A well-designed brochure is a valuable tool for marketing yourself to potential patients. It conveys your services, the benefits of those services, and provides an overall feeling of your practice. This simple sheet of paper will help people remember you and remind them why they should choose you for their healthcare needs.
When developing a successful brochure, make sure that it appeals to both sides of the brain - the analytical and the creative. The analytical side likes information in the form of data, numbers, letters and other such "meat and potatoes" material. "Just the facts, ma'am," as Sergeant Joe Friday used to say. This element appeals to those people who like to read and analyze.
The creative side prefers photos, graphic images, diagrams and colors - what is traditionally referred to as "eye candy." You can purchase photos and images for your brochure in CD-ROM format or online at various websites. (Additionally, www.thesupplycenter.com provides another free source for photos and images.) Color in the brochure is also important. People connect specific colors with certain emotions: for instance, red for emergency or alarm, or pastels for tranquility and calm. Carefully select your brochure colors to create the feeling you wish to convey. Keeping a balance between the analytical and creative elements will ensure that your brochure appeals to a larger audience.
The paper the brochure is printed on also has an impact. Is your paper thick or thin, glossy or rough and raw? Does it have a texture? Each component conveys a message and feeling about your office. A glossy paper gives the feeling of a high-end, professional or corporate-type office. A textured paper conveys a down-to-earth, rustic or warm, interpersonal feel of the office. Each has its place and appeals to different segments of the population.
The text should be short, sweet and to the point. The majority of people will have only three uninterrupted minutes to read your brochure. Keep the text to this length by only listing the key points you want the reader to remember. Allow for your text to include at least 10% of the words from the book Words That Sell by Richard Bayon. The use of these words in your brochure will make it come alive to the reader.
After creating your award-winning brochure, be sure that you get out to the public. Whether attending a Chamber of Commerce meeting or networking group; giving a seminar; or speaking with a prospective patient, share your brochure. Keep some brochures in your office or waiting room so that current patients can take one home for a family member or friend. It will remind the person of you as a practitioner, and of your healing skills.
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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