The Significance of Patient-Centric Writing in Healthcare Marketing

In this episode of Healthcare Marketing Edge, Tim Bouchard and Tess Felton discuss the significance of patient-centric writing in healthcare marketing. They explore how relatable messaging can alleviate patient anxiety, the importance of simplifying medical jargon, and the key principles of effective copywriting. The conversation emphasizes the need for healthcare providers to understand their patients’ emotional journeys and to create engaging, accessible content that builds trust and encourages patient engagement. Practical tips for improving website content and humanizing healthcare providers are also shared, making this episode a valuable resource for healthcare marketers.

Tim Bouchard (00:04)
All right. Welcome to the first episode of healthcare marketing edge where we’re going to do something where we share stories and strategies to grow healthcare practices. I’m Tim Bouchard, ⁓ owner and CEO at Luminus in Buffalo, New York, and we’re diving into patient centric writing today. Kind of like how to connect with patients, boost trust and bookings, of course. My guest is our very own Tess Felton, our creative director with a long and storied copywriting background and Tess.

Of course, I’m going to have you on as the first guest because why not take someone from our own perspective. awesome to have you on our podcast.

Tess Felton (00:43)
Yeah, happy to be here.

Tim Bouchard (00:45)
Yeah, let’s learn a little bit about you first before we get into things. Tell us about your journey in copywriting and how’d you kind of develop an affinity for writing for healthcare.

Tess Felton (00:56)
Sure. I came up through the marketing agency world as a copywriter and then a while back started to transition into creative director roles but have always kind of kept my hands very much in the copywriting world ⁓ and kind of as I’ve progressed, even if I’m not doing pen to paper copywriting, ⁓ you know, still making sure that I’m keeping a really tight grip on

messaging, ⁓ you know, arguably is more important, ⁓ certainly more foundational to the stories that are told and the way that ⁓ those stories make it out into the world. ⁓ So I’ve kind of always been involved and coming up through agency work, you write for a lot of different kinds of companies, which is one of the things that I have always loved about agency work.

but there are always certain industries and certain types of writing that I gravitate a little bit more towards. as we’ve done more and more healthcare work, being able to speak directly to patients in a very relatable way, in a way where I’m not trying to communicate really complicated technical processes, but it’s more just, what are you feeling? How can we help?

address your fears, your concerns, your anxieties ⁓ in a very relatable, very simple way ⁓ and just kind of create a much better digital experience for so many different people. Everyone uses healthcare in one way or another ⁓ and so the universality, that’s not a word.

Tim Bouchard (02:45)
Yeah,

that’s a word now.

Tess Felton (02:47)
The universal nature of writing for healthcare, think really appeals to me because at the end of the day, it’s just human to human writing. That’s really all you have to do.

Tim Bouchard (02:56)
It feels like very brand writing to you. It’s almost like when you have the brand persona and the tone and the mission behind the brand, it’s almost a cakewalk. If you know how to write, it’s such natural writing to go after patients too. So from a patient centric standpoint, because that’s sort of what this is all about, why is writing from that perspective such a big deal for practices, especially if they’re struggling with getting like engagement in their marketing?

Tess Felton (03:13)
Exactly.

Tim Bouchard (03:26)
initiatives that they’re doing and trying to attract new patients and earn their trust.

Tess Felton (03:31)
Yeah, one of, I think one of the traps that’s really, really easy to fall into, and this is universal, this isn’t only for healthcare, but I think it’s especially true sometimes for industries like healthcare, is usually there’s some level of anxiety about healthcare. ⁓ You’re going to see some kind of doctor because you have some kind of problem or because you’re trying to avoid a future problem. ⁓ But there’s a lot of anxiety, yeah.

Tim Bouchard (03:55)
Yeah. And it’s personal, it’s super personal.

Tess Felton (03:59)
There’s a lot of anxiety around it and ⁓ too often people get stuck in this realm of here’s what we do and here’s what we offer. And from a patient perspective, they’re really, it’s a very emotional decision for them. It’s a very emotional journey for them. ⁓ And so making sure that you are tailoring the message to the real person who’s on the other side of that computer screen.

