Most Doctors Never Start An Email List Because They Don’t Know What To Write About. Here’s How You Fix That.

Ernesto Gutierrez, MD
2 min readApr 28, 2022

In December of 2013 I launched an email newsletter for my stem cell clinic.

We had been collecting emails from people who had inquired about our services since 2011 and since I kept hearing how different entrepreneurs were monetizing their lists via email, I decided to give it a shot. All I had to do was write the emails! So I rolled up my sleeves and began writing.

And after a few days, I sent that first email.

What the heck do I write about now?

As soon as I hit send and saw my old Infusionsoft account queue my email for delivery I panicked…

Not because I noticed some horrible typos despite my multiple proof-reading efforts, but because I realized I had to do it all over again. And again. And again.

“I just spent 3 days writing everything I know about stem cells! What am I going to write about now?!”

If you’ve ever started an email list for your practice, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I sent that first email, then another one next week… Then I missed a week. Then I missed another one… And then I went back to what I was doing.

So, if you’ve been told to nurture your email list and quickly run out of ideas to write about, these 3 tips will make your email writing much easier:

Write down every question your patients ask you

Patients aren’t looking for a lecture.

The easiest way to come up with topics for a newsletter, social media content, or even a digital product, is to get in the habit of writing down every question your patients ask you. When you see one come up regularly, you know there’s thousands of other patients who will want that answer.

Address each topic from several different angles

In my clinic, we specialized in stem cell therapies for autism.

At first, I felt like this was making things harder for me since “there’s only so much I can share about stem cell therapy for autism”. But here’s the thing: not every person understands every concept in the same manner. So you’ll do well to address each question you have in more than one way.

Analyze the data and double down on what’s working

After you’ve created a small number of emails and social media content, you’ll be able to look at the data and spot the topics that resonate more with your audience.

When you notice a specific topic generating more engagement in the form of views, visits, replies, it means they are interested in it. That’s your cue to double down on this topic and approach it from different angles, do a deeper dive, etcetera.

If you want to see this strategy in action, and learn new ones every week, sign up for my newsletter It’s Not Brain Surgery.

This post was first published at drernestomd.com

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Ernesto Gutierrez, MD

I help experts build businesses aligned with their true life goals • Physician - Retired at 38 • Full-Time Dad & Husband 🤟🏻