In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, keeping your patients informed—and engaged—requires more than just an occasional newsletter. If you’re responsible for medical clinic marketing, you already know that consistent communication is crucial to building trust, increasing awareness of your services, and maintaining a full schedule.
One of the most cost-effective, impactful tools at your disposal? Email marketing. Done right, it can help your clinic:
Here’s how to put email marketing to work for your clinic—and a couple of real-world examples of how other clinics have used it to achieve measurable results.
Patients know your clinic for the department and service they first came in for—primary care, urgent care, or a specific treatment—but they may be unaware of the full range of departments you have and services each one offers. That’s where strategic, department-focused email campaigns come in.
By choosing a monthly department spotlight, you can:
For example, in January, highlight your physical therapy department. Then in February, your cardiology department. March? Dermatology. April? Pediatrics. And so on. Each email provides clear, relatable information about why that department is important, the range of services that department offers, what to expect when you meet with a doctor or specialist in that department, and how to schedule an appointment.
Along with boosting awareness of your services, this also encourages new patient inquiries for specialties that could otherwise be overlooked.
Health screenings are essential—but they’re also easy to forget. Email is the perfect tool to keep these important checks top of mind for patients. With automated campaigns, clinics can send reminders based on age, gender, or medical history, ensuring each patient receives messages that are relevant to their needs.
This not only helps patients stay on track with preventive care, like mammograms, prostate exams, and colonoscopies, but it also reinforces your clinic’s role as a trusted health partner. Beyond individual screenings, email is a great way to share seasonal health reminders, such as flu shots in the fall, allergy management tips in the spring, and cholesterol screenings after the holidays.
By providing patients with timely, personalized reminders, your clinic helps them prioritize their health while improving appointment consistency and strengthening long-term relationships.
National Awareness Days, Months, and Weeks provide ready-made opportunities for relevant, educational email content. Patients appreciate learning how these observances connect to their own health, especially when paired with actionable next steps.
Stephanie Everett at Mountrail County Health Center in Stanley, North Dakota, hired Wild Fig as their fractional CMO to help with their marketing efforts. As part of our strategy, we regularly send out automated emails to MCMC’s patients at key points on the calendar, educating them about these Health Awareness holidays, complete with a “Did You Know…?” educational piece on each subject.
For example, we sent out a February email for Heart Health Month that included:
These emails were coupled with social media posts throughout the month that educated followers about cardiovascular disease and provided pointers for heart-healthy eating.
This blend of education and action makes your emails both helpful and effective at driving appointments.
Remember to make it easy for patients to book appointments by including a clear call-to-action button right in the email.
Learn more about how we’ve been able to help Stephanie and MCHC with our fractional marketing services!
Today’s patients, especially younger generations, expect easy, digital-friendly ways to schedule appointments. The statistics speak for themselves:
Hot Tip: When using email to promote your services or send out reminders, always include a direct booking link in the email so there’s no need to call during business hours, and make sure your formatting is mobile-friendly for easy on-the-go scheduling.
This frictionless approach increases follow-through. Patients are far more likely to book in the moment if it just takes a click!
Acquiring new patients is expensive and takes effort. If they leave after a single visit, you lose that investment. One way to improve retention is to automate early communication so every new patient feels welcomed and cared for.
For example, we helped Minneapolis Integrative Medicine Center (MIMC) create an automated email series to:
This automation not only eased the burden on the patient care coordinators but also improved patient satisfaction—leading to more return visits and referrals.
People connect with people, not just businesses. Highlighting your staff members—whether it’s doctors or nurses, lab techs, or front desk coordinators—can help patients feel more comfortable and familiar with your clinic.
Consider adding a “Meet Our Team” section to your monthly emails:
This allows patients to relate with your staff on a personal level while also introducing services they may not know your clinic offers. Furthermore, it’s a simple way to introduce doctors or specialists, making them feel familiar and approachable before a patient ever meets with them.
Even the busiest clinics have lulls—maybe certain days of the week, or slower months of the year. And there are always those last-minute cancellations. Fortunately, email marketing can help fill those gaps!
If one or more providers have an opening, send a quick “We have availability this week!” email message to your patient list. Include:
This approach works well for scheduling annual wellness checks during quieter months, too. For example, send an email reminder to the effect of, “Now is a great time to schedule your annual physical before the busy back-to-school season!” which can help even out patient flow.
For medical clinic marketing teams, email is more than just a communication tool—it’s a way to strengthen patient relationships, showcase your full range of services, and keep schedules full year-round.
Book a free 15-minute discovery call with me to learn more about our fractional CMO services and how the Wild Fig team and I can help you create a marketing strategy that not only grows your patient base but keeps them connected to your wide range of services for years to come!