45 Reasons Why You Should Have a Newsletter

You might be asking yourself, “Can newsletters do that much for my practice?” The simple answer is YES! If you aren’t taking advantage of your emailing list, you’re wasting a precious resource. You have the means to communicate with a large database of patients who already know you. And to make sure you’re making the most of your email list, you need to make sure your newsletters are doing everything they need to.

 Brand Awareness

1. Build ongoing communication with your patients. This keeps your brand top of mind with your patients, ensuring they always schedule their next appointment with you and not with anyone new.
2. Every time you successfully help educate or engage with a patient, it reconfirms for the patient that you are the absolute authority for patients to know and trust!
3. This one is huge for online marketing – ask for online reviews. There’s never a bad time to request a review, even on your newsletter.
4. Has someone said something nice about you? Take a moment to highlight a patient’s testimonial or review.
5. Try a case study as well. Plenty of patients would be interested in a specific story that relates to what they are facing, especially the part where you resolve the issue.
6. Use your other aspects of marketing to promote everything together:
   • • Use your newsletter to promote your app
     • Promote your website
     • Ask patients to follow you on social media
7. Boost traffic to your website. Doing so successfully could help (indirectly) with SEO and engagement.
8. Offer a loyalty program for your most dedicated patients. Not only will a loyalty program keep a patient with you, but you can also promote your favorite products or services for use!
9. Having a newsletter sent out on a regular basis helps ensure your patient base will open your emails. First, it becomes a regular email they can expect, but also tells patients they can expect emails from you. Additionally, consider if your patients only get an email once a year and you haven’t seen them in months. They may ask a question like “Why send me an email now?”
10. Newsletters sent out regularly help build out your brand and voice. What do you want to be known for? Make sure the newsletters are telling patients what you are truly known for. Are you the greatest in technology? Or maybe you’re known to have the best bedside manner. Make sure your patient base knows and can help spread that message.
11. Make a “What To Do At Home” series to help build trust with your patient base while simultaneously showcasing you are their healthcare expert. Don’t forget to mention the “Don’ts.”
12. Video is one of the best ways to engage with everyone in this digital age. Help promote your videos and hard work.

Practice Announcements

1. Keep your patients in the know for when you’re open. It’s important for everyone to know when your office is open, otherwise not only will your patients be frustrated when you aren’t open, but you might be frustrated as well.
2. Introduce your team to your patients. Introducing your team helps build familiarity & transparency with your brand, which builds up patient trust. And patient trust gives you happier patients (except maybe those few patients who must be born grumpy…)
3. Do you need to bolster your ranks and hire? Maybe the next person you need on your team is someone on your email list – include it in your newsletter and get the word out.
4. As a very specific marketing tactic, you MUST introduce new doctors. Without that introduction, patients might be confused if they are seen by someone they may not be as familiar with. Additionally, this is a chance to introduce your new doctor’s specialties.
5. Celebrate your milestones! Maybe you’ve seen over 10,000 patients? Or did someone advance their career? Celebrate these new milestones with everyone!
6. Have you opened a new location? Make sure all of your patients are aware as they may want to see your new office, especially if it’s closer to where they live.
7. Do you have a specific team member who’s killing it? Celebrate how much they’ve done by giving them an employee of the month spotlight!

 Patient Education

1. Newsletters are a wonderful way to discuss specific conditions, as well as the best way to prevent or treat these conditions.
2. Promote specific items using links or QR codes. It’s a great way to highlight a specific aspect you really want to point out.
3. Have you been answering the same questions over and over (and over) again? Answer some patient FAQs – maybe it helps reduce how often you have to keep giving the same answers.
4. To help continue providing patient education, take a moment to ask what questions your patients might have. This allows for a continual loop so you can keep educating your patients further.
5. Create a series of topics to help keep patients involved in an engaging topic. Not only will this provide an excellent means of educating patients on important topics, but it will also keep them coming back for the next part of the series!
6. Share tips and tricks.
7. Do you have a story? Share it with your patients, especially if it relates to their health.
8. Here’s one most of you doctors will love – explain the importance of simple things (maybe not even health-related). One specific could be the importance of why patients need to show up on time for appointments.
9. Talk about the difference between OTC and what isn’t as well as when it is acceptable to use OTC.
10. Deliver instructions, including post-op instructions to patients.

Service & Product Promotion

1. Do you have a brand-new treatment option? Remember, most patients don’t know about the latest and greatest in medical technology, so someone needs to give them that knowledge.
2. Do you have a special or promotion? Let your patients know – everyone always looks for a bargain (and remember, don’t use the word “discount”).
3. Overall hand-in-hand with the tip above but bring special attention to an offer that is on your website.
4. Collaborate with others in the community on a specific product to help promote more products in general (and make sure they do the same for you!).
5. Target specific demographics you really want to see. If you want to see more pediatrics, focus on the family aspects more often.
6. Recommend products, even if they aren’t what you sell in your office.

Community Building

1. Are you going to participate with the community? Make sure the community is aware! In fact, patients may want to join you. This gives you an additional opportunity to connect with your patients. Additionally, if there is a cause that is near and dear to your heart, this is a wonderful opportunity to bring more awareness.
2. Additionally, this gives the opportunity to bring awareness to specific events in the community itself, even if you won’t be there. All of this helps show you as someone they can rely on as a member of the community, helping out as a friendly neighbor.
3. Print out and give your newsletters to hospitals or other medical partners to help foster a better referral strategy.
4. Help build up your affiliates and their clientele. Additionally, you could take this a step further and introduce vendors and close business partners to help extend better services for patients while building out business relationships.
5. Promote a contest or giveaway. While this involves giving out something to your patients, you can ask for specific things, like referrals from patients in return. Newsletters help get the word out to all existing patients.
6. Newsletters aren’t just for patients – don’t forget to send out newsletters to your referral partners to remind them of referrals, but also keep them up to date on everything you have happening in your office.
7. Make an invitation for…well, anything! Invite patients, business partners, and whomever, to take part in something you are involved in.
8. Ok, so real talk – we aren’t perfect. We all make mistakes. As long as you are careful, you can address something that might be less than perfect in your office and tell your patients you are addressing it.
9. Does a patient you have want to share something? Did they impress you? As long as the patient signs off, add them to your newsletter!
10. “A Day In The Life Of…” Show patients what it’s like to be a doctor.

If you believe a newsletter is right for your practice. Don’t hesitate! Let’s chat today!

Our Podiatry Patient Newsletter Program is perfect for you. Our team of talented specialists will work hard to provide you with the best quality newsletter each month, specifically tailored to your practice’s needs and your desires. 

Our newsletter program is affordable and easy to get started. Contact us today to learn more and schedule a consultation. Before you know it we will have your newsletter program up and running and you’ll be able to see the benefits it can bring to your practice.