Why your dental practice needs market segmentation

There are many methods that a dentist can use to advertise their practice. But there is an important factor to consider before you go spending time, energy, and money. This is the fact that you need to be sure you are using the best possible strategy for your needs. This is where market segmentation comes in.

What is the Principle of Market Segmentation?

Dental SEO will take a number of forms. These are more than just the different types of content that you provide to your site. An effective SEO campaign should also take into account the type of people that you are marketing to. Even though you provide dental services to a wide group of people, you still need to market to each.

The principle of market segmentation will involve dividing your patients and leads into a series of specific groups. Each will have a certain number of qualities in common. You can do so by age, gender, income level, where they happen to live, and what their buying habits on and off the web may consist of.

Market Segmentation Breaks Patients into Predictable Patterns

The basic idea here is to break these groups down into a series of predictable patterns. Once you can do so, you can begin to market to them. You will naturally market differently to your patients based on these qualities. This is true if you are a children’s dentist or one who deals with the elderly.

Different groups of people respond best to very different types of marketing. You will reach a certain age group of people more easily by using social media channels such as Facebook. On the other hand, a different group of people will prefer to use Instagram. Others will search via local health care directories.

You will need to have a presence in all of these different venues in order to reach the widest possible total amount of people. But in doing so, you need to alter your marketing strategy according to your venue. This will give you the flexibility that you need to appeal to many different segments at once.

You Can Segment According to Geographical Areas

Marketing segmentation can take place via a wide variety of methods. One of the most convenient is to divide up your audience by the area they are located in. This can be done by taking into account the zip code or municipal area where most of your patients come from. It may be more than one.

The bulk of your patients may come from the town your practice is located in. But a significant minority of them may come from towns and cities near you. If this is the case, you will need to market effectively in both areas. You want to make sure that patients from both areas feel welcome to book an appointment with you.

Other Ways You Can Segment Your Patients

Geography is not the only criterion you can use to segment your audience base effectively. However, another good way to do so will be according to their defining behavioral patterns.

For example, you can take into account whether they smoke or use chewing tobacco. These are behaviors that promote tooth decay. Some of your patients may be more able to afford regular dental checkups and treatments than others. You should take this into account as you form your next marketing plan.

Patients that are more dependent on insurance need to be handled in a different manner than those that are better able to pay out of pocket. There are a wealth of other patterns, such as lifestyle, attitudes, opinions, basic motivations, and priorities to take into account. These will determine your marketing plans.

Segmentation Gives You the Broadest Marketing Base

The main benefit of segmenting your audience will be to market to as many people as possible. You can split your efforts in order to reach all of them in the same amount of time. This is an effort that may take a bit of concentration. But if you get the combination right, the results will soon speak for themselves.

Author name : Alison Lurie