Creating Flyers or Brochures


A common way to promote your practice is to have a flyer or brochure which you can leave in places where potential clients can find them, or which you can give to other professionals who might refer clients to you.

Hopefully, whatever you decide on will serve you for a number of years before needing to be revised, so before committing to the costs of designing and printing, it’s worth giving some thought to the following questions:

  1. Who is your target audience? Who is likely to read it? Who do you hope will read it?brochures
  2. What message are you trying to get across? What information do you want to convey? What do you want them to do as a result of reading it?
  3. How are you planning to use it? Where are you going to leave it or distribute it?

The answers to these questions will influence what choices you make in style and content. For example, a brochure aimed at local doctors will probably be quite different from that which might be suitable for the same doctors to give to their patients. In the former case, you might focus on how your services might complement those provided by the doctor. Your language may be more formal or clinical, and you might choose to draw on some research. In the latter case, speaking to or writing for the clients themselves, you might use more day to day language, such as the clients themselves might use. You will probably avoid using clinical or technical terms.

A brochure generally has more than one page, and so may be an A4 sheet folded into two or three, giving four or six pages respectively. A flyer is generally one or both sides, of one half or one third of an A4 sheet. In deciding which to go for, consider the amount of content you wish to include (a flyer is generally headline information only, while a brochure has more space for information.) The shape and size of your brochure leaflet or flyer may lend itself more towards mailing in envelopes, handing to people, or distributing door to door.

At a minimum, any promotional documentation should contain:

  • Your name
  • The practice name (if different)
  • Your address and contact details
  • Your qualifications (letter are fine)
  • A brief description of your services (this might be Counsellor or Psychotherapist (or both) or more specifically to include your approach or your speciality (Gestalt Therapist, Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, Bereavement Counsellor etc)

You might also want to include some text, images or graphics that communicate who you are in the work, or your philosophy. Go back to the questions I raised at the top of this post. Ask yourself if what you are planning to include reflects the answers to those questions.

If you find it hard to decide what your promotional material should look like or include, take a while to get some ideas. Pick up examples that others have prepared, both those you like and those you don’t. (And don’t forget, anywhere you pick one up is potentially somewhere for you to leave one too!) Examples of available generic styles can be seen on the websites of printing companies such as Vista or Smile. Fiverr.com will turn your text into a brochure or flyer for you, for a small fee. Choose a designer whose work you like, who has completed a large number of jobs, and has also got high ratings.

If you struggle to get some promotional material together, perhaps I can help you? Contact me to make an appointment or to avail of a free 20 minute consultation.

 


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