Educating Patients with the E-Newsletter

Dental Practice Marketing – Educating Patients with the E-Newsletter

When you educate your patients about their oral health, by informing them of the improved treatment modalities available to them, you serve them better and make your practice more productive at the same time. Never forget this. Newsletters made available on your website, that can also be emailed to patients on a regular basis, are indispensable communication tools that will keep you in touch with your patients, while keeping them abreast of the latest advancements that you have to offer them.

E-newsletters have many advantages in cost and flexibility over traditional newsletters. For instance, since (as the name implies) e-newsletters are sent by email, they incur no mailing costs. Also, since they are sent as computer files, they have no printing costs, either (at least not on your end). For the same reason, last minute changes are a matter of a few mouse clicks and a press run won’t need to be stopped if such changes do come up. Patients can print them out to give to others who do not have email, or they can forward the message directly to internet-savvy friends and family.

As the doctor, you are responsible for your e-newsletter’s content. Some companies create stock newsletters for dentistry, where all you need to do is add your contact information before transmitting it—but be very careful that you are in full agreement with the content before you send out something like this. Once it’s out there, it’s yours forever. While you may include as many topics in a newsletter as you like, it has been my experience that sticking to one subject is more successful; this keeps the reader’s attention, so the point hits home with a greater clarity, which might spur the patient to act on the information presented. Too many choices stalls the decision-making process.

Make the focus of your e-newsletter an issue of direct relevance to your patients. Themes I have used in the past include: the perio/systemic connection, smile design, vital tooth lightening, why teeth break, and the advanced continuing education courses I have taken at The Pankey Institute. These matters all pertain to patients’ well-being, their self-image, or the skills of the dentist treating them; they are also important factors in how patients perceive the quality of their health care.

Though what it says matters most, how your e-newsletter looks is also very important in how well it is received. It should be an extension of your practice stationary in style and contact information, while including your photo portrait and any professional affiliations you may have. Beyond this formatting and the text, your e-newsletter should include pictures relating to the subject matter at hand. Clinical before and after photos you’ve taken (being careful not to be too graphic) make good accompaniment to your text, as do some stock images you can find online. A photo of a pregnant woman to go with the “perio/systemic connection” theme is a good example of the latter.

Once you have your content down, you can either have a web development service produce the piece for you or you can design your e-newsletter yourself using WYSIWYG (“What You See Is What You Get”) software, often available in website hosting packages along with stock templates for you to fill in with this software. WYSIWIG programs are relatively easy to use, and I would venture to say that anyone who can negotiate MS Word would have no trouble applying a WYSIWIG system. It represents the ultimate in control and convenience in generating your e-newsletter.

If your practice is online, you need to have an office e-newsletter; it’s that simple. It will educate and stimulate your patients while raising your practice’s visibility. This in turn will prompt questions from and discussions with your patients that will lead to greater practice production and a healthy return on investment. Start planning your office’s e-newsletter today.

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