The problem may not be your lack of follow-up but how consistently you lack it.

Think about it! You have good intentions when it comes to following up on prospects and potential leads in your dental marketing.

But how many times can you draft an email or hand-written note and keep doing it over and over. At some point you must somewhat “automate” the marketing follow-up process.

An effective way to “automate” your follow-up is through consistently publishing an enewsletter. And it can be as simple as repurposing a blog post.

In fact, that’s a good place to begin as a I offer a few tips to get started with publishing an enewsletter.

1) Start blogging

Your blog is the blank canvas to explore, explain, and, express your expertise (how do you like that “ex” theme I have going there?). It’s a place to log insights.

Lead with a blog. Many posts will “seed” other ideas and topics. These deeper explorations form the content that can be expanded through a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly enewsletter.

2) Show up regularly

Speaking of follow-up frequency…how often should you publish an enewsletter? Preferences vary. Some say weekly is best, others bi-weekly or monthly. I previously published weekly. Now (as I’m planning the 2.0 version of my enewsletter) I’m leaning toward monthly.

The advantage of monthly is you can use your enewsletter as a way to aggregate the numerous blog posts published over the course of a month into one issue.

You can expand a thought that a blog post simply introduced. You can incorporate the wisdom gained from comments to a particular post. Even social media feedback from retweets, likes and post comments (Facebook page) can improve upon a topic blogged about weeks before.

Bottom-line: consistency. Whether you promote your enewsletter as a weekly or monthly – stay with it. Your subscribers will drift (unsubscribe) if you lack consistency.

3) Open the window

I’m talking about letting people see into your life, practice/company culture, product/service stories, etc. One thing social media has taught us is that getting personal is okay.

If you want your enewsletter read and shared be unafraid to open up the windows a bit. Don’t be a life-voyeur or a verbal flasher. TMI (Too Much Info) applies here too.

If you’ve taken a trip, been on vacation, achieved a milestone, celebrated the milestone of a child or loved one, purchased a new gadget…you get the picture! And that’s what I’m talking about – give your readers a “picture” of who you are in addition to your expertise.

Authenticity opens the door to better business connections. It’s the basis for effective marketing follow-up – what we call “engagement” these days.

An enewsletter is a perfect follow-up companion alongside a blog and any other business communication you share.