Yesterday we discussed the need for you, the professional to engage your patients and prospective clients on social media sites.  It is where they are and where they are getting the information.

Meaningful Use Stage II criteria mandates the ability to interact with patients online with portals connected to your electronic health record systems but  healthcare providers and doctors have been seeking new interactive avenues including various social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

While it is true that  patient engagement and social media has received a lot of press lately, there is an even more effective tool for spreading your message- one that has been at your fingertips all along!

Email beats Facebook

According to a recent survey done by AW Pro Tools, polling 1500 consumers across the nation, a full third were influenced by digital marketing tools when making decisions with 13.8% stating that emails were a big influence.

Interestingly, 33.3% of respondents making over $100,000 a year said they were influenced by email, far outweighing second-place YouTube (5.6%).  This is news you can implement for your own business.

Jack Born, CEO of AW Pro Tools stated:

“The winning strategies for entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies alike is to attract a base of raving fans that open, read, and click on the emails you send,” ventolin inhaler no prescription australia says Jack Born, CEO of AW Pro Tools. “Without a well thought-out email strategy, money spent on any advertising is going to be much less effective, especially if you want to attract high-income clients.”

While this survey was done with purchasing and marketing in mind of different products than healthcare, people respond the same way.

Not retrieving email addresses of your patients is a big mistake.  They want to correspond with you and you should want to correspond with them.

It is a great opportunity to:

  • Let patients know of new procedures or techniques that the office is providing
  • Changes in hours, billing or staff members
  • Articles that you as a professional may have recently published
  • Provide education
  • Show patients that you care
  • Keep your name in the mind of your patients and future patients

Maybe you are thinking that you don’t have the time to engage your patients with email blasts.

While it is true that time is being stretched beyond the limit already, these emails can actually be outsourced so that you don’t have to spend the extra time.  Just as you have staff to perform various functions to enable your professional office to run effectively, so too, can the emails be outsourced.

Can you really afford not to?

Contact Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com

I’d be happy to discuss your strategy with you.