If you’ve ever felt like patients are so close to booking, but just don’t take that final step, this episode is going to change how you think about your marketing and communication.
Today, I’m joined by ghostwriter Nicole Bergstrom, who specializes in helping acupuncturists communicate more effectively with patients who are curious yet still hesitant. We dive into how the right words, the right structure, and the right messaging can gently guide someone from “maybe” to “yes.”
In this conversation, I share how we can meet patients where they are—especially when they’re skeptical, overwhelmed, or unsure what acupuncture even really is.
In this Episode:
- Why patients stay stuck in curiosity (and what actually moves them forward)
- How to simplify your messaging so it builds trust instead of confusion
- How email funnels can answer patient questions and lead naturally to bookings
Find It Quickly
02:45 – Meet Nicole Bergstrom
03:30 – How She Became A Ghostwriter
05:18 – Why Acupuncture Patients Hesitate
09:02 – Writing To Overcome Skepticism
11:28 – Investment Not A Cost
14:49 – Simple Language Builds Trust
16:57 – Email Funnels And Newsletters
19:46 – Seven Day Funnel Strategy
🎙️ Listen to Episode #124: How Acupuncturists Can Communicate & Build Trust With Curious Patients with Nicole Bergstrom
💙 This episode is sponsored by Jane, a clinic management software that’s here to make practice life a little easier.
Ready to get started? Use the code ACUSCHOOL1MO for 1 free month at jane.app.
Subscribe to the Acupuncture Marketing School podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
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Transcript:
Michelle: Welcome to the Acupuncture Marketing School podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Grassic, and I’m here to help you get visible in your community, take marketing action with confidence, and get more patients in your practice and more money in your pocket every week. We both know you’re a talented, passionate acupuncturist and that acupuncture has the power to change lives.
So let’s dive right into this episode and talk about how you can reach more patients.
Welcome back. Today I’m joined by Nicole Bergstrom, a ghost writer who specializes in working with acupuncturists, helping bridge the gap between patients who are curious about acupuncture and those who are still hesitant to actually book. In this conversation, we talk about how to communicate more effectively with skeptical patients and how thoughtful, well-written content can build trust over time.
A few things we cover in this episode are why many potential patients are interested in acupuncture, but still hesitate to book how to use simple, clear language instead of overly technical or scientific explanations. How email funnels can help answer patient questions and guide them towards booking and how to position acupuncture as an investment in health and not just a cost.
This is a really practical conversation. If you’ve ever felt like patients are. On the fence and you’re not quite sure how to help them Take that next step with your marketing. Let’s get into it. Today’s episode is brought to you by Jane, a practice management software and EMR built to support you in the day-to-day work of running your business.
If you’re an acupuncturist, you already know the care you provide starts well before your patient arrives and extends far beyond the treatment room. Jane is here to support every part of that experience. With online booking, your clients can book at a time that works for them, and with features like wait list notifications, they’ll even be able to grab last minute openings when they pop up.
It’s an easy way to keep your schedule full while getting your patients the care they need. During your appointment, Jane’s AI powered documentation feature can help you thoughtfully take notes so you can stay present with the person in front of you. And after appointments you can charge the card on file, which makes checkout really smooth, especially when your patient is super relaxed from their ACU app and is really just ready to head home.
To learn more about how Jane can support you and your patients, head to Jane app slash demo. And if you’re ready to get started with Jane, you can use my Code Accu School one mo for a one month Grace period on your new account. I’ll put the link and the code in the show notes for you. All right, let’s get into this chat with Nicole.
Hi Nicole. Welcome. How are you today?
Nicole: Hi, Michelle. I’m great. How are you?
Michelle: I am really good today. Thank you so much for joining me. Before we get started, why don’t you introduce yourself to the audience?
Nicole: Okay. Um, my name is Nicole Bergstrom. I’m ghost writer for acupuncturists, actually, I help them bridge the gap for their prospects that are very curious, but still skeptical and don’t manage to cross the line into getting a booking or just.
Getting into it because they’ve been discouraged, they haven’t been given permission. They’ve been, you know, scoffed at kind of Google doesn’t really help them. So that’s what I do.
