A growing practice requires one important thing: patients. You need both returning patients and new ones making and keeping their appointments. An excellent, effective marketing strategy keeps your patients not only coming, but returning and referring their friends and family to you. We say this at Top Practices regularly, but an interesting, engaging newsletter is one of your most powerful marketing tools to keep in touch with both current and potential patients alike. However—your newsletter only works if it’s interesting enough that people actually read it!
Making sure you send out a truly interesting and engaging newsletter every month should be a top priority, then. This isn’t as difficult as it may sound. The key is to remember whose interests you are writing for: your patients.
Your whole focus must be geared toward them. This means choosing topics that will interest them, speak to the season they’re in, be entertaining or funny, or provide valuable information about a healthy life.
Here are a few ways to help make your newsletter more interesting:
- Include pictures – People love pictures. Include a few of your office, your staff, some event you attended recently, the lunch time birthday party you had for your partner, or anything else that shows the “human” side to what you do.
- Use catchy headlines – Each little article should stand out with a catchy headline that matches the content. Many times people scan the titles first before deciding to commit to reading that section of your newsletter. Interesting titles make catching their attention more likely.
- Add human interest stories – People love to read about people. Include articles that highlight a staff member, or an interesting story in the community that highlights amazing people.
- Consider your hobbies – Do you love to read certain books, or have a funny hobby? Maybe you’re passionate about biking or running or cooking special recipes? These “extras” can make fun additional columns that people look forward to in your newsletter.
- Don’t make it too “sales-y” – You do need to include calls to action that direct patients to your website or to call your office to make an appointment. However, if you sound too sales-y throughout your articles, your patients will be turned off and not only not read, but possibly toss your newsletter out in the future.