‘How’ and ‘Why’ of Market Research for Your Medical Practice

‘How’ and ‘Why’ of Market Research for Your Medical Practice

Market research aims to understand the reasons patients will visit your practice and avail themselves of your services. It also covers aspects like target market behavior and how financial, societal, cultural and personal factors can influence that behavior.

When conducting market research, here are some of the fundamental questions you must attempt to answer:

  • Who are your target audience? Describe them in terms of gender, age, income, occupation, lifestyle, education, profession, etc.
  • Which medical practices do they visit these days? Describe their preferences and needs relating to your products or services, including how much they rely on healthcare practices, their preferred physician or practice, the best available products and acceptable price points.
  • What will make them come to your practice?

Although some of these questions may seem complicated, you would be surprised at the detailed information that is available about the target audience, revenue figures and target audience motivations. It is important to tap the various information sources to seek answers to as many questions as you can. This will help make your plan more convincing and improve your chances of success.

Market research does not come cheap. It requires a significant amount of expertise, effort and resources to achieve the desired results. However, for practices of all sizes, the best market research is the research they do on their own. In-house research might take the form of telephone interviews with patients, crunching numbers from published sources or competitive intelligence that you might have gathered on your competitors through social networks.

Whether you agree or not, as a medical practice owner you conduct market research all the time. When you talk to your existing or potential patients about your practice or check out your competitors’ prices, you are conducting market research. When done right, this process can produce a wealth of information about your services, your target audience and the market you operate in.

Far too many entrepreneurs or medical practice owners embark on ventures without proper market research. Often, a medical practice failure is said to be the result of poor market research. Successful entrepreneurs are risk minimizers, rather than risk takers, and market research enables them to reduce risks.

Why conduct market research

Why conduct market research?

The goal of a market research campaign is to equip you with the information needed to make informed decisions about your start-up medical practice and the 4 P’s:

Products or Services: Improve your offerings based on findings of what your target audience wants and needs. You can focus on factors like unique selling features of your services.

Price: You should decide on price after considering profit margins, competitors’ prices and the price your target audience is willing to pay.

Placement: This is where you get to decide about the placement or display of your products.

Promotion: Think about various ways and channels to reach your target audience. Your preferred marketing channels may include traditional advertising, social networks, website, email marketing, etc.

Market research can help you:

  • Understand your target audience and their preferences.
  • Create more effective and targeted healthcare marketing campaigns.
  • Identify potential business opportunities to grow and increase profits.
  • Identify and monitor your competitors.
  • Reduce or manage risk in your business decisions.

Right Time to Conduct Market Research

Right Time to Conduct Market Research

Market research is viewed as a component of the planning stage before launching a new medical practice. Indeed, market research is critical for start-ups and should be a key element of healthcare marketing plans. This data feeds into a number of areas and helps to:

  • Determine the revenue potential of your services so that the correct prices can be set.
  • Attract patients to your practice and establish your brand image.
  • Set the right prices for your offerings.
  • Retain patients and earn repeat business.

Needless to say, one practice’s market research data and marketing plan will be different than another’s objectives and tactics. Even practices within the same area will have different business goals and marketing strategies based on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. However, there are guidelines for running market research campaigns that every practice must follow.

Healthcare marketing plans and market research are not solely for new practices. Accurate assessment of the market and development of an effective business plan are critical to the success of both new and established practices. Medical practice owners who contemplate significant changes, such as expansion and relocation, also use market research to support their decisions. Some of the situations that might call for market research are:

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