3 Platforms For Doctors Looking To Start An Email Newsletter On A Budget

I have been a medical entrepreneur and content creator for more than a decade.

During that time, I’ve learned the best way to nurture relationships with current and potential patients is via email. Especially in a time where social media audiences can be taken away at the whim of an algorithm (or the woke mob). I have found no better platform to do everything online (including email) than Ontraport.

However, every time I mention this to a doctor just getting started in online marketing, they’re hesitant to invest and are often looking for free platforms.

While I always encourage people to pay for their business tools (as in, not use the free tiers), here are 3 tools that let you launch your email newsletter inexpensively:

Substack – always free (with caveats)

Substack became popular in the last few years as a way for creators to stay in touch with their audiences via email. It allows you to host free and paid newsletters.

Free newsletters are free regardless of the number of contacts while Substack takes 10% commission on every paid tier you sell.

You can sign up and start emailing your contacts in minutes. But this ease of use comes at the cost of customization. If you’re ok with having a newsletter that looks exactly like a thousand others, Substack might be right for you.

Convertkit – free to start

Convertkit has rapidly become the go-to email platform for creators.

Every account comes with landing pages that help you collect new subscribers, email marketing automations and various email templates to stay in touch with your audience.

Convertkit has a free tier if you have less than 500 contacts. After that the paid ones are some of the best value-for-money in the industry.

Beehiiv – free to start

Beehiiv bills itself as the newsletter platform built for growth.

And sure enough, it comes with a few audience-building features built right in like the ability for subscribers to invite their friends (and earn referral credits). It also offers powerful analytics and is optimized to sell sponsorships and offer paid newsletters.

While Beehiiv has a free tier for creators with less than 500 contacts, its real benefits start at $49/month making it overkill if your goal for a newsletter is growing your practice.

I find it’s best for doctors looking to build a monetized newsletter that stands on its own.

If you decide to launch an email newsletter as part of your 2023 goals, let me know! I’d love to check it out and join it.