How to Create Effective Patient Brochures for a Medical Office
Patient brochures are a great way to connect with patients, but doctors and staff often overlook them. However, if you have patient brochures, you can use them for various purposes.
The best patient brochures are comprehensive and informative. They are designed to be read from cover to cover or served up in sections as needed. An effective patient brochure should not just be a marketing piece; it should also contain helpful information about your practice’s services, policies, and procedures.
Understand Your Audience
The first thing you should do when creating patient brochures is to understand who will be reading them. Are these people going to be family members or friends of the patient? Are they medical professionals like nurses or doctors?
Are they other patients who want more information about what services are available at your medical practice?
Identify Their Needs
Once you understand who will read these brochures, it’s time to identify their needs and interests. What do they want to know about your practice? What questions do they have about treatment options or procedures? How can you address each of these questions in a way that makes sense?
Decide on the Goal of Your Patient Brochure
After identifying their needs, it is time to decide on the goal of these pamphlets. For example, if you’re trying to attract new patients, your brochure should contain information about how patients can schedule appointments with your office.
On the other hand, if you want people who already use your services to book additional appointments or come back for more treatment, your brochure should include coupons or special offers that patients can redeem when they revisit your office.
Focus on the Reader
To create an informative and engaging patient brochure, focus on what’s important to your readership. This means knowing what questions they have about your practice, their concerns about coming to see you, and their areas of interest regarding health care issues.
The best way to find this out is by asking them during new-patient intake forms or surveys. Then use their feedback in writing your content so that it resonates with them on an emotional level.
Keep it Simple
Don’t include too much text. Patients want quick access to relevant information about your practice, so don’t make them read through paragraphs of text to find out what services you offer or how much something costs.
Instead, use bulleted lists and bolded headers so readers can scan through the pages and easily find what they’re looking for.
Write Clearly and Concisely
You want your brochure to be easy for people to read and understand. If you use technical terms and language that’s too complicated, people will get frustrated and stop reading before they’ve finished the entire brochure. So use common words that anyone who speaks English can understand and avoid jargon whenever possible.
If you don’t feel comfortable writing patient brochurs for your medical practice, it’s best to use a professional medical writing service who can assist you.
Keep It Short and Sweet
Your brochure should be one page long — two pages at most. The shorter it is, the easier it will be for people to read through quickly without feeling overwhelmed by all the information presented on each page.
It’s also important for people not to feel like they have too much time invested in reading through a brochure before making a decision.
In the end, your brochure is designed to inform, educate, and share, and you want to make sure your brochure does this effectively. You want to leave your patients informed and positive—and come back next time they need help because they’ll have a better idea of what they can expect then. A great brochure will allow you to do that.