You know, whether it’s websites or social media or on the phone, ⁓ know, whoever’s on the other side of that message that you’re delivering, they likely have some kind of anxiety ⁓ and speaking to speaking to them in a way that really kind of quells that anxiety and goes after the emotions that they’re feeling and gives them a sense of calm, gives them, you know, a sense of peace of mind that they

are armed with the information that they need. They’re going to get the results that they’re looking for and that it doesn’t have to be something that’s so scary. ⁓ Using language that is very simple. ⁓ That’s something in the medical world that we see a lot. There is a lot of jargon when it comes to, ⁓ you know, talking to doctors or trying to read through medical information. I have this condition. How can I learn more about it? It’s filled with jargon. It’s filled with words that can sound really scary if you don’t know what they are.

Tim Bouchard (05:12)
Yeah.

Tess Felton (05:25)
⁓ and what they mean. so simplifying that language in a way that is much more common and much more colloquial and ⁓ just kind of speaking directly to, you know, to the person that is on the other end really makes a big difference in how people respond to you, how likely they are to reach out, to pick up the phone, to fill out the form, to show up for the appointment that they made. ⁓

And it’s a really easy trap to fall into when you live in that world every day. It can be hard to separate yourself enough to see, okay, this is jargon and we need to simplify it, or this is too focused on what we do and not focused enough on here’s the result that you’re gonna get if you come here. It’s less about we offer these services and more about you’re gonna feel better ⁓ after you come see us.

Tim Bouchard (06:08)
we do it for. Yeah.

Well, to your point about the anxiety aspect of this, it’s probably the best opportunity for prospective patients is going to come from someone that is going through a stressful moment and needs help, or someone that’s moved locations maybe and doesn’t know where to turn to for the best option, new city, whatever, or it’s someone that’s very young and they’ve never had to look for healthcare before, so they don’t even know where to start. And those people all need guidance.

Tess Felton (06:43)
Mm-hmm.

Tim Bouchard (06:47)
So you really have to think about what position they’re in. And if you’re simply just writing about, like you were saying, like about a procedure or technical equipment that you have or the location that you have, like that’s all relevant info, but it doesn’t really help someone that’s trying to find you.

Tess Felton (07:04)
Right. Patients

are, they want a doctor who is credentialed. I mean, you want a doctor who has a medical degree most of the time. You want to know that they went to a good school, that, you know, they’re well-trained for this, ⁓ you know, medical service that they’re providing you. But at the end of the day, you really want to know that they’re going to listen to you. They’re going to treat you like a human. They’re going to remember that you are more than the condition that they’re going to diagnose you with. ⁓

Tim Bouchard (07:09)
Yeah.

Tess Felton (07:30)
know that it’s going to be personalized in some way and that you’re going to you really are going to leave feeling better not just in terms of pain but that anxiety ⁓ you know those fears that come with it the worry of what if something’s wrong ⁓ good health care fixes all of that and too often we’re only speaking to the medical side of that story

Tim Bouchard (07:52)
Yeah. So practically speaking, in terms of writing from a patient centric standpoint, what are some of the key principles that you implement when you’re addressing copy for things like websites that we do or campaign work?

Tess Felton (08:06)
Yeah. So a few of them, I mean, we’ve already touched on quite a bit, but the idea of trying to eliminate jargon wherever you can, not using medical terminology unless it’s essential, ⁓ unless that really is the only option and what you’re trying to communicate is something very specifically medical, ⁓ but making sure that the jargon is stripped away, that this applies.

to anyone who does not, if you don’t already work in the medical industry, are you gonna understand what this is saying and what this means and what’s being asked of you or what types of questions you should be asking your doctor? ⁓ So just getting rid of that jargon is a huge one and then making sure that you’re thinking about the message that you’re putting out there from that patient perspective. ⁓ At the end of the day, no one really cares.

what you do, they care how that thing that you do will impact them. ⁓ And that lens shift in your messaging makes a huge difference in the way that people will respond to the message that you’re hearing. It has to be personal, it has to feel personal, and it has to feel warm and accessible to people.

