How to Structure Patient Email Newsletters

You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.

Hi. I'm Tyson Franklin, and welcome back to this week's episode of the podiatry marketing podcast. With me as usual is big Jim Mac, and he is here today to share his wisdom. Hello, Jim. How are doing?

That's a lot of pressure. I hope I can live up to the hope it's not just information, but wisdom.

So So much. Don't want information.

I hope I'll provide we'll see what we can do. I'm not gonna make any I'm not gonna overpromise and under deliver, hopefully.

So The listeners need wisdom. So what are we talking about today?

Yeah. So in the past, we've talked a bit about, you know, why you would want to, you know, put out patient educational newsletters. But today we're gonna get a little bit more tactical as far as like how to do it. I think sometimes, you know, it's nice to know why you should do things, but, you know, kinda, you know, kind of creating a workflow or, you know, how to kind of structure something can be of benefit. So, yeah, we're gonna talk about, you know, patient email newsletters and kind of the way I think that they should be structured because these newsletters can be a real benefit to help educate your patients in a lot of different things that you do and how you put it together in a way that, you know, we can talk a little bit about the different types of email kind of providers that are out there.

But the more you know the details about these things, the easier it is to, you know, get your list of you know, a thousand to 10,000 patients who have opted in to receive communications from you. Hopefully, these these emails will lead to patient appointments from existing patients and then new new patient appointments as well that maybe they, you know, they heard about you from one of their neighbors or one of their family members who get your email newsletter.

Makes sense. So where do we start with it? Where where would you start your newsletter?

Yeah. So I think it starts off with kind of like, okay, what kind of software should people use? You know that's kind of like that's great that I you know you want me to make a newsletter but how do I even you know like what does that entail? Do I use my Gmail? Like what do I what should I use?

And no you shouldn't use your Gmail, you should use a kind of some software that's made for this purpose and no I think some electronic medical records, in The United States that's what we call it in Canada kind of but, if you have kind of where you do your patient charting there some of these different systems are developing more robust ways to send, educational emails. I also like to let you know this is not we're not talking about recalls today so this is not something to be aware or, you're not gonna be sharing any kind of you know critical or you know personal information of your patients but so you can kind of send these as almost you know here sometimes the term which I don't really like called email blasts.

Yeah.

But you can send these kind of personalized newsletters that don't you know don't in The United States and Canada doesn't violate HIPAA, but at the same time you want to get some software. So if you're let's say your medical records is software is kind of old school and doesn't really include it, you know utilizing something like Convertkit or Beehive or Tyson, what do you use for your email newsletter?

I use Campaign Monitor.

Yeah. So Campaign Monitor. There's a bunch of different ones out there, but

They're they're all very similar. I I know one of the main CRM programs that a lot of podiatrists use in their clinics. There's a few of them actually, and they link through to Mailchimp.

Okay.

They all work technically the same way, and it's I call it like just intuitive learning. Just push buttons and see what happens. It it's not you can't stuff it up.

Yeah. I mean, like, the probably toughest thing for some people is to export that, you know, that CSV or that database file where they can upload the the emails into one of those systems. Sometimes you said they can connect it through an API sometimes, but, you know, getting that that email software where you can send things is kind of that first step. Because what's gonna do not along with not only does it help you write the emails, but it's gonna help you kind of style, you know, you can kind of create something that looks like your brand or something looks looks like your website on these to make sure that you have a template made. You know, if you can't do the template yourself, maybe someone in your staff does, maybe you're working with a marketing provider that can kinda help you develop or build that initial template.

And then it's kinda plug and play from there because I think there's really like three sections to an to a good podiatry clinic newsletter that every clinic should have. So.

What are those sections?

I thought you'd never ask. Oh, yes.

Should we have an introduction then?

