The correct answer is both mediums used together is best. Why? You might ask, “With so many marketing companies now offering e-newsletters, isn’t digital the best option?” The answer is no, for several reasons. Digital or e-communication (as much as I love it) cannot yet completely replace all the benefits of hardcopy.

Tangible newsletters allow people to experience news in a much different way than e-communication. Most importantly, hardcopies allow us to get away with longer articles, more photos and richer content than digital formats.

There is just something more sincere and warm about holding a tangible note, card or letter in your hands rather than scanning it on a screen… For similar reasons, highly personalized hardcopy newsletters are still key relationship and trust building tools.

At the end of the day, you want to be sure your patients have seen and absorbed all you have to convey. Ensure your marketing communication is achieving every important objective by including both email and hardcopy news in your 2009 marketing plan.

Need help with dental newsletters for yourself or your practice? Email rita@tangiblemarketing.com or call Rita (303) 807-3827.

Patient newsletter marketing, when done right, can be extremely effective in building relationships, trust, loyalty and increasing case acceptance. However many dental newsletter services are provided by huge corporate publishing companies who can efficiently pump out volumes of paper product, yet many times lack the personal hands-on dental experience needed to successfully market dentists today. Here are five patient newsletter mistakes to avoid:

1. No personalization- if you want a newsletter to get tossed on a regular basis, don’t personalize it at all. When patients scan to see if there is anything that looks familiar to them like a logo -or more importantly a photo- and see nothing they can connect with, they lose interest and you lose their precious attention.
2. Too much content- patients are super busy these days… while they do still like to hear from you, make it brief! This means a limit of two pages maximum- filled with wholesome unique-to-your-practice material. Four pages or more is not only too much content, but a waste of trees.
3. Boring cookie-cutter articles- it’s very important to take personalization to the next level here. Don’t include articles about children’s dentistry if your practice caters to adults or seniors. Likewise, don’t promote extreme-makeover dentistry if your client base is conservative and you cater to people who just want the basics. This is where the big guys (impersonal corporate publishers) miss the mark many times… by not allowing you to control each and every article’s content.
4. Too much sales-y talk – be very careful here. Present what you want to promote in a friendly informative manner. Yes it is ok to say “Call us…” However over-do-it and you’ll cross that precarious point of looking too, we’ll you know… sales-y.
5. Black & White- today’s “standard of care” for print is full color on high quality paper. This is especially critical for “technologically advanced or high-end” practices. Cheap paper with black and white print will stand out in the mail these days, but not in a good way.

Interested in learning about dental patient newsletter marketing -done right- for your practice? Email rita@tangiblemarketing.com