Using Fact Sheets to Market Your Practice

Don't want to commit to a newsletter to market your practice? Consider using psychoeducational fact sheets to help clients and referral sources understand the scope of services you provide.

Once you have a relationship with a referral source, you need to keep in touch with them. One of the ways to stay in touch is by supplying them with useful and timely information.

Topics can include general interest items such as Depression, Manging Holiday Stress, Parenting Tips, or Overcoming Your Fears. Or you can target specific populations, such as "Coping with Infertility" or "Helping Teenagers Handle a Divorce."

Identify key audiences for your fact sheets -- for example, pediatricians, OB-GYNs, guidance counselors, family law attorneys, etc. (dpending on the topic). Pick a niche and then plan 4-6 fact sheets for that audience. A quarterly fact sheet is a good frequency to send materials. Less often, and your referral sources might forget you!

Here's some tips to get you started:

• Identify a potential audience of referral sources. Then brainstorm topics that would be most useful to that audience.
• Collect necessary research.
• Create a template for the fact sheet. Make it simple, straightforward, and easy-to-read. Use bullet points for emphasis, and avoid using too much jargon.
• Include lots of helpful tips -- your audience isn't just the referral sources -- you want them to pass the information along to their clients.
• Make sure to have someone edit the fact sheet before you send it out!