Many physicians balk at the notion of “marketing” their practice; nonetheless, promotion is what it may take to build a young practice or stand out in a competitive specialty field.
Enter the venerable — but still relevant — practice newsletter. You can create it in-house or outsource it, do it online or in print. It doesn’t have to be fancy or even more than one page. It can consist mostly of summaries with links to full articles that would interest your patients, or it can have a thoughtful message from you or news about health-related events in your community. Publishing a newsletter takes some effort, but a well-written, informative newsletter can be a powerful way to connect with your patients and prospective patients.
The marketing communication website MarketingProfs suggests seven ways and reasons newsletters can work exceptionally well for physician practices. Here is a brief summary.
- Loyalty reigns supreme. Bringing in new patients is important, but building loyalty among existing patients is more important — they are your source for referrals, and therefore your newsletter’s primary audience.
- Build essential credibility. Show; don’t tell. Sharing tips, stories, or articles with your audience shows leadership in your specialty without your having to proclaim it.
- Educate your audience. A marketing newsletter that educates has value for your readers; one that simply self-promotes does not.
- Newsletters show reliability. When you send a quality newsletter regularly — say, monthly — readers grow to expect it. When you deliver consistently, it builds trust.
- Keep the content flowing. Reuse newsletter articles as blog posts, share them on social media, and post them on your website. “Go old-school and keep paper copies in your waiting area, too,” says MarketingProfs.
- The risk is small; the reward isn’t. Creating a newsletter costs little compared with other types of marketing, but it has strong potential for good results.
- Achieve pass-along value. People love to share good information with their friends and colleagues. Digital newsletters, especially, make that easy.
Read the full MarketingProfs article for more (free registration required). Look for insights into building patient loyalty in the TMA webinar, 10 Ways to Turn Satisfied Patients Into Loyal Patients. See all the ways TMA can help you build a strong practice at www.texmed.org/thrive.
Published Sept. 28, 2016
TMA Practice E-Tips main page
Last Updated On
December 05, 2016
Originally Published On
September 28, 2016