Yeah. Well, the first section is really like about a section that educates your patients about all the care you provide. You know we've talked about this previously, you know you're sitting in your clinic all day so is your staff. You know all the things that you like to do but your patients don't. Know they maybe they came to you to see see you for an ingrown toenail or a bunion surgery or heel pain but they didn't know that you did, you know, sports medicine or orthotics.

So caught out

on that a few times.

So this is a huge opportunity. Right? So you really want to utilize kind of your current network whether it's a thousand emails or 10,000 emails to help them know that you treat all of these different things. Because not only can they learn about that for themselves, maybe their grandson or their neighbor or a friend from work has some of these issues. And if they bring it up to them, like, hey, I know that, you know, Tyson Franklin does these things, or Doctor.

Smith in our in our hometown does these things, I saw it in the newsletter, it can be a great way to help educate your patients about all the different types of treatment and services you have. But I will note that you know don't make it too overly medical or kind of scientific sounding, you really need to make sure that it's kind of in a patient voice. You know in a previous podcast we talked a little bit about utilizing AI in some different ways and you know, sometimes if you set that, you know, maybe you have it's like some copy or some text you wanna this is how you think it should be written. But then you can, you know, pop it into AI and say, you know, make this at a ninth grade level or eighth grade level or something. It'll help kind of, you know, make it sound a little bit more like patient voice and a lot less like someone that went to podiatry school or went to residency.

Yeah. I've seen people put stuff in the AI and they say, make it sound like Scooby Doo. And it's surprising. It will then go like Scooby Doo. It'll also talk like Shaggy, and it'll do it'll sound like Shaggy.

So you could easily say, I want it to read somewhere at a, yeah, a grade 10 level of high school. Keep it keep it simple. And it will automatically dumb it down isn't the right word, but it'll just make it easy to read.

Yeah. It's just more of that patient voice because, know, we went to school. We we were in our clinics all day, and we maybe talked to our colleagues or sometimes talked to our staff in ways we would not talk to patients. So just imagine you're talking to a patient trying to explain to them. Also what can be helpful is that if you're living in an area where video or written testimonials are an opportunity, This is an opportunity to put that front and center too, maybe it's not you just explaining about plantar fasciitis but maybe it's a video of one of your patients who's gone through the kind of the diagnosis, the treatment and the recovery from the plantar fasciitis is willing to give you either a written review or a video review and kind of putting that front and center.

Because even a lot of email newsletters these days will allow you to embed video or link out to a video. Oh, yeah. So I think that that can be a huge thing. Along with, know, if you do just have know, you're not gonna like write out, you know, 500 words here. It should be a relatively short paragraph and maybe link to that that that section of your website about heel pain, or about orthotics, or about ingrown toenails.

So So it helps kinda push people over to your website as well.

Yeah. I I used to find that really helpful with their podiatry one was having a just a paragraph and yeah. One or two paragraphs about a topic, and then I see you said read more. And you knew if you hit the right topic because you would get a lot of patients clicking on the read more and going straight to your website, and then from your website, they could read more information. And then from there, your website as you should have a call to action.

So then Absolutely. Do something. And surprising as patients are come you could tell if you had done it right because whatever you had promoted in your newsletter, you tend to get more of those patients coming through that week. And that gives you encouragement to keep doing it.

Exactly. And I think it's also important to state that like kind of like in the way you build your website, maybe you have those the top 10 or 15 things you really like to treat. Know, one one things you get asked a lot is like, so like what do I write about or what should I put in my newsletter? And those top or 10 or 15 things you have on your website are the perfect opportunity to link to those pages. So, you know, you don't really have to spend too much time recreating that content.

Maybe you just use AI or some way to condense that down into that hundred or a 50 words in that little segment of the newsletter and then link to it. But it can be a really great way to do it. And, you know, it's not something where, you know, if you have, you know, 12 topics or 12 pages on your website about these different treatments or diagnoses, that's you know, you're sitting at a one email a month, like there's your first year just right there. So it's not something that you should be too stressed out about about trying to find that content especially with educational stuff on your on your email newsletter.

