MARKETING A PRIVATE PRACTICE NEWSLETTER?
(March/April 2006 Issue)

Marketing a Private Practice Newsletter? Or E-Zine? After running a four-office executive career consulting firm which relied on $15,000 worth of monthly advertising to attract prospects in the door, I sold the business and returned to private practice. I didn't have a huge advertising budget. I decided on a monthly newsletter. There was no internet to speak of then. I produced a newsletter - hard copy printed on wood-pulp paper, hand-folded and labeled, with a postage stamp licked (remember licking stamps?) and affixed to the outside. My mailing list was about 1500 people, and it cost me roughly $2000 a month to get out my mailing. That's a lot of money for a private practice, but bottom line: the phone rang and I never had to spend a nickel on advertising. My newsletter was my "infomercial," my "advertorial."

I had about ten times as much business as my colleagues who relied on advertising or word of mouth to build their practices. Those were the easy days: "If you publish it, they will come." The internet has been a blessing and a curse in this respect. Blessing because instead of $2000+, it now costs me about $100 a month. However, a curse, too, because the ease and economy of internet newsletters make them ubiquitous. Newsletters are now everywhere; we're inundated. My newsletter used to be unique, now it's just perceived as another piece of spam if you're not careful. I've had to upgrade my newsletter process to make it make my phone ring. Here are the elements of success.

Newsletter Success Elements
Today a newsletter that works must:
1-promise instant and immediate value;
2-be formatted to look professional;
3-contain four pieces of content; and
4-be consistent.

1-Promise instant and immediate value. Instant and immediate value. We're all rushed, with jam-packed schedules, multitasking, and working our lives 24/7 with cell phones, blackberries, and e-mail. In the Design of your web site, you should be capturing e-mail addresses. Once you have the address, you must overcome the prospects immediate urge to click "Delete" in the incoming mail. That's the mindset: what can I get rid of? I call my newsletter The One Minute Career Letter. The very first thing I promise is, "You will find practical, useful information which, in 60-seconds or less, will have a positive effect on your life." Then I deliver on that promise. I have an "executive summary" of the article first which people can read in one minute or less. Then, if they are intrigued about that, they can keep reading the whole article. If you'd like a list of 20+ articles I've written, e-mail me at jkchapman@aol.com and I'll send them to you. You'll see each one offers practical value: a way for readers to immediately save time, money, or energy. That's the key to their interest. I repeat: more time, more money, or more energy.

2- Be formatted to look professional. Not slick! Not fancy with dancing bears. But attractive, simple, and HTML formatted. By the way, here's another example of keeping up with technology. Just a few years ago I cautioned against HTML. Only 20 per cent of the browsers would open it easily, effortlessly, and without all the gobbledygook. But within the last few years, it's the other way around; 80 per cent+ of your readers will open an HTML e-mail with ease. You need your own masthead, and a neat and tidy way for most of the attention to be on the powerful beneficial content, not on you, your business, your credentials, etc. If you'd like info on the bargain rates provider I use to send my e-mail monthly, again e-mail me at jkchapman@aol.com with your request.

3. Your newsletter should always include four pieces of content.
We've discussed
One: A 600-Word Article and the One-Minute executive summary. There are pieces two, three, and four that should be included.
Two: A Testimonial Letter. If you don't have a current one, put in an old one. Stories about people you've worked with to be successful sell more than your hype about your talents as a career advisor.
Three: An Invitation to Contact You in a non-threatening, no-pressure way. I, personally, always say, "If you are in any kind of career distress, in one session we can get to the root of the problem and provide a practical plan to solve it." The point is that they need to know that if they call you up, you're not going to pitch them a $5000 career package. Give them an ease-of entry way to get to know you.
Four: Thank-You Notice for Referrals. By mentioning by name people who referred clients to you, your readers will learn that they should do the same. You'll also be publicly thanking your referral sources - like they do on public radio telethons, "Thanks to Mikey from Timbucktu for his pledge…" Mikey likes that. It motivates him to refer some more.

4. Be consistent.
The most important thing about the newsletter is that it comes regularly. Month after month after month. Even if they don't read it, the recipients will still think of you when they encounter a career problem. But if it comes sporadically, it won't have the same effect. I think that, in addition to E-Zines, it is very healthy to send out a hard-copy newsletter a couple of times a year, too.

Jack Chapman is author of:
Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1000 a Minute
He is a career consultant in private practice and runs ongoing support and training teleconference sessions for career consultants in private practice.
He can be reached at 847-251-4727 or jkchapman@aol.com