Michelle: Very nice. So I’m dying to know how you got into ghost writing. It’s like a secret dream of mine.
Nicole: Well, to tell you the truth, when I got into marketing, which I love, and writing is my first love, so this was a great way to marry the two. I was saying yes to everything. You know an article? Mm-hmm. A website, a whatever, and it got. Too, to be too much. And I understood that the, the real value was just being very specific and, and people wanted something in their own voice.
Right. You know, they wanted something that sounds like them. That is not just marketing spiel. Um, so a friend of mine told me about. Premium Ghost Writing Academy. And that’s where I, I learned the chops.
Michelle: I love it.
Nicole: And they’re very good.
Michelle: How cool. I always imagine ghost writing to be like someone has an idea for a novel, but they, and they, maybe they’re an established author, but they don’t have time to write it, and so they have a ghost writer who writes it for them under that
Nicole: too, under
Michelle: theirs, right.
But you’d never really think about how. There’s ghost writing and marketing all the time. It’s very common. Definitely, there’s definitely, there’s a really prominent acupuncturist who sells online classes, and I know his ghost writer and I know that a lot of people don’t realize it is not him writing the emails.
But I think, you know, this person is trained in copywriting for conversions, right? So it makes so much sense to hire someone whose expertise is specifically this thing. And then the acupuncturist who teaches the courses, he can just put his energy into creating the classes.
Nicole: Correct? Correct.
Michelle: So I love that you are ghostwriting for acupuncturists, I think you said, to help bridge the gap between patients who are skeptical.
Helping them actually become patients. And that’s not something that we talk about a lot on the podcast. We talk about like all different angles, like are you talking about their symptoms enough? And these kinds of things. But we forget that there are still plenty of people out there who are on the fence about whether they, I always think of it as, you know, are they gonna take the plunge and actually try acupuncture?
And once, I mean, once they do, so many people love acupuncture and. They’re like, I can’t believe I waited this long.
Nicole: I know. I know. A friend of mine who’s of a certain age said, well, I, you know, I, I don’t care. I’m going to try acupuncturist. Like what do I have to lose? Kind of thing. Mm-hmm. And she was too old to, to listen to whoever was telling her, yeah, you don’t wanna do that.
Michelle: Mm-hmm.
Nicole: Um, and she loves it and she says that she’s never felt so energized and so calm and, and it’s really. It’s really been an eyeopener for her. So I want to, uh, get her under my wing and give me a couple more things I can add.
Michelle: Yes.
Nicole: Um, to it, because we get, I know I was, I mean, I still, I still am. I had a carpal tunnels and operation the other day and I was an, after I went to my osteopath and I asked her if she could recommend an acupunc for me because, you know, you’re kind of.
Feeling woozy and your hand isn’t very strong. And she said, why should I do that? I have, I haven’t the slightest idea what acupuncture is. And I thought, oh my goodness. Well, it’s about time you learn. But you know, these doctors, they’re very, very, uh, niche oriented. Yes. They only know a specific thing and.
Honestly, it drives me crazy. I mean, it’s just, you know, it’s the body. It’s not a symptom that you’re dealing with. It’s so silly anyway. Mm-hmm.
Michelle: We, I mean, I live in a very, uh, kind of rural area and. I still get a lot of that. I would say maybe 30% of doctors are happy to hear their ac, their patients are getting acupuncture, maybe 40, maybe I’m underestimating, but there’s still a huge portion of patients who are like, well, I told my doctor I was getting acupuncture, and they either had absolutely nothing to say or they, they thought that was odd, but okay.
So it’s, yeah, it’s something that we have to change slowly over time and it is happening, which is so encouraging.
Nicole: It is. I had a friend, a nurse, who told me that she was recommending patients. She knew two acupuncturists because they had this chronic pain that could only be alleviated by medication and they really didn’t wanna stay.
I mean, what’s the end point with all this medication? And she was the one that referred them for pain relief to an acupuncture and they were ecstatic. And another thing I found out is that an acupuncturist can always fax. The record of this patient to their primary doctor.
