Contact Platinum on 08 6181 3580
When assisting practices with their marketing plan, I often find they are using a lot of effort to attract new patients, but not doing enough to retain their existing patient base. Gaining new patients is essential, but if existing patients are leaving as quickly as new ones are coming in, your marketing dollar is going to waste.
To retain your existing patient base, you need to keep in touch and six monthly intervals are far too long to leave your patients without contact. In the meantime, dental amnesia causes them to forget about the amazing experience they had with you and they become susceptible to the lure of the low-cost drill-fill-bill practice down the road.
A quarterly newsletter keeps you front of mind without becoming spammy. It’s a great way to keep your patients up-to-date with what’s happening in your practice. A three monthly newsletter gives you an opportunity to introduce new team members and promote new services.
To prevent your newsletter ending up in the recycling bin, follow my tips to add some interest to your publication.
1. Go Electronic
Printing our paper copies of a newsletter will only reach the people already in your practice. Mail-outs are a huge time vortex and have minimal impact these days. Technology offers some fantastic ways to get your newsletter out to your patients via email and this is now the standard for most professional industries. My favourite platform is the website Mail Chimp. Simply choose a pre-designed template, dump your content in, import your mailing list and send. The best part is, it’s all free. Choosing this style of newsletter delivery opens up possibilities. You can add features like interactive surveys, links to your website and social media pages and links to other external resources. Patients can unsubscribe if they choose – don’t be offended- and Mail Chimp reports on the success of your campaign. Any half tech-savvy person can teach themself how to use the program in about an hour and about 3-4 hours is required to complete each quarterly publication. The result is an email newsletter that could rival any corporate marketing departments’ and will blow the socks off your patients.
2. Variety
Try to mix up the content of your newsletters. Patients don’t just want to hear about the latest toothbrush design or the new research on microbes – what excites you as a clinician may not excite your patients. Topics to consider are;
Patients love to get a sneak peek into your life and it helps to build rapport and interest. Keep it brief and keep it classy.
3. An oral health article
Include an article written by one of your practitioners – Hygienists and Oral Health Therapists are fantastic at this. Choose a topic that patients often ask about in your practice. Use language your patients will easily understand. As well as educating your patients, these articles show your patients you know what you’re talking about and help you can become more trusted and sought after.
4. Presentation
Use photos; preferably photos you have taken rather than stock images. People are attracted to photos when they open your email and especially photos of people. Clip-art is a definite no-no; leave it where it belongs…in the Nineties.
Experiment with colour, but don’t overdo it – limiting to two or three colours is most effective. Keep your font and the font size consistent for the body of each news piece.
5. Engage your audience
Encourage interaction from your patients by offering competitions and special offers, but familiarise yourself with the Dental Board Guidelines for advertising first.
6. Ask for feedback
Actively seek feedback about your patient’s experiences with your practice. Their feedback can be collected in a variety of ways – ask them to email you directly, provide a link to a survey (try the Survey Monkey website) or encourage reviews on consumer review sites like Yelp or Womo (yes, it’s within the guidelines).
7. Get it out there
Once you have emailed your mailing list increase the exposure of your newsletter by;
If you’re starting to think “Where do I begin?” or “How do we get time for that?” consider outsourcing your newsletter creation. PLATINUM Professional Development can help you reach your patients with minimal effort and time required by you or your team. We can even create content for you.
Call us on 08 6181 3580 or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.