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Newsletter templates
Newsletters--done the right way--are proven marketing tools. They can help podiatry practices educate patients, introduce a new service, demonstrate expertise, generate referrals, increase patient loyalty--the list of reasons for a marketing newsletter goes on and on.
But a good, useful and successful marketing newsletter requires a commitment. It needs to be written and distributed on a regular schedule, at least four times a year. And it needs to provide content that is useful to its target audience in a format that is easy to read.
Electronic newsletters are increasingly preferred over print-only newsletters because they are easier and significantly less expensive to produce and distribute. Text-only electronic newsletters require almost no design and can be created using regular email message software or with simple Web-based templates. But whether electronic newsletters are text-only or include design elements such as multiple columns, photos and varying typefaces, they do not have to be printed, addressed, stamped and dropped off at the post office like printed newsletters do. In fact, all forms of electronic newsletters can be distributed quickly and easily to a list of e-mail addresses with just a few mouse clicks.
At the same time, practices serving senior citizens are cautious to maintain a traditional print newsletter format, too. "Don't abandon the printed version if your patient base includes the elderly," cautions Twila Fickel, DPM, of Chadron Foot Center in Chadron, NE. "We send ours electronically to everyone with an e-mail address but mail a printed version to those without e-mail."
Defining "Electronic Newsletter"
Just what is an e-mail or electronic newsletter? It's a news publication (not an advertisement or flyer) that focuses on a particular area of interest and resides on a Web site or is sent via e-mail to people interested in that topic. Lengths vary, but typically, an e-mail newsletter has around 700 words, which is only slightly less than the word count for a two-page printed newsletter.
They are typically created with one of these four approaches:
1) As text-only e-mail messages, sometimes with links to more information on Web sites but often without links to additional material.
2) As e-mail messages with design elements such as multiple columns and photos and often with links to additional information online.
3) As completely Web-based newsletters. Publishers of Web newsletters typically send subscribers an e-mail message that tells them the newest issue is online and includes a link--the URL--to the newsletter that readers must use to view and read the publication.
4) As nicely-designed publications sent as attachments to e-mail messages (these usually require the recipient to read them using word processing or Adobe Acrobat software).
Elaine Floyd, author of Marketing with Newsletters and Quick and Easy Newsletters, says the simplest approach--a text-only newsletter distributed as an e-mail message--is best. "You want to make it as easy as possible for patients to receive and read your newsletter," she asserts. Floyd adds that a text newsletter also prints quickly and easily, making it easier for patients to produce a copy to read away from the computer.
"Every extra step a patient has to take to read your newsletter--including clicking onto links or worse, pasting the link address into a browser--will make it less likely your newsletter will be read," Floyd explains. In addition, she notes, many patients use home computers without speedy Internet connections or the latest software to get and read their e-mail. Because of this, newsletters distributed as attachments or designs that take a long time to download might not be readable by many recipients. "You have to assume the lowest common denominator for technology," she says.
Creating a text-only newsletter requires no special skills, making it an easy entry point for podiatrists or staffers who aren't particularly techno-savvy. If you've decided on the text-only format, the simplest way to create a newsletter is to simply type your content into an e-mail message, using short paragraphs and subheads to add white space.
Another easy method is to use templates available online from newsletter distribution services (see more about these services below). Internet consultant and electronic newsletter publisher Wanda Loskin offers a free template at http://internetsuccesscoach.com/newsbuilder.html. With templates, you fill in your personalized information when prompted by the form and click a "create it" button. You then preview the finished product, which appears formatted with line and paragraph breaks, subheads, proper spacing, and so on.
Newsletter publishers preferring more design options can create an electronic newsletter that mimics the look of a printed publication using word processing, desktop publishing or Web site design software or by using design services offered online by the companies that also distribute electronic newsletters. These types of electronic newsletters can enhance your practice's marketing identity through a design that mirrors the Website. It's worth knowing, though, that when inserted into an e-mail message, they take longer to download, particularly when the recipient has a slower dial-up Internet connection. When distributed as a link to the practice's Website, as in "Click on the line below to read the current issue on our Website," you are forcing the busy reader to take an extra step to reach your newsletter. And when attached to the newsletter as a PDF file, you're assuming the recipient has the Adobe Acrobat software required to read that file.
Loskin advises people who want to distribute a fully designed newsletter with photos or graphics to "make sure the pictures are hosted on the Internet and not sent as part of the newsletter." This approach allows the newsletter to download much more quickly; it also means that to see the picture, readers have to be connected to the Internet. "People who want to print the newsletter to read elsewhere can do that before they disconnect from the Internet," Loskin adds.
Content Counts
Once you've selected the format that works best with the technology skills of the person producing the newsletter, you can begin thinking about content. If you already produce a printed newsletter, it can be as simple as copying and pasting your existing text into an e-mail message frame. But whether you're new to marketing newsletters or not, it's a good time to examine what type of material you can provide and whether it's of value to your practice ...or your reader.
Jack Burgin, practice administrator of A Step Ahead Foot & Ankle Center in Fort Collins, CO, believes that the content of his group's newsletter, Footprints, must be helpful to his practice's patients. "A good marketing newsletter needs to contain information that's useful to the reader, not information that promotes the practice," he says.
One of the biggest mistakes made by publishers of marketing newsletters is creating content that is overly self-serving, adds Loskin. "You want your newsletter to offer how-to or service information, not be sales-oriented," she says. "Otherwise you lose readers in a big hurry. Your newsletter must be reader-focused and bring solutions to their problems."
Burgin gets content for Footprints from handouts the office has created for patients and from medical specialty societies. Dr. Fickel gets content for her quarterly newsletter from the societies, journals, Websites and patients. "Sometimes I'll see a pattern in patient inquiries, so I'll write about those topics," she says. Dr. Fickel uses her time driving between three clinics to plan the content for her untitled publication.
Generating content, says Jessica Albon of The Write Exposure, a company that creates electronic newsletters for others, "is often just a matter of putting yourself in your reader's shoes and brainstorming." She recommends starting with easy-to-write articles such as interviews in a question and answer format. "Solicit articles from related businesses, such as your orthotics resource, too," she adds.
Floyd encourages publishers to "keep it short, sweet and upbeat." Floyd emphasizes the positive tone because, she says, "Bad news seems even worse when delivered via e-mail." (That's why she recommends writing the newsletter "only when you're in a good mood.") News items and articles should be short, she says, so that readers get what they need quickly. "You can always include links to more in-depth material online," she notes.
Distributing Your Newsletter
There are two ways to distribute your final product: Doing it yourself with your e-mail software, or using a free or low-cost service that does it for you. Dr. Fickel's office uses Outlook to send the newsletter to a distribution list of about 1,200.
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