Michelle: Mm-hmm.
Nicole: Did you know that?
Michelle: Yep.
Nicole: They’ve got to receive it and it’s part of their record. So if ever anybody changes their mind, you know, inside the medical profession, they have all these testament, this proof of one of their patients being treated with acupuncture with. Success, you know, with pain relief and,
Michelle: yeah. And so what is the approach that you take when you’re copywriting?
Because I, I love your angle about helping people overcome this skepticism.
Nicole: Yeah. Well, what makes me laugh is that. Insurance covers lower back pain, acupuncture for lower back pain, as if nothing else will respond. So I kind of start with some scientific evidence from the medical profession, from the western, from pharma, big thing there.
And then I go into specifics. Mm-hmm. According to what the acupuncturist treats, you know, if it’s, uh, women’s issues or if it’s stress and anxiety and headaches or whatever. I mean, I, I take that approach to go into, well, what acupuncture can do for them and. I go into, you know, I can write faster than I can talk
Michelle: always.
Right?
Nicole: So it’s bridging the science, you know, but not in a scientific way because I’m not a medical doctor and I’m not a scientist. I’m just a big fan and I, I’ve really. Looked into this, uh, situation and a doctor told me, yeah, go for acupuncture if you, if you believe in placebos.
Michelle: Oh,
Nicole: my, a placebo is great.
I mean, if it works, but that’s another story.
Michelle: Right.
Nicole: Okay. So another thing they might, that might hold them back is, does it hurt? You know, they, they just don’t know anything more than, than being needle. These needle doctors are not acupuncturists. I mean, I’ve been needled and I’ve gotten great pain from it.
I mean, it’s a very, you know, they, they have to be aware of who they’re approaching to have acupuncture. So anyway, so needles don’t hurt because they’re not needles. You know, they’re, they’re tiny, tiny filaments and they just go too. A point in the body that will transmit a message to another point in the body.
I mean, this is how sophisticated my language about acupuncture is, but so I go from scientifically backed evidence to what acupuncture. Does to the benefits and if it costs, you know, if the cost is something you always wanna say, well how much are you losing now with endless medication or endless pain and endless and lost days and, and you shouldn’t.
You shouldn’t. I mean, it isn’t that you shouldn’t, but don’t think of it as a cost. Think of it as an investment. You know, it’s an investment in your, in your days, in your health, in your energy.
Michelle: Yeah. And I think, I think it’s the positioning of the message like that is always really important and helpful for people because yeah.
A lot of times when I know from my patients, when people are sitting on the fence, they’re asking a lot of questions, including, how do I know if I spend money on six or eight treatments that it’s actually going to help me? And the truth is they can’t know until they try. But when you position it as an investment, I mean, if you think about investing money in the stock market, you’re acknowledging like, we are not sure what the outcome is going to be, but we’re doing it from an educated place and so likely right.
It’s going be a positive outcome. Right. But it kind of helps shift their perspective.
Nicole: Yeah. Yeah. Also, um, the last acupuncturist I was going to, who was very, very good after my first session, he said, I’ve done all I could, now it’s your turn. Mm. And I thought that’s, that’s nice. You know, that’s, I understand.
One, one medication and let the medication do it for you. You know? You just have to really sit with it and understand.
Michelle: Yeah, and I find that it is really useful for people when they include in their marketing those concepts, right? Where it’s sort of like if you’re trying to attract a really good fit patient and you are.
Talking about the way that you practice and your expectations of patients. For example, I was speaking to someone recently and she always describes it as it’s 50% her effort and 50% the patient’s effort. But she talks about that like on her homepage in her. On her Instagram account, in her emails, so that when people do sign up with her, they’ve seen that message in multiple places and she’s only gonna get the people who are accepting of that.
Right. Right. Who are saying, okay, it’s not a quick fix. I’m not entirely relying on this person and I’m gonna have to participate. Maybe diet or exercise. Yes. Yeah. Taking a quick break to remind you of today’s sponsor, Jane, a practice management software and EMR designed to support your clinic day to day with online booking and wait list features.