Tim Bouchard (09:22)
So for those different things like websites and social media campaigns and things like that, how do you see that being applied to the creative or the content that’s putting in there? Is it guidance based? Is it straight up like trying to actually put yourself in their shoes? Like how is it being applied in what aspects?

Tess Felton (09:45)
Yeah, I think it can be a lot of each depending on what the platform is. ⁓ If you’re doing things on social media, that’s where you maybe have an opportunity to really get more personal with it, to imagine, you know, imagine you’re in their shoes. What are the questions they have? What are the worries they have? How can we address them very directly? What’s this, you know, what question did we get from a patient recently that we’ve heard a few times over and over again?

how can we answer that question ahead of time? If it was you in that scenario, what information would you want? ⁓ Again, always assuming that this is someone who doesn’t already work in the medical industry and that blind spot is ultimately the biggest thing to overcome. ⁓ But social media, you can get really personal. You can be a little bit more casual. You can point people towards really specific resources to address ⁓ some of these questions and concerns that they might have.

On the website, it’s a little bit more comprehensive. There it’s really about guidance. It’s about, we know you’re here for a reason. You came to our website for a reason. That reason might be that they’re looking to make an appointment right away. They already know that. They’ve heard good things about you. It might be that they’re looking to investigate the type of doctors that you have at your practice. How are they gonna treat me? Do they look like they’re gonna be friendly? ⁓ You know, I want someone with a lot of experience. I want someone who’s maybe newer to medicine and gonna be more cutting edge.

⁓ They’re exploring all of those things. Do you even have an office location that’s going to be convenient for me? Can I make or request an appointment online or am I going to have to call? ⁓ You know, phone calls are another source of anxiety for a lot of people as much as ⁓ as much as we kind of hate to say it. There are full generations of people who are scared to make phone calls or answer phone calls. So stripping… ⁓

Tim Bouchard (11:37)
heavily weighted by our generation that grew up with the internet, yeah.

Tess Felton (11:42)
So, know, giving them another option so that they can get to the end point that they’re looking for, ⁓ like filling out some kind of form can be a really good way to get people over the edge. But websites are all about here’s, you know, we know you want to do this thing. We’re going to guide you through this specific journey, give you all the information that we think you’re looking for. And then at the end of it, hopefully you’ll feel comfortable enough to reach out and make an appointment with us. ⁓ And that’s…

you know, that’s where writing for the patient perspective can really make a big difference in, first of all, identifying what those journeys are going to be and then making sure that we’re, you know, hitting the right points along the way.

Tim Bouchard (12:24)
Yeah, short. The social side is very short form and it can it can be so diversified in what you’re doing with the content and the messaging that you’re putting out there. The website is much more guided and it’s much more of a tool that you’re providing them. But even the content structure on that, it’s a little off topic, but it relates to the copy and the way you write a website. But the website itself should be easy to get to the actionable points and along the

two or three touch points on that website journey, it should feel comforting and trust building along the way.

Tess Felton (12:56)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. One of the things that I have seen over and over and over again in healthcare websites, whether it’s huge practices or small practices, ⁓ is a lack of information that’s specifically for patients. ⁓ There’s kind of this expectation that your whole website’s gonna be for patients. And sometimes that’s true and sometimes it isn’t, but there are also different types of patients. There’s the patients you already have, the people who have been to your office before.

Tim Bouchard (13:13)
Hmm.

Tess Felton (13:26)
They have a relationship with you and their doctor. And then there are the people that aren’t patients yet, but you wish they would be. ⁓ And your website probably isn’t speaking to both of those audiences equally. If you think it is, it’s probably not speaking to either of them very well. ⁓ And so one of the things that we always do that is ⁓ I don’t want to say quick, but ⁓ an easy way

to make sure that your website is speaking to your audience better is to add a section for patients or more specifically for new patients where you can answer those questions that are only relevant in that period of time when they’re making a decision. Are they going to make an appointment with you or are they going to make an appointment somewhere else or are they not going to make an appointment at all because they’re overwhelmed. They didn’t get the information they were looking for and the anxiety takes over and they say, I can live with this for a little while longer.

