Niche marketing is the process of finding a specific group of consumers and targeting services toward them. One of the big pay-offs of niche marketing is that, if done correctly, it can result in a loyal customers that come back often and refer friends.

Niche marketing is not often discussed in healthcare. I think this is because of a few reasons.

• Our system in the US is focused on integrated delivery systems that try to be one stop shops.
• To date, healthcare marketing does not focus on customer retention.
• Healthcare providers are afraid if they target specific audiences that they will have to develop special programs.

Rather than creating new programs to attract patient/consumers, a good niche marketing strategy starts with assessing the services you provide and determining the ones in which you really excel. Examine why you are good at providing those services and quantify the keys to your success.

• Is it because you have experts on staff?
• Is it because you have all of the needed equipment and services all in one spot?
• Is it because a significant portion of your clients/patients have a certain set of diagnoses?
• Is it because everyone within the practice (from support staff on up) understands the needs of a certain set of patients/consumers?
• Have you won an award or been specially trained for certain services?

The next part of setting up a niche strategy is determining how you will 'get the word' out. For those with larger budgets, direct mail, print and TV ads within local markets can certainly draw attention to your organization. However this approach definitely uses the model of casting a wide net only to catch a few fish. For the more cost-conscious, the return on investment may not justify the expense. However, if these items are already budgeted for overall PR/Awareness reasons, it would be easy to piggy-back some niche marketing content.

The best bang for the niche marketing buck is to use smaller more targeted campaigns. While more of an investment of time, there are a number of ways to implement a niche marketing strategy with minimal financial investment. Some ideas include:

• Social media (podcasts, blogs) to increase the likelyhood that your services will be found as an expert in a certain area.
• Develop a resource website or section of your current website for people in the niche you are targeting. Be sure to use other suggestions here to draw attention to these online resources.
• Offer experts/providers as speakers for area associations that offer advocacy services to the niche you are targeting (Examples: Arthritis Foundation, Alzheimer's Association, The American Cancer Society).
• Everyone needs content --so offer experts to write articles for local area newspapers, community newsletters, company intranets that have a health section, and community magazines.
• Podcast technologies enable almost everyone to record short educational presentations. Consider offering these up to local radio stations as PSAs.
• Consider offering some sort of award or recognition for powerful stories of recovery.

What technques have you used to target a specific audience? Feel free to add your ideas here.

TTYL

Toby and Carol

For more information on blogging and marketing visit Toby's blog, Diva Marketing, and Carol's blog, Driving In Traffic.