Why Practitioners Write for the Wrong Room

One of the biggest problems many practitioners run into is that they write to patients where they usually see them – in the office. But on the internet, it’s more like you’re talking to someone you just met in a grocery store.

Once a person decides they trust you enough to come into the office, there are key shifts in your relationship that affect what you can say and how much of it you can go into, and it’s not just because it’s more personal in office.

A Grocery Store Meeting

Imagine you are swinging by the grocery store on the way home from a busy day in the office.

A woman bouncing a fussy baby on her hip in front of you in the checkout line mentions exactly the thing you help with. You were just explaining this to a patient this morning!

You can’t help but mention that this is exactly what you do.

As you start warming to your topic, you can see it’s genuinely landing for her, and she’s nodding enthusiastically.

But now it’s her turn to start loading the groceries on the queue, and the baby is fussing, and you notice the panic in her eyes as she tries to listen and do all the things. But you also know this could really help her.

You’ve got to make this fast and clear.

3 Ways Trust Shifts Online

1. They’re in a hurry. It takes weeks or months to book an appointment, hours waiting to get in. But online, it takes 1 second to click away. In a grocery store, everyone is coming and going and hurrying off. You have to keep it brief and to the point if someone is going to finish checking out and walk away in 2 minutes.
2. They’re distracted. Offices are often amazingly quiet, but the internet is as busy as a grocery store with two whining kids hanging off you and a siren going off somewhere in the background. You have to bring out the most important bits quickly and clearly to break through the noise.
3. They don’t know you yet. In an office, they’ve already agreed to trust you to some extent, but online, just like in a grocery store, they don’t know you. You’re just some rando spouting some ideas, maybe good, maybe bad. It’s not a good time to get deep into medical jargon or personal theories (although those are wonderful when someone has more time and trusts you more).

What Does That Mean for Your Writing?

• Address their problem first. Pull out a short version of the most important things they need to know, and lead with it.
• Use lots of bullet points, bolding, and headers. They’re in a hurry, and this needs to be scanable.
• Make sure to include some of your best info, too. The internet is full of people who don’t know what they’re talking about – but they sound like they do. Stand out by showing you actually know the thing.
• Stay focused. Sometimes it’s necessary to tell a story, sometimes it helps someone connect. But if someone is Googling a medical problem, there’s usually a fair bit of urgency and 5 other tabs you’re competing with.
• Lead with info and human connection, not credentials or jargon. They don’t know who you are or what those letters mean. They just need to know why this weird symptom keeps recurring. If you can help – that is what builds trust.
• Help them find you again later. When the supplement helps, when the symptom gets better. You’d give them a business card in the grocery store – make sure you have a way to be found again online, too.

Conclusion

You know your stuff. And the person Googling at midnight, or bouncing a fussy baby in a checkout line, needs exactly what you know. You just have to meet them where they are in the moment they find you. Save the depth for when they’re sitting across from you. For now, just help them get there.