried about bothering your client, trust that that pesky email or telephone quality-control check is way less of an annoyance than 2,000 misprinted business cards.

7. Make sure June 6th is a Saturday. Take the two seconds and check that the days of the week coincide with the dates you reference in your project.

8. Put a process in place. Proof approval stickers work well. Include a checklist that more than one person has to bless… before the client sees what will be their final proof approval.

9. Involve the client. Design and the creative process is a partnership. We all have the same goal of producing the best possible solutions. Give the client a checklist to work through and sign off on themselves. Proof approval forms are an essential part.

11. Go team! It’s a team effort, this business of ours. Enlist the skills of your team to help ensure quality.

12. Sometimes screwing up royally serves a purpose. When we know better, we do better. I love this quote by John Powell: “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” I can say with certainty that I now know when June 6th is!

“In the beginning, I kind of had a ‘build it and they will come’ attitude,” she explains. ”I didn’t really understand that it takes a little bit of work to get any benefit.”

After putting some time into regularly updating her blog, she began to see the fruits of her labor. “I saw a huge increase in business. And when I started asking my new clients how they heard of Lake Pointe Chiro, they all told me they had come across my blog and that’s what sold them. I was amazed.”

Dr. Schreibmen is right on track. Here are 5 tips she used to get her blog going in the right direction:

1. Avoid marketing language

“That marketing-sounding language just doesn’t work. Instead, just be yourself. Don’t try to be business sounding.”

Though it may seem counter to what you’re trying to accomplish, blatantly marketing your business is a bad idea. People are looking for honest opinions. They will pick up on insincerity instantly.

2. Keep after it

“Don’t be intimidated by the technology. Just start writing and keep after it.”

Blogs are judged by the amount of new content. They’re designed to be constantly updated. Carve out some time each week to devote to keeping up your blog. Remember, content can include anything: product releases, job openings, news, opinions or thoughts from the CEO. It’s practically impossible to run out of material.

3. Write about what you know

“If you stick with what you know and love, you’ll be more successful.”

Social media is about connecting with people. Potential customers are much more likely to become paying customers if they feel a connection with you and your business. If you feel you’re giving away too much “insider” business information, you’re on the right track.

4. Reinforce the business’s core values

“Keep in mind your business values. You can go off on tangents, but in the end, bring it back to what you do and how you can help your customers.”

Your blog should reflect your company’s personality – its reason for being and passion for the business. It’s simply another part of the brand experience and should be consistent with the impression the company wants to make.

5. Take advantage of the free social media services

“They’re free. And powerful. So use them.”

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, StumbleUpon, Digg, and the list just keeps on going. These social media services are natural extensions of your website, drawing people in and making them customers. All that’s required is a little bit of time to keep them updated.

Dr. Schreibman is still new at using social media as a marketing tool, but she’s seen what a little bit of effort can accomplish. “There’s still a lot to learn, but I’m just so excited that it’s working. I really think I’m starting to get it.”

I don’t remember who said that. Maybe a 4-star general or Lincoln or somebody. The point is that we have limited control over the big events in our life. Or the large, sweeping changes in the world for that matter. We can, however, try to excel at the little things. Because it’s those small, overlooked parts that over time compound, add up and multiply into something big.

I know this concept has all kinds of positive applications in your daily life (exercise, career, calling your mom more than once a month, etc.), but that’s not where I want to go with it. Let’s talk about ads.

Take a look at the ad to the left.

It’s a one-column ad from 1991 in the back of an issue of The Village Voice, a weekly, alternative New York culture pub.

Now, I don’t know if this little ad got any more pull than the standard “SUBSCRIBE NOW!” approach. I don’t have the data on that. To be honest, I don’t know if I would’ve done anything different myself.

But what I can tell you is that the current, alternative-minded subscribers who read this ad loved the magazine that much more. So much so that it created enough buzz to catch the ear of Communication Arts, an advertising/design magazine, which promptly picked it up for a 1991 issue. It was so well received among the Communication Arts readership that it then made the 1991 Advertising of the Year Annual.

But the little-ad-that-could wasn’t done.

It went on to make a return appearance in the 50th Anniversary Communication Arts issue 19 years later, which sits on my desk next to me as I write this.

On a side note, readership of the Village Voice did go up.

All of this from a small subscription ad. All of this because someone had the initiative to take something small, overlooked and passed-over, and make it into something great.

Now that’s thinking big.

We all use email in our daily lives to do business but are you making the most of it?

Get to the point

Most professionals are busy and receive many emails a day. The reader needs to know the action requested of them right away. Be clear with the purpose of your email. Remember these questions when composing your email:

• Why are you emailing this person?
• What do you want them to do next?
• Why should they care?
• What’s in it for them?

Put the “call to action” near the top and don’t bury it below a paragraph or two of introduction. (e.g. “This project needs approval from you by Thursday” or “Can you call Joe and handle the details of this project?”) Don’t let the reader skim and lose the important purpose of the email.

Don’t neglect the subject line

Write concise descriptive subjects. Make it easy on the reader to gather a good idea of the content before even opening the email. Include a point of action if you can. (e.g. “Decision needed on proposal by Monday.”)
If you change topics in a reply, change the header subject. Reading an email with the subject “Re: Re: D.C. Trip” a month later on something completely unrelated because the sender replied to an old email is not productive and may get lost.

Keep your subject lines short but not too short. Most email clients cut off the subject line after 40-50 characters anyway. Be concise but not vague. Good subject: “Your October Website Stats”; Bad subject: “Here you go.”

Be concise

Have a clear goal for the email. Don’t ask too many questions at once. The responder won’t know where to start and what is most important for them to decide on now.

When forwarding an email state why you forwarded it instead of leaving it blank or saying, “See below”. E.g. “I thought you might be interested in what Mary has to say about the purchase.”

When adding a link or URL for someone to go to be descriptive on what it is. If the link is really long then use the hyperlink button that is built into most email clients to add a descriptive sentence instead.

Name your file attachments. Just because you like to name your file “JIMMY’S NoTeS (1) (2) ver3-2 edited by Mike and then Carol on tuesday.docx” doesn’t mean your recipient needs that. Attachments will download as they were named. Try instead to rename your files to something more useful for the recipient that will be saved on their computer.

Proofread

Take twenty seconds to read your email aloud in your head. I know that’s contradictory but even mouthing it to your self will catch something poorly written.

Shorter is better

After writing your email look over it and see if you can cut down the length. Just include important points and cut out unnecessary wording. Simplify sentences and don’t run on too long. Try using bullet points but don’t go overboard. Bold important words or phrases but not too much. People skim online, they don’t read. Make it easy for them.

Shrink your signature

Your signature doesn’t need to be ten times longer than your message. Don’t clutter the bottom of every email message. Don’t double-space every line. Be careful with using an image in your signature. Keep it as small as possible and link it via HTML. Sometimes copy and pasting it in will send an attachment of your logo jpeg to everyone you email.  Remember, people are going to have to scroll by your mammoth signature in a long thread of email replies so make it easier on everyone.

Be wary of tone

If your email may be misinterpreted or construed as negative, it will. Emails almost always come across with a bit of an attitude since you don’t have tone of voice. Jokes barely work either. Keep that in mind.

Pick up the phone

More amicable business gets done over the phone anyway.