Jane helps keep your schedule full while making it easy for patients to book and grab last minute openings during treatments. Jane’s AI powered charting helps you stay present and after appointments you can charge the card on file, which makes checkout really smooth. Especially when your patient is super relaxed from their Accu app and ready to head home.
You can learn more at Jane app slash demo, and if you decide to get started, you can use my Code Accu School, one mo for a one month Grace period on your new account. All right, let’s get back to Nicole’s interview. I also like that. I mean, you were talking about how when you were doing the, the ghost writing for acupuncturists, you have the, the medical research and you have your understanding of acupuncture, and you’re also an acupuncture patient.
And you said, well, I’m not a scientist, so I’m not writing it like that. But that’s good because most people are not scientists. Right. And they, they, I find that they want to know. Acupuncture is research backed, but they are not necessarily going to read through a lot of research jargon or I always include a link in my emails if I mention research.
I’m like, here’s the PubMed article, and. Uh, people don’t really click on it. I think they like to see such a thing exists, but their intention of actually reading like an abstract from research is like, nah, scroll, scroll, scroll. Like, oh wait, that last sentence says that it worked. Okay, fine.
Nicole: You know, I found you on Michael Max. A while ago. Oh,
yes.
Michelle: Geological. Yeah,
Nicole: geological. And I love some of his programs. Mm-hmm. Especially the history ones, you know, or the ones where he, he talks about marketing, but, and I’ve tried to follow the others, which would be fascinating if I could understand. But I, I can’t understand even this conversation, you know, this back and forth kind of a warm conversation.
I, I have a very hard time following. So, uh, yeah. I think a lot of people are like. Me that just cannot follow the, the scientific lingo or logic.
Michelle: Yeah, and I think, I mean, it’s, it’s just hard when you don’t have the background. And also I think people are really pressed for time too. They’re like, they, they want to know like, what is the crux?
What was the outcome? They, and especially if they’re reading it from someone that they already trust a little bit, they’re like, oh, okay. You know, Stacy, the acupuncturist, I follow her on Instagram, she seems great. And she said that the outcome of this research was X, Y, Z, like. I believe her enough. I don’t feel the need to go digging and verify.
Nicole: Agree.
Michelle: So when you are doing the ghostwriting for people, are you mostly writing email funnels? Are you writing website copy or other marketing copy?
Nicole: I do mostly email funnels and that’s a, that’s, you know, a single project. But if they’re interested in more, then I offer a newsletter. I really like writing newsletters and that’s to keep.
But you know, EEC also helps. Acupuncturists grow an email list. I don’t know how important that is to you or, or has been or anything, but I think it’s wonderful because you own it. You know it’s not dependent on a platform.
Michelle: Yes.
Nicole: And you can keep them up with anything that’s happening. You can give them case studies or you can have newsletter that speaks to a patient that’s had a successful treatment but hasn’t returned.
So maybe you can, you know. Interest them to come back in. I mean, there are so many ways that the newsletter can, but it would only be a, a twice a month newsletter.
Michelle: Hmm. I’m so happy to hear you say that. I’m always telling people, please send your email two times a month. And people are like, I can barely handle sending it once a month.
Like, I can’t even get my, get my marketing brain together enough for one email. But I feel like one email a month, I mean four weeks is a long time. To forget your intention to make an appointment or to ask a question.
Nicole: Yep.
Michelle: But two weeks seems to be a sweet spot.
Nicole: Yep.
Michelle: Do you ever get pushback, like you write these emails for people and you’re like, I need you to send these twice a month, and they’re like, uh, I’m afraid to do it.
Nicole: The only reason I push back is because I haven’t been able to, you know, I don’t want to promise something that I will not do a very good job of because I have pre prior commitments. Um, so I try to space my calendar, my working calendar. Well, I mean, I’ve been at the point of overwhelm and, you know, I was miserable to live with.
I was miserable drinking coffee in the morning, but now I’ve, I’ve known to, um, just to see what I can handle. I mean, it’s like an acupuncture of my, of my own in my, in my work.
Michelle: So yeah,
Nicole: if they really want, I mean, it has to be a, I take every case. Separately, you know, if the person has a really good reason that I can see it working and I can see the reason, I mean, if I agree with that, I’ll make a special effort on their behalf.