Tim Bouchard (14:23)
Yeah.

Tess Felton (14:23)
but

adding patient-specific information and calling it out as patient information is a really easy way to address a lot of those things all at once.

Tim Bouchard (14:34)
It seems so 101 when you think about it. Like, we should just talk to the incoming patient prospects that we want to. And it’s so easily overlooked, though.

Tess Felton (14:40)
Right. But it’s, yeah.

Yeah, the tunnel vision when it’s the world that you live in and work in every day is that can be tough to overcome.

Tim Bouchard (14:48)
Yeah.

Well, the confidence from the practice side comes from the experience and the credentials and the technology and procedure practices that they have. And, all those processes lead to quality outcomes. But it’s a little bit in the weeds and it’s not usually the first thing that comes to someone’s mind when they’re looking at orthopedic surgeons or physical therapy or whatever it might be. So you end up almost speaking over their head if you lean too far into it. And then.

what if someone else is speaking more directly to them? Obviously there’s a trust built somewhere else then and it becomes a problem.

Tess Felton (15:26)
Right. Yeah,

and so much of it is just the ease of what is the call to action as well that, you know, again, that can really be the biggest difference maker in is someone making an appointment with you or are they making an appointment with the person who let them do it online? You’re going to lose a lot of patience that way if you’re relying on everyone to pick up the phone.

Tim Bouchard (15:33)
Yeah.

Yeah, that’s one thing. Are there any other things that you’ve run across and either just things you’ve observed or projects we’ve worked on that were easy or straightforward and effective flips that we commonly come across people doing that can lead to some pretty quick improvements?

Tess Felton (16:10)
Yeah, I think starting with the home page is usually ⁓ if you’re looking to just make some really quick improvements. ⁓ Most of the time, if patients are finding you organically, if they found you through word of mouth or if they just do a search, they’re likely to end up on your home page ⁓ either first or

They’ll land on another page and they’ll go back to your home page to restart their journey to kind of figure out who you are. Looking at things like what is your opening text on your home page? That first tagline that you have, the very first thing people read about you, what is it saying to them? Is it saying that you provide great services and medical expertise or is it saying that they will feel better after they come and see you?

that your doctors are going to take care of them. ⁓ And that alone can be the difference between someone scrolling down your home page and visiting a second page or feeling like, you know, this isn’t quite the personal experience that they were looking for and maybe moving on quickly.

Tim Bouchard (17:27)
simple

flip from looking at it from the reasoning to why they feel good to the actual outcome of them feeling good and then backing it up. But it’s not like you forget to talk about the reasoning behind it. You’re you’re following up the outcome with that as the proof for why it happens, how you’re able to do it over and over for people like them, which is important, like them.

Tess Felton (17:40)
Sure.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I know for a lot of people, a lot, you know, for myself, trying to find a new doctor, talking to other people, friends and family who are looking for a new doctor, whether it’s I need to see a specialist or just I’m not super happy where I am. Does anyone have a doctor they really like? ⁓ The process of finding a new doctor is miserable. It can be so hard. And right. Are they a network? Is my insurance going to

Tim Bouchard (18:11)
Yeah. Especially with insurance and things involved too and understanding who’s in what network. Yeah.

Tess Felton (18:18)
you know, pay for this at all. And then beyond that, are they going to be the right fit for me? Is their approach going to be the way that I want my health care approached? Or ⁓ are they going to be making all kinds of suggestions that don’t fit my lifestyle, don’t fit, you know, the way that I like to think about health care and the way that I want to be treating my body? It’s so hard to find a doctor and it can be so hard to find good information on doctors. Besides, here’s where they went to school and this is what their residency was in.