I saw somebody else did a video on this, not podiatry related, but just content in general. And they said, if you've been around for a number of years and you've got a website, you've probably got videos on a YouTube channel, you've probably got content on your website, you've written blog articles, You've got so much information already there. You don't have to keep reinventing more stuff. Have a look at what you've already got and just go, can I just rewrite that? Can it be repurposed?

Can I take part of this blog article and turn it into a video or take that video and get transcribed into a blog article? So think about what you've already got and like you said, there's your content for at least your first year.

No. Absolutely. Like I think a lot of people fear the kind of blank page and they think they have to like, you know, start everything from scratch every single time and that's just not the case. So you know you're you have all like you said your website, your YouTube channel, maybe your Facebook, your reviews. Yeah.

There's a lot of content to pull from that you probably already have for your clinic. So just making make sure you're using it to its the best of its ability the best of your ability because there's no reason to have to try to reinvent the wheel again if you already have that stuff. And maybe some of that stuff needs to be slightly updated and by you know going back to it and reading it on your website while you're kind of crafting something for your newsletter, maybe you're making that you know content better for your website or you're talking to your your marketing person about, oh, I like to have this change made. It helps a newsletter can help keep content fresh kind of throughout your entire online presence per se.

Maybe you and I both do that. I know your newsletter comes out. A lot of the information that's in that is based on previous episodes that we've done. I know some of my videos, if I'm there sometimes I'll have something that is just top of mind, I wanna talk about it. But if I ever get stuck, I go back to look at one of the 600 videos I've done in the past, and I go, what was that about?

That was four years ago that needs to be and I refresh it, and I just do it again. So repurpose.

Now repurposing is huge. And like you said, like you just jog your memory a little bit and you'll have something there and it's gonna go by and make something, you know, you sometimes it helps your own thinking the own the kinda also the way that you approach a problem. If the more kinda go back to it and think, why did I think of it that way? It's not just like set it and forget it and becomes a stale idea. It's just something that you can constantly improve and kinda iterate on.

Yeah. And to give you the power of newsletters too, to give you an example, I get a newsletter every week from this place called Barbecues Galore. It's a local shop. Also get another one now from F and Q Outdoors. But the place I used to class is my barbecue shop, Cairns Barbecue Company.

Their newsletters are so sporadic. You get one one month and then it'll be three or four months later before you get another one. And every time I'm in the shop, I go, will you just do a monthly newsletter around the same time every month? It said it's really starting to annoy me. And they're like, oh, we don't have time.

I go, I know. I walked in here. You're both just sitting behind your computers. I said, doesn't take that long to do. I've been bugging these guys for months and months and months about doing news though.

They just haven't done it. And so then because I then don't because when I get it, when I get the news out and they tell me what's new, I have a tendency to go and buy that. Oh, there's a new source, a new rub that I can I can use? Because they haven't sent me anything, I've been getting emails from these other places, email news, reading through and go, oh, that looks interesting. And then all of sudden, I found myself going there a little bit more often, and then I bought a barbecue there last weekend.

And I I feel like I've done the dirty on them. But it's because they were top of mind. The other places, these newsletters that come here, and all of sudden, they promoted something that's exactly the grill that I was looking for to do something with.

There you go.

That's why podiatry if you don't do it, they they might end up coming across somebody else's newsletter and go, ah, there's a new podiatrist in town.

Absolutely.

Yeah. They're not everyone owns the market. That was the last one. Okay, Jim. What's next?

Yeah. So the second part of a newsletter when you structure it, it should be trying to find ways to show your community involvement. Mhmm. You know, this is whether this is, you know, sponsoring a local sports team or, you know maybe you're volunteering at a local road race or a diabetes walk, you know by showing this you know involvement it's important because it's gonna build a positive image for you and for your staff and for your clinic. It really strengths it kind of strengthens patient relationships.

