Why E-Newsletters?

Why e-Newsletters?

By: Emilie Ansel, CEO

E-newsletters are the original content marketing tool and one of the best lead nurturing vehicles available. And, if done correctly, can be highly targeted, but still turnkey. In sending out over half a million personalized e-newsletters each month on behalf of hundreds of clients for the past 15 years, we've found several key factors to successfully engaging subscribers, on an on-going basis, while raising measurable awareness and use of your services, programs and physicians:

• Current News – once people are diagnosed with a condition – or have an interest in a specific area – and get their initial education, the next thing they want is to stay current on that topic. You become a valuable partner if you can supply that ongoing, relevant news content and tie it to what you offer in terms of services and specialists.
• Personalization - Personalization is "where it's at" and an effective e-newsletter can help you break through the clutter and stand out in a subscriber's inbox. "One (e-newsletter) to Many" content is simply a branding opportunity with the "hope" that the subscriber will find something of interest – you are spending a lot of time creating content that may or may not be relevant to your subscribers. Personalization is the most effective email marketing tactic available, according to the Ascend2 2017 State of Email Marketing Survey. 
• Widely sourced – we all want to be as informed as possible when it comes to health decisions. If you can provide content from lots of sources, you have saved me time doing my "due diligence."
• Consistent – Yes, you can create your own e-newsletter and content in house, but do you have the resources to consistently provide what you've promised? Partnering with a vendor for at least part of the content and the delivery mechanism can free up your valuable time to add marquis content and customized messages about your services, leading readers back to your site for more information relevant to their interests.
• Trustworthy – the good news is that an e-newsletter tied to your brand already has an implied endorsement, but providing content that has been medically reviewed increases the perceived value.

E-Newsletters give you permission to appear in your subscribers' inbox on a regular basis, allow you to gather actionable demographic information as well as health interests, and use that information to fuel your marketing automation campaigns. E-newsletters are a turnkey way to keep a relationship going after anyone has interacted with you once, whether that interaction was through a health risk assessment, or a click thru from a search, or a class or event, or after contacting your call center. If you are collecting emails at registration or anywhere else, e-newsletters will keep those emails current and that communication channel open until you have a marketing initiative where those emails will be used. And finally, if you allow subscribers to design their own e-newsletters around the topics they choose, they've now "raised their hands" and identified the health topics that matter to them. Historically, the most powerful type of segmentation across all channels is Self-Reported Interests.

E-Newsletters have been around for a while, but there is a reason that all major brands have an e-newsletter. They may not be the shiny new thing on the marketing block, but they are certainly the very cost effective workhorse that consistently delivers, if done smartly.

To learn more, call 513-731-6700, ext. 41 or email eansel@privatehealthnews.com.