And that information is crucial. You need a qualified doctor. But beyond that, getting information out there on here’s who your doctor is as a person. ⁓ You know, we’ve done video bios that have had a really good response because then you get a better sense of what it’s going to like, what it’s going to be like to be in a room with this person. ⁓ Is there something about them that doesn’t quite feel right to you? You just, you know, that

not quite vibing with them or, yes, this person seems very kind. They seem very understanding. I feel like I could ask them all my questions and get good answers and, you know, move through this health care journey. And so anything you can do to humanize the doctors away from, yes, they are extremely qualified. They’ve gone to school for a million years to be able to do this. ⁓ They will give you better advice than WebMD will.

Tim Bouchard (19:31)
Mm-hmm.

Tess Felton (19:43)
any day of the week, however, it’s still that human to human, person to person connection that has to be made between a patient and a doctor to cover all of that non-medical stuff that factors into healthcare and healthcare decisions.

Tim Bouchard (20:00)
Yeah, we’ll get into this in another episode, I’m sure, with someone else in the future, but video can cross that gap too. If you want to really humanize a doctor, giving someone the ability to hear a story, not like an interview based on qualifications, but a story about how they help someone, whether that person’s involved or not in the video, it’s almost like giving someone a preview on what their consult will be like before they’ve even met the doctor. And we talking about trust building things and getting to… ⁓

booking an appointment or feeling comfortable calling, whatever it is, that can go a long way too. And it showcases the doctors just as much as, if not more, than displaying their credentials and their experience. And it actually connects with the prospective patient better.

Tess Felton (20:40)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Right. At the end of the day, and ⁓ doctors probably don’t like to hear this, but there’s a general assumption that your doctor is qualified for his job. ⁓ I think in most cases, qualifications are not the deciding factor for someone who’s seeking out a new doctor. ⁓ You know, you assume if they have an MD, if they’ve been hired, if they’re running this successful practice, they know what they’re doing. They have the medical skills to do what you’re seeking from them. ⁓

Tim Bouchard (21:00)
Mm-hmm.

Tess Felton (21:16)
But yeah, the trust that they’re gonna make you feel like a human and really help address your problems, that doesn’t come from a diploma hanging on a wall.

Tim Bouchard (21:26)
Yeah. All right. So let’s talk about something. I mean, you already mentioned looking at the home page, but is there like a specific thing that you could kind of point people to look about? Like, how do you want to look at your own copy and content, whether it’s campaign or website based? Like, where do you want to start?

Tess Felton (21:47)
Yeah, one trick that I’ve used both in healthcare and other industries is go through your key messages. So whether that’s a few different pages of your website that you think are doing the heavy lifting for you, ⁓ know, different brochures that you have, whatever it is that you’re putting out there that you think is doing the main job of attracting patients to your practice.

count up the number of times that you use the word you, count up the number of times that you use the word we, ⁓ and see where that balance falls. If you’re using we ⁓ or, you know, those kind of first-person pronouns way more than you’re using you, that’s a really good sign that your messaging is not actually patient-centric. It’s still very practice-centric. You’re still talking more about you, what you do, what you offer, and less about the patient, what they get.

how they’ll feel.

Tim Bouchard (22:45)
I wonder if you could

even put that into AI. It’s like count the word we, count the word you, and spit back the scores and see how they compare. Oh, that would be a wild experiment.

Tess Felton (22:48)
You probably could, honestly.

Yeah. Yeah, I’d still double check that because

there are certainly going to be cases where there’s some nuance and some context to the way that they’re used. yeah, I mean, that still would probably get you a good starting point and then you could go through and double check. But that’s always that can be a very eye opening exercise for people ⁓ to examine their writing in just that very, very basic way. When we say talk,

Tim Bouchard (23:00)
Yeah, they’re just used as they’re supposed to be. Yeah.

Tess Felton (23:22)
to the patient, talk about the patient, the pronouns that you use are really gonna be telling whether you’re doing that or whether you’re focused on yourself.

Tim Bouchard (23:32)
And it’s funny because it sounds so straightforward, but like everything else, when you’re so into the world that you’re in, there’s blind spots everywhere. And sometimes a little outside perspective or a little ⁓ objective analysis of your own world will uncover something like that. Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you think would be good for the listeners to know?

