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

Read the introduction here.

No marketing kit is complete without a professional business card. (I tell clients to design and purchase their business cards long before they get out of graduate school.) If you don’t have yours yet, here are some things to consider:

• Content – Your first business card only needs to have your name, phone number, mailing and physical addresses, email (and web URL if you have a website). Business cards are used to jog someone’s memory and to provide contact information.

• White space – Design your business card with lots of “white space” or “negative space.” In other words, you don’t want it cluttered up with an extraneous information or busy graphics.

• Photo – There is considerable debate about whether or not to put your photo on your business card when you work in the mental health professions. I choose not to include my photo on my business card, believing that it looks more professional to leave the photo off. However, the counter argument is that by putting your face on the card, a potential client / referral source can get comfortable with you faster. What I want to emphasize here is that if you choose to include a photo, don’t use one of the snapshots that your partner took. Invest in a professional photo (headshot) for your business.

• Logo – Once you are in private practice for yourself, research shows that it is important that you begin to develop a brand for yourself — a succinct image and message about you and your body of work. This image and message is your logo and it will be used on your business card, your letterhead, and any other digital or print media that you will use for your practice. I chose to work with web designer, Joel Bass of Invincible Fuzzy Thing to develop my website for my clinical practice and graphic designer, Jennifer Gunther of Nudge Creative to develop my logo for Private Practice from the Inside Out.

• On the Back – You may choose to place a variety of things on the back of your business card or simply leave it blank. You may place a map or directions to your office. You may include a space to indicate when your client’s next appointment is with you. Or, you may include a tagline, quote, or other information that you believe might be helpful / memorable to your clients.

(If you would like feedback on your business card design, feel free to include it below in your comments and ask for feedback. I’m sure my readers will be happy to offer an opinion. Or, if you prefer, you can send it to me back channel and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.)