This is the eighth part of an 11 part series on How To Build A Great Marketing Kit.

Before you read further, you may want to read the introduction here.

Your brochure or fact sheet about your practice should be included in your marketing kit. Its purpose is to build your credibility and to get your referral source to contact you. With those two goals in mind, here are some things to consider when constructing your brochure:

• Identify the single market that you are targeting and direct your content to that market only.
• I recommend that you develop the content yourself and leave the actual design of the brochure up to a graphic designer like Jennifer Gunther of Nudge Creative or Joel Bass of Invincible Fuzzy Thing.
• However, if you struggle with developing your ideas for the content, you may want to contact a professional copywriter like Kathryn Bass of Kadroodle or professional brainstormer, like me.
• Brochures are typically skimmed by the reader rather than read from front to back. With that in mind, keep paragraphs short (no more than 4-6 lines); make liberal use of bullet points and negative or white space.
• This is not your resume so don’t include every service you provide or every group that you work with. Instead, include a testimonial or two from clients who can vouch for your services.
• Also include a partial list of organizations / businesses that you have done work for. (It doesn’t matter if you did this work under contract, as an employee, or as a volunteer.)
• The most important thing in your brochure is to connect with your potential referral source / client and let them know how you can help your reader – not those in other target markets.
• When I have a brochure designed, I make sure that the designer creates it in a software program that I can use on my computer. I recommend that you do the same. That way, you’ll be able to print only a few as you need them and can alter the content as your practice changes.
• Don’t forget to have several of your colleagues proof read and critique the final draft of your brochure. They should be able to ascertain who your target audience is, what you do, and what makes you special by looking at the brochure for no more than 30 seconds.

Do you already have a brochure to include in your Marketing Kit? How does it measure up?

Tags: Brochure, Fact Sheet

Working on your business is not the same as working in your business.   That came as news to me when I first read Lynn Grodski’s primer, Building Your Ideal Private Practice.  I used to think that if I was seeing my clients or charting notes on my clients that I was working on my business.  After all, this is why I went to graduate school — to learn the clinical piece.

It’s Not Enough

Unfortunately, the clinical knowledge and skills of psychotherapy did not begin to prepare me for the business end of private practice.   As long as I wanted to work in an agency or hospital for someone else, that would have been good enough.  However, for those of us who have the entrepreneurial bug and yearn to be in business for ourselves . . . the clinical knowledge and skills are only half of the private practice package.  In fact, you can easily and quickly starve to death if you know nothing or do nothing to work on the business end of your practice.

Working On Your Business

To paraphrase Lynn Grodski, “working on your business is at least as important as working in your business.”  And, working on the business means spending time, money, and resources to create and sustain a healthy flow of clients coming into your business.  Some of these tasks include:

• Developing ideas for new services;
• Learning about new marketing strategies;
• Re-working packaging for your services;
• Branding for your business;
• Designing business cards, letterhead, postcards, and advertising;
• Networking with other professionals to educate them about your business;
• Creating (and using) a marketing kit;
• Writing articles / books for publication;
• Drafting informational brochures for client education; and,
• Updating your professional vita;

To work on your business means recognizing that your work in private practice extends far beyond just the skills of counseling and psychotherapy.

What I’m Doing

Today, I have met with my graphic designer, Jennifer Gunther of Nudge Creative, to rework my business card and letterhead.  I have vetted a potential printer for my print needs. I have collaborated with my blog designer, Beth Hayden of Basics of Blogging.  I met another colleague for lunch to brainstorm about my marketing needs. I’m writing this post for my blog.  These are the things that I am doing to work on my business today.

What about you? What are the ways that you are working on your business today?

Tags: Articles, Brand, Brochure, Business Card, Packaging, Resume