Tess Felton (23:59)
Hmm. There’s this kind of odd comparison that I always make with healthcare websites ⁓ and kind of the approach that you want to take to a healthcare website or like a ⁓ practice website. ⁓ If you think about you want to go out to dinner at a restaurant you haven’t been to before. ⁓

you’re going to go to their website and you’re looking for a couple key pieces of information. They can have pages and pages talking about the history of the website or the history of the restaurant, the chef, you know, their background, what kind of food they make, what inspired that food. But at the end of the day, you want to know their hours or they open when I want to go there. You want to know their address so that you can get there. And you want to know if you can make a reservation and if that reservation can be made online or if you have to call.

Those are really the things that people are looking for. And most of the time I hear people complaining about web restaurant websites because they bury that information. ⁓ They bury it on these weird inside pages. It’s hard to find. You’re not convinced that it’s been updated recently. ⁓ And the same principle applies to health care in a weird way. When people are visiting your website, they want to know

Do you have doctors who do the thing that I want? ⁓ Whether that’s just I need a primary care doctor who is accepting new patients ⁓ or I have this condition diagnosed already and I need to know if this doctor is accepting new patients and will treat this thing. ⁓ And then you want to know how you can make an appointment with them. And too often we see

that type of information buried. It’s really hard to find. Yeah, you don’t know.

Tim Bouchard (25:55)
especially the accepting new patients thing. If it’s on the profile

page and not in the provider list, it’s it’s an unnecessary click. Yeah.

Tess Felton (26:02)
Yeah. Yeah. And I’ve

had this experience calling 12 different practices looking for a specialist who is accepting new patients and, you know, has beyond accepting new patients, you know, is booking appointments closer than a year and half out, which is shocking how much sometimes that’s encountered separate issue to the marketing side of it. But, you know, communicating that this is a person who’s accepting new patients. Here’s how you make an appointment.

don’t bury that. ⁓ And it’s, again, think about when you’re visiting different websites, you’re looking for something specific. If it’s too hard, if you’re too stuck in the middle of it and you can’t widen your view to see it from a patient perspective, take it out of medical care, take it into a different industry. When you go to a business’s website, you’re looking for something specific. And especially if it’s a consumer-based ⁓ company, like a

restaurant, you know you’re looking for something, how frustrated do you get when you can’t find it because it’s either not there or because it’s buried ⁓ and then bring it back to health care. What are your patients looking for? Have I made it easy for them to find it? And it’s easier said than done, but if you’re intentional about it, it makes a huge difference. And the more you start to think that way, the easier it is to keep thinking that way.

Tim Bouchard (27:30)
and you have to bridge the gap. If you’re going to write for the patient, then you have to give them a real easy experience too so it doesn’t separate the amount of attention you’re giving them. ⁓ This was awesome. Thanks for jumping on it, being the first podcast guest. And ⁓ I think it was really valuable and it’s a super common topic and it’s one of the first things we address with people too. So I think it was really good to get this out there.

Tess Felton (27:42)
Yeah. ⁓

Mm-hmm. Yeah,

yeah, it’s fun to talk about it in a setting like this. I talk about it with friends and family all the time because there’s a lot of frustration around health care ⁓ and how accessible it feels and how accessible it is. And so it comes up in my everyday life all the time. And to be able to ⁓ help address some of those problems for health care companies is always extremely rewarding.

Tim Bouchard (28:20)
go. All right listeners, if you want to take your patient engagement to next level, we have a patient pipeline blueprint session that we do. Tess and I are currently the ones that run it. But you can look up the info at luminus.agency/blueprint/. It’s 60 to 90 minutes. It’s a workshop to uncover how you can attract new patients, convert more inquiries into appointments. And if you want to hear more content like this or watch us if you’re watching our video, subscribe to Healthcare Marketing Edge for more and we’ll see you next time.

Tess Felton (28:21)
You

Thanks, Tim.

Tim Bouchard (28:52)
All right.