But,
Michelle: and yeah. What, so what I meant was, do you ever get pushback from the acupuncturist that they don’t want to send two emails a month? They feel like that’s too much?
Nicole: Oh, no. Well, my, my eecs are like a either a five day or a seven day email. Funnel. So they get, they get one email a day. Hmm.
Michelle: Okay. Does it look like a patient submits their email on an acupuncturist website and then they get a series of emails from the acupuncturist, but you’ve written them?
Nicole: Right,
Michelle: right,
Nicole: right,
Michelle: right. And those are daily,
Nicole: they’re usually seven days.
Michelle: Okay.
Nicole: Okay. There’s a call to action at the end of the email. It’s usually to book. It’s usually to book an appointment.
Michelle: So is there a call to action at the end of the seven days to book an appointment or at the end of every email in the seven day funnel?
Nicole: No, at the end of seven days. Gotcha. I mean, there’s always, you know, little things like, uh, we’re here for you, or We hope you enjoyed this email. Wait, wait till tomorrow’s email when we’ll discuss X.
Michelle: Gotcha. I like that. Yeah. I know that whenever I recommend that acupuncturists have an email funnel for their new subscribers, they get, I mean.
We’re just a nervous group of people to send emails. We are always afraid that we are annoying people every time we send an email. And I personally do not think one email a day for six or seven days is too much when they are specific. Right. And your, it sounds like your email funnel has a very specific.
Cadence, almost like a storyline that you’re walking them through. Like on day one we’re explaining this and then we have a little hook that says, stay tuned. Tomorrow we’re gonna talk about this. And then tomorrow they’re looking for it. Correct? Mm-hmm. Yep. And then it just keeps going. Mm-hmm. So, I mean, I think that’s a beautiful thing, and especially when we are talking about patients who are so close to making an appointment, but they have these questions that they may be.
Don’t quite feel prepared to ask. Right? They’re very curious, but they’re not gonna pick up the phone because nobody picks up the phone anymore. Right. To actually ask their questions. So what you’re doing, it sounds like, is you are preempting their questions. You are correct. Answering them so that they don’t, I mean, they don’t have to do anything.
They get the answers delivered to them, and then by the time they get to day seven, you’ve kind of erased most of their doubts in their questions. So it makes sense for them. To book an appointment. Right. For the call to action to finally be like, okay, here we are.
Nicole: Yep.
Michelle: Time to book. So I do have one more question for you, which I ask everyone who comes on the show.
What is your definition of success?
Nicole: Aha. My definition of success. I think it’s loving the house you’re in. It’s loving what you’re doing. I mean, it’s really appreciating. The coffee you have in the morning, the, the partner, you have the family, you have just the present as much as possible and being and, and knowing that you can handle anything that happens.
I’m, I’m really, I think success happens. When you have this very positive, calm attitude, and of course you have time and money, freedom, but um, you know, you really appreciate what you have because it’s just, uh, it just happens so fast. You know, we have one day at a time and it just happens very fast. I just lost my mother, so I did that.
You know, I have that.
Michelle: Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.
Nicole: Yeah, it’s okay.
Michelle: Well, thank you so much for being here. So if someone wanted to work with you and they wanted to have you do the ghostwriting for their email funnel, how would they get in touch with you? Where would they find you?
Nicole: Well, um, my email is nicole N-I-C-O-L-E-B-E-E twenty4@gmail.com.
Michelle: Perfect. And you have your LinkedIn profile, which we will put in the comments. Okay. So basically if someone wanted you to do their ghost writing for them, they could get in touch with you. Maybe you could show them examples and then you can move forward from there.
Nicole: Definitely.
Michelle: Amazing. Well, thank you again so much for being here.
Nicole: Thank you Michelle. It was great to talk to you.
Michelle: You too, as always, thank you for being here. If you are looking for an easier way to run your clinic, don’t forget to check out today’s sponsor, Jane. You can find the link and my Code Accu School one mo in the show notes. Have a great week. I’ll talk to you next time.