How many times do you read something and ask yourself “so what”? Too often I read advertisements, newsletters, websites that have great content, but never address the real question at hand in the mind of the viewer, whatever it may be. Next time you are writing the content for an advertisement, newsletter, your website, a press release or anything at all, read it back to yourself and if you can ask “so what?”, you need to revise. When writing, try to inform your reader on how you can help them and address their concerns. If they are reading something you write, they are looking for help. It goes back to good ol’ “WiiFM”, which stands for “what’s in it for me?”
We at Integrated MedReps, LLC, a healthcare physician practice management company, coach medical practices through this process in all four modules of the IMR program. Inform your patients about how you can help them. It’s features vs. benefits. If you just got a new machi
ne and it does great things for your patients, they should be informed of that. But don’t tell them that the machine does this, and can do that, and is quieter than the rest, and is the “newest technology”, and this, and that. They don’t care. Tell them something they care about; address their concerns. Tell them that if they are suffering with pain or discomfort, you can help them and, in layman’s terms, how that new machine will do so.
It goes back to features vs. benefits. Tell your patients about the benefits that you can offer them instead of the features of whatever it is you are speaking about. You have to put yourself in the mind of the patient. They are in pain, or someone they love is in pain, and they want it fixed. So, attack the psychology of your reader and let them know you are there to help them when they need you most (please see ad example above).
So, next time you are writing your newsletter content, an advertisement, an article, press release, or anything that will be in front of a patient, remember this blog. Ask yourself the “so what question”. Your current and prospective patients turn to you at their most desperate hours, so make sure they know you will be there for them by speaking to the fears & concerns in their minds.
By: Chad Schwarz
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