With modern marketing tools being so exciting and accessible (like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and other digital platforms), it’s easy to find an old-fashioned newsletter to be a bit boring and outdated. In reality, well-made newsletters sent by email are a very easy and useful way to engage with your patients. Pretty much everyone uses email, and people like newsletters because it allows them to easily keep up with the brands they care about. Here are some tips on crafting your practice’s newsletter:
Pinpoint your specialties and the most popular treatments/services you provide. What brings patients in? Talk about these things in your newsletter often. If you have a particular font and color scheme you use, implement it in your newsletter’s design (if they read well). If you don’t have a signature font, pick one that is professional and easy to read.
Gather email addresses from your patients, including ones that are referred by other physicians. This list will provide a very targeted audience for your newsletter, helping you come up with a recipient base that is likely to read it. While your staff collects email addresses, have them reassure patients that your practice will only send helpful and relevant content, won’t send too many emails, and will never share their contact information with third parties.
If you can create a blog for your practice, do it! Stick to blogs that are 400 to 500 words in length and link relevant ones in your newsletter. If your blog post goes on longer than that, break it up into sections with headers and proper formatting to make it easier to read.
Don’t think of your newsletter as a direct advertisement. While it does serve that purpose, recipients will stop opening your emails if all those messages contain are highlights of your services and accomplishments. If you include helpful content in your newsletter, they’ll have a better time reading it and be more likely to open the next one!
There are many digital tools available to medical practices nowadays, with social media being the most popular. Newsletters are useful in their own right, and you can even use your social media pages to ask your follower base to sign up for your newsletter! If you keep the approach of gathering content that helps people, they’ll associate that with your practice’s brand.
