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As a physician, developing a practice development plan may not be high on your list of things to do. But it should be. How do you generate new referrals? How do patients know that you exist? How do referring doctors know that you exist? There are many marketing plans that you can adopt, but there are few that are as effective as using a newsletter. Here is why.

By sending a newsletter, you are consistently putting your name in front of referring physicians. They will come to expect the newsletter on a regular basis. When the time comes for a patient referral, it is your name that they will remember.

Newsletters also provide valuable information that referring doctors will find interesting and may not otherwise know about. The information can include timely articles from publications in your specialty. It is important to make sure that all the research you include in your newsletter is up-to-date.

Finally, using a newsletter is a lot more subtle than most marketing techniques. It is not an "in your face" approach to marketing your practice. It reflects a more professional image. Referring doctors will view your newsletter more as an informational tool than a ploy to win their referrals.

If you decide that using a newsletter is the way to go, you can either do it yourself or hire an outside company that specializes in this type of thing. Either way, you will reap the referral benefits that a newsletter program can provide.