August 2007

Article Tools

3 secrets to creating a top-notch e-newsletter

Shhh!
3 secrets to a top-notch e-newsletter
By Joseph Fawcett, DC

How many e-newsletters do you receive each month? Do you read them? Which ones do you read?

The ones you take time to read offer useful information; the others, you delete.

Your patients are no different. They want useful, relevant, interesting information that can help their personal lives. And, they are tired of receiving junk mail — the type of digital stuff that characterizes the majority of e-newsletters today.

Properly created and executed, a well-executed e-newsletter can:

• Grow your business. An e-newsletter generates leads and sales directly attributable to it. Current and inactive patients will make referrals because of what they read, and individuals who are not currently patients may get in touch with your office because the newsletter was forwarded to them.

You will have many instances in which you can definitively link referrals, patient retention, and increased profits to your e-newsletter. This is often very difficult to do with other marketing methods.

• Create the ‘Wow!’ in your practice. An e-newsletter gives you a voice in the highly competitive patient market — a podium from which to articulate your practice and demonstrate your leadership. It positions you as a thought leader and innovator.

• Keep you foremost in the minds of your patients. Each monthly e-newsletter you send serves to solidify the critical connection between you and your patients. Other chiropractors may be able to buy their way into your market by matching your pricing, products, and even the look and feel of your successful practice. What they can’t buy are your relationships.

• Highlight the full range of products and services you offer. Interestingly, an e-newsletter does not compete with your Web site, print newsletter, or other marketing materials. It actually leverages them. It creates a steady pulse and focus that ties your other marketing efforts together to prosper you.

• Save money. If you already send printed materials to your contact list, one benefit in switching to an electronic format is a savings in printing and mailing costs. If you’re currently spending hard dollars to market and promote your practice (in the form of direct mail, newspaper advertising, sponsorships, printed

• Build relationships. Although an e-newsletter reduces marketing expenses and leads to a measurable increase in profits, its greatest strength is not as a direct marketing tool. It is most valuable as a relationship-building tool.

To evaluate an e-newsletter’s full effectiveness, look at the impact it has on your entire business, and, in particular, on your overall relationship with your patients and potential patients.

Interested, engaged people are who bring you their business and refer others to you.

3 SECRETS TO EFFECTIVE E-NEWSLETTERS

E-newsletters that are read (not deleted) share three “secrets.”

• Secret 1: They have top-notch content. That content is clear, compelling, interesting, and of immediate use to your patients.

Content is the No. 1 thing that will set your e-newsletter apart from all others.

Here’s a secret within this secret: Focus 80 percent of your e-newsletter on helping the reader and only 20 percent on you. It’s OK to tell readers about the accomplishments of your employees, the seminar you just attended or gave, the latest product you have available, or the award you just won. But share that news toward the end of the e-newsletter.

• Secret 2: They connect to the reader. Your e-newsletter gives you a powerful tool for connecting with your patients and retaining them year after year. Focus your e-newsletter on enhancing the relationship between you and your readers.

To do this, share stories from your own life that add a personal touch and tie them to how chiropractic worked in that situation. You can also tell a patient’s story (with permission) that can be a point of reference for all your readers.

• Secret 3: The ‘voice’ in the e-newsletter is genuine. Doctors are taught to write formally. Unfortunately, that type of writing in an e-newsletter comes across as dry, dull, and uncomfortably formal.

Be yourself. Give your readers the “authentic you” in every one of your e-newsletters.

Joseph Fawcett, DC, is an e-newsletter consulting specialist. He can be reached by phone at 972-345-4309 or by e-mail at drjoefawcett@hotmail.com.

Comments

Be the first to comment on this Article

Post Your Comment

Name

Location

Comment

To submit your comment, please type the security word shown in the picture.

.

Remember information

Back to the Marketing Resource Center