Why Your Dental Practice Needs An E-Newsletter

A dental newsletter for patients is a must-have for any good website. Why? Because they work to get patients interested and spread the word about you and your practice.

Aside from that, they are also the cheapest way to market directly to your dental patients. It is free-to-use and a great way to upsell, cross-sell, and promote offers on your dental website to current patients and people who have signed up for your email list.

In this article, we will discuss why dentists need newsletters and how to create one so that you can begin engaging with your patients.

The 3 Main Benefits of a Dental Newsletter

Successful dentists understand the importance of building long-term relationships with their patients. They recognize it as the secret ingredient to success. A dental newsletter can significantly benefit your dental practice for three main reasons:

1. It keeps you in touch with your patients.

Most of your patients will only remember your brand when they have an emergency or an appointment. A dental marketing strategy that includes email blasts and monthly newsletters can help your patients recognize the importance of oral hygiene.

For example, it's easy to let patients know when their appointments are coming up and tell potential customers how important it is to get regular check-ups. You can also highlight or promote your practice's services and offer discounts only available through email.

Since 91% of smartphone users check their email once or more daily, it makes sense that an email marketing campaign will reach your patients and prospects more effectively than traditional media marketing.

2. It increases brand visibility and awareness.

As a dentist, you want to be seen as an expert in your field. Regular communications, combined with the occasional, well-timed email blast to a large number of people, can highlight your brand or expertise.

A unique email blast can:

• Highlight one of your recent accomplishments.
• Showcase a community event.
• Inform your patients about an essential change in your practice.

People can also forward your newsletter to friends and family members who may be interested in your services. This increases brand awareness.

3. It boosts the volume of traffic to your website.

The email blasts and newsletters you send out to your patients can include links to your website and social media pages. As a result, customers who want to learn more about you and your practice may be prompted to visit your website and social media pages.

You can also coordinate blog updates with email messages to create an even more effective marketing campaign.

By doing so, a growing number of people will discuss your brand and share your content online. This will result in an increase in followers and traffic to your website.

How to Design A Dental Newsletter

There are many ways to make a dental newsletter, but our team of email marketing experts has found that the following three steps work best:

1. Develop A Theme

Make a list of all the dental-related topics that come to mind. Include "seasonal" or monthly themes that happen every year. For instance, since we're talking about "seasons" and "months," you could base your publishing themes on a quarterly calendar.

Here are some suggestions for quarterly themes:

• Quarter 1 - "New Year…New Goals" Themes: Encourage annual physicals and check-ups. Encourage patients to consider longer-term treatments such as orthodontics or dental implants. ‍
• Quarter 2 - "Spring" Themes: Expand on the "new beginnings" theme. Pay close attention to cosmetic dentistry if you want to feel more confident at weddings, reunions, and vacations. ‍
• Quarter 3 - "Summer" Themes: Instill relaxation and good oral hygiene. Recommend that patients have their teeth examined, fluoridated, and sealed before the start of the new school year. ‍
• Quarter 4 - "Fall" Themes: Pay close attention to the holidays and the end of the year. You can give your patients ideas on using unused insurance benefits or remind them to complete any unplanned treatments.

At the end of the day, what you put in your dental newsletter depends on the services you offer and what you think your patients would be interested in.

2. Curate Your Content Ideas

Because making content can be challenging, especially if running your clinic is your full-time job, curation is an excellent place to start.

RELATED: A Definitive Guide To Social Media Content Curation

If you're not sure how to start with content curation, here are two suggestions:

• Look for content on dental topics your patients have questions about and respond to them in your dental newsletter.
• Look through your social media feeds to see what's popular, especially if it concerns health, wellness, oral health trends, or controversial topics on which you can offer helpful advice.

Being socially aware is a part of content curation, so use your dental newsletter as a way to get more of your patients and subscribers to listen to you.

3. Promote Your Dental Newsletter

A dental newsletter is all about the content. You can, of course, discuss your services or current promotion, but you should start with something valuable.

Make sure that any advertising you do sounds natural and conversational and that it relates in some way to the theme of your newsletter. You don't want your dental newsletter to become an advertisement for the month's deal.

To do this successfully, you need to stay on the topic. For example, if you're writing a newsletter about cosmetic dentistry, you could end it with an exciting promotion for teeth whitening.

You can also allow your readers to respond. If the reader wants to, a strategically placed call-to-action (CTA) like "Click Here" or "Read More" will make them respond.

Most of all, your dental newsletter is about staying in touch. It's a way to stay in people's minds, while building patient relationships based on your expertise.

It's Time to Develop Long-Term Patient Loyalty

When you use your conversations and communication with patients to your advantage, you will end up with content that connects.

Remember that this is not a one-time-only strategy. The best strategies, like a dental newsletter, make loyal patients who come to you for answers and solutions to their problems.

So, if you cannot commit to a long-term marketing strategy but wish to begin one for your practice, consider hiring a digital marketing team to assist you in realizing your vision.

At Digital Resource, we have extensive knowledge of promoting dental practices online. Our team of experts will support your practice's growth through various digital marketing techniques.

Contact us today for a free consultation.