Know when they see that you're an active member of the community it's gonna build a lot of goodwill for you and for your practice. So it's really important that you maybe it's photos, maybe it's kind of talking about some event you took part in, maybe like I said, like maybe it's a write up about how why you're sponsoring little Timmy soccer team and how you're inspired to do that. But, you know, when you demonstrate this this commitment to the community, then the community will be committed to you as well. So it's really, really important to consider, you know, sponsoring local activities and kind of and not not being shy to like let people know that you are an involved member of the community.

I think it's actually one of the most important parts of your newsletter to let them know if you've done something in in the community or also using it to let people know what's coming up in the community.

No. Exactly. Like a community calendar.

Yeah. Some people may when they get you a newsletter and they realize, oh, I didn't know that was on, then all of sudden, your newsletter becomes an important resource to them. They don't have to go searching for this stuff now. You actually you've taken you've done all the hard work for them and it'll be cut something that they look forward to reading because they know it's gonna be updated information.

No. Absolutely. Like just the more you can keep them informed and more kind of engaged with you and the community, think it's a it's a win win. And, you know, like you said, you can it's not just about, you know, it doesn't necessarily have to always be about podiatry specific topics. Right?

Showing a little bit of staff experience, you know, showing some personal anecdotes. I'm not sure if I'd share, you know, barbecues and burgers and stuff in the email newsletter but But that's just me. There's different people. But if you wanna show your personal there's nothing wrong with that. It's just kind of a matter of like how do you wanna show kind of who you are and you're and definitely kind of like I like to know, kinda be on the side of more community involvement, but there's it's an opportunity there in the middle of the newsletter to show who you are, you know, and what your clinic is about, whether it be being involved in the community or connecting with people on different other levels.

So

Yeah. No. No. I wouldn't just post a photo of, hey. This is Tyson eating another hamburger.

Sam, he used to work for us.

I think you may have an idea there.

Yeah. Sam, he used to work for us. He's a really good cook. And I said, oh, can you do a do a recipe? And that ended up being a very popular part of our newsletter as well.

If we weren't doing the the new the recipe, had somebody else do a a rum review from the rum winch. And and she would put together a bit and with the patients that would come in and go, oh, jeez, you you saved my bacon because my husband's birthday came up. Your newsletter came through. I read that thing. I know he likes rum, so I went and bought him that bottle.

And he said it was absolutely fantastic. So it's funny mixing these things up so that your newsletters are always really predictable too, you know, sparks that interest.

Absolutely. I think it's really really important to show some personality. Like I said, also let people know that it's not just about you and the clinic, it's also about the community and the people that, you know, how you interact with the community is super super important.

Yep. Okay. What what would you have in the the last section?

Yeah. So in the last section, you know, I never would put it front and center and and definitely an email newsletter should not be about like make appointment make appointment because that's just gonna drive people away if they know that the first thing you're gonna they're gonna see when they open up your newsletter is like, you know, click to schedule button like right away. But I think in third section of the newsletter, is okay to, you know, maybe highlight that you have a new modality and you have openings for it or now you're seeing, you know, you're doing something interesting and open for new patient visits. It can be a great way to help promote the services you have in your clinic. So it's gonna help fill your schedule, you know, it's gonna come kinda provide some convenience for patients to know, you know, what you're doing and, you know, that you'd are open to new patients because sometimes feel people will feel like, oh, they came into your waiting room, you must be so busy.

But maybe that they came on a busy day or maybe there's a very specific demographic of patient you're looking to attract. You know, having that third section be kind of dedicated to getting more of those patients in the door can be a really helpful thing. So it's really in my my mind it's kind of best practice to put that availability there kind of in the third slot and really kind of clear and concise language. Obviously that kind of call to action with a button that links back to either your booking system or way to make a phone call. Maybe you have some kind of promotions going on or there's something you know you're having a contest or something that will try to pull people into the practice but that's a really good place to put it there.

