Whenever you talk about marketing, one of the topics that inevitably comes up—especially for internet and internal marketing—is written content. Written content includes the blogs, webpages, FAQs, e-mails, and everything else with words you use in your marketing. Written content is extremely important. Not only does it convey information, but it’s meant to drive people to take an action and contact you. That is why it’s vital to understand how to write for your patients, not for other doctors or even yourself.
Defining Effective Copy
Effective copy is written content that both informs the reader and pushes them to take an action. For podiatry professionals, this means your webpages, blogs, FAQs, and so own answer your patients burning questions about their pain and what you can do to fix it. More than that, the content encourages people to then take the next step and contact you either for an appointment or for more information.
Sounding Professional While Writing Clearly
Effective copy really is as straightforward as it sounds. There’s one thing that podiatry professionals often get hung up on, however: the issue of clarity and “sounding professional.” You want your patients and potential patients to know you are a professional and the best at your job. You want them to trust that you know what you’re talking about. Being professional and informative in your content is necessary for this. The problem is that some podiatry professionals confuse “professional” with “dry, complicated, and packed with medical terminology.”
These traits do not make for great reading for your patients or effective copy. Remember, you aren’t writing for other doctors in a medical journal; you are writing for wives, husbands, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, and sometimes even teenagers who have limited time and busy lives. In fact, dry, complicated, copy packed with medical terminology often does the opposite—it turns patients off. People looking for a doctor don’t know what you mean when you say, “failing to comply with the treatment modalities increases your risk for a transient ischemic attack, among other complications.” Statements like that may be accurate, but they aren’t clear or simple to understand for the lay people that make up the bulk of your patient base.
Patients and potential patients are far more interested in engaging stories and clear, simple explanations that keep their attention. You can and will still sound professional if you answer your patients’ questions and concerns in language that’s easy for them to understand.
How to Write Effective Copy
Fortunately, creating clear, effective copy isn’t as hard as you might think. You start by knowing your patients and their concerns, then speak directly to their problems and how you can help. You craft an incredible headline to catch a potential patient’s attention. You keep all the content directed at your patients’ concerns, not your own, because you know it’s not about you—it’s about them and their problems. You keep your writing clear and organized, so it’s easy to follow. And you always, always include a killer call-to-action that directs people to take the next step.
Writing effective copy for your patients doesn’t have to be hard, but at Top Practices we know how overwhelming it can feel from the outset. That’s why Rem Jackson produced a copywriting course with the non-writer and non-podiatry professional in mind. This easy course can help you master the skills of effective copy-writing quickly through basic exercises and plenty of practice.
Simply contact us for more information about the copywriting workshop by e-mailing [email protected] or calling (717) 725-2679 today. Don’t miss growing your practice because your copywriting is mediocre—make sure your written content is always effective.