Now it's I I I do think but we always say when you're writing a blog article, there's gotta be a call to action. So to me, when you're doing a newsletter, you're not doing it just out of the goodness of your heart. There there is a it's a market there's a marketing purpose behind it. So you've got to use that but be subtle because I know I've had newsletters from people that are so forward with them pretty much saying, Tyson, we want your business. By the way, here's some stuff you can look at.

And they are off putting. So I think, yeah, having it towards the end, let them enjoy the newsletter, and then if they wanna make an appointment, they can. And by then too, they may have already if you've had an article that was of interest, they've already clicked on that, gone to your website, and it and may have already taken action. So you're getting them in two spots.

No. Exactly. It's just trying to get that to make it engaging and kinda keep it the balance right. Right? If it's you don't want to be just like all information and no opportunity for them to interact or make an appointment.

But at the same time, you know, you kinda have to like kinda balance it out a little bit to make sure that, you know, the primary objective is kinda information and to engage them. And if they wanna take that next step that you you have that available for them, but it shouldn't be beaten on them over the head with it. So Yeah. So yeah, definitely.

So let's do a big Jim Mac recap.

Yeah. So the recap I would say is, know, the key points being first section, you know, education. Second section focused on community involvement, and third you know being on kind of appointment availability. So if you make an engaging newsletter, like I said you're gonna have a lot of content from your website and probably some of your other you know, pillars, maybe some of your social channels or other places, maybe some blog posts you've written as you brought up Tyson. But you wanna encourage you know you know, readers of your newsletter to to engage with you and you know, obviously if you if you see you test around some some different topics, you see that people really like that, you you're volunteering at a community event or they're really curious about heel pain, you know, there's ways to kind of make additional content that's different but still very on a very similar topic.

So, you know, consider those kinds of things when you're when you're making these things. I would say that whatever email mail provider you're using is gonna have analytics. So you're gonna be able to see the number of clicks and how do you click over to your website to make an appointment and do those kind of things because it, you know, they'd have all that stuff built into that software. So make sure you utilize some of those analytics softwares to make sure you know what your patients are engaging with and then you can kind of craft, know, both educational community involvement, and appointment availability content that really suits the needs of your audience.

Yeah. And one final thing I wanna say about the newsletters too, when you're doing it is our brain has a tendency to overvalue losses and undervalue wins. So if you're sending it out to a thousand people and five people unsubscribe, that's a win. Don't focus on the five people unsubscribe. Look at the 995 who did not unsubscribe.

Because if your newsletter is turning up in their inbox, and even if they don't open it, as long as they're not unsubscribing, it means they're seeing you, and it's that isn't just another form of of marketing.

Absolutely. That keeping you top of mind is kind of the the name of the game and you know providing some helpful information for them is you know a secondary important thing as well.

Okay. So you got anything else on this before we wrap up?

No. That's it, Tyson.

Okay. So just a reminder of people, if you're enjoying this podcast, please consider giving us a rating review. Everyone that does is gonna get a trip to Hawaii on Jim. Jim's gonna pay for that. So just remember, you do a rating review for us, Jim will send you to Hawaii, maybe.

I'll just run the run that by my wife. I'm not sure I've got the the funds, but once we get over a million subscribers of podiatry market, maybe we'll consider that.

Let me find it. Alright. And if all of sudden you said to everyone, hey. Do a rating review and we and you go into the draw for a trip trip to Hawaii. All of sudden, people go, oh, you know what?

I'm gonna do a rating review. So if you do it for a trip to Hawaii, get off your bum and do the rating review now. Just do it while while it's there. And and you never know. Down the track, we might we might pick what a random winner and send them off somewhere exotic like Darwin in Australia.

Yeah. You never you never know.

Yeah. Okay, Jim. It's been fun talking to you again, and I look forward to talking to next week.

Sounds great, Tyson.

Okay. Bye. Bye now.

Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDanald. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.