At Every Single Bean, we encourage many doctors to specialize their practice—instead of trying to do everything and serve everyone, focus on what you do best and the people you can most help. We’ve found time and time again that this focus helps doctors cut down on expenses and maximize their profits. They often report more of their ideal clients and spend more time providing their favorite services.
But specializing your practice comes with one major challenge: it makes marketing more difficult. When you have a small niche, your audience looks different. They’ll be more engaged once they meet you (after all, you provide exactly what they’re looking for), but it’s harder to find them in the first place. The typical marketing efforts—paid social ads, commercials, etc.—reach a general audience that may not fit what you do. You may have to spend money on a few campaigns before you connect with even one ideal prospect.
Thank goodness there’s an alternative!
A specialized practice deserves specialized marketing. In this article, we’ll explain how to use niche marketing for your specialized practice. We’ll reveal how to research your ideal audience and choose the right marketing channels so you can grow your practice without wasting time and money on off-the-shelf marketing.
1.) Know Your Audience
The most important rule of marketing is ”know your audience”. This is especially true when working with a niche group.
First, of course, you’ll have to figure out what your niche is. In a previous blog we outlined a process for finding your ideal audience. If you haven’t already, take the time to work through that content and answer these questions:
- What services do I do best?
- What services are most profitable for my business?
- What do my favorite patients have in common?
With these questions answered, you should be able to describe your niche. (For example, “I offer hormone therapy for women struggling with infertility” or “I help athletes beat joint pain without medication”.)
Now get to work researching this audience.
We recommend starting with your favorite previous patients. Interview them or send them a survey. Learn as much relevant information as you can about their lives and what brought them to your door. Chances are, if you do this with multiple patients, you’ll start to notice some themes. Maybe they’ve had similar experiences with past doctors or have a shared goal in mind. You may already know some of these things intuitively but confirm them as much as you can. The data you gather will be valuable in the remaining steps.
2.) Look at the Competition
In talking with your audience, some patients may bring up your competition. There may be other doctors or practices that are similar to you. (If not, congrats! Establish yourself in the market before anyone else can.) When you learn about these competitors, do a little research on them as well.
See what marketing efforts they’re making and note what’s working and what’s not. Is a certain kind of post blowing up on their social media account? Write that down. Do they advertise in a certain paper or magazine? Remember that too.
By learning from your competitors, you can save yourself a lot of trial and error. See how your ideal audience responds to their marketing and learn about the types of content and the marketing channels that seem to resonate most.
3.) Choose Your Niche Marketing Channels
Now that you have some idea of what works, it’s time to land on your marketing channels. By that, we mean picking the places where you share content.
The right answer is going to depend on your audience. As much as possible, go where they gather. For example, if your audience tends to be older, you’ll likely have better luck with a Facebook profile than you would trying to hop on the latest Tik Tok trend. If there’s a certain source your audience returns to regularly—maybe they read the same magazines or visit the same websites—consider how you can become a regular in those settings as well. Though less likely, consider if there is a place where your audience meets in person. For example, our athletes with joint pain might frequent the same gym.
If there’s not an existing community for your audience, you may have the perfect opportunity to create one. Consider creating a YouTube or Instagram account devoted to that community. Don’t try to sell anyone right away, just provide free content that relates to your ideal audience. Like minds may be attracted to it and you may find yourself becoming something of an influencer in your chosen space.
4.) Focus on the Problem and Solution
You’re probably wondering now, what type of content should I be sharing? We’ve found that the best content focuses on problems and solutions.
When you name your niche’s problems, ideal prospects will take notice wherever they are. They’ll listen because you aren’t giving them generic sales language—you’re talking clearly and candidly about the challenges they face. People pay attention to a message if it feels like it can help them solve their problems.
This is where your prior research will come in handy. Hopefully, you’ve come to understand the problems your patients were dealing with before they met you. Talk about these problems, whenever possible using the same words your patients used. Ideal prospects—since they’re people with those problems too—will start listening.
Once they’re listening, you’ll have a great opportunity to help solve their problems. With your practice, sure. But first, offer free information and helpful resources that show them there is a path forward.
5.) Work the Funnel
As we mentioned above, a niche market is generally a warmer audience. But that doesn’t mean that you can convert people from stranger to patient with one piece of content. It will still take time and strategy to convince someone to visit your practice.
That’s where your niche marketing funnel comes into play. A marketing funnel allows you to move someone from attention to action and includes different types of content at each level.
For example:
- Attention: Naming your audience’s problem is the quickest way to get their attention. Try a social post that reveals you know about their struggle.
- Interest: A patient needs to know how you can help solve their problem. Share information about a treatment you offer and how it works.
- Desire: Help your prospect desire success. Use an email or social post to share a past client’s testimonial, emphasizing how you helped them live a better life.
- Action: Now call your audience to take the first step. Invite them to schedule a consultation or sign up for your free webinar.
If you have content for every stage you’ll be able to guide your audience into deeper levels of trust. And that means you’ll get a stronger hold on your niche.
Own Your Niche
Put these niche marketing steps to work and you’ll be able to grow your specialized practice into something really special. With specific, consistent marketing you’ll save money and attract ideal patients.
One final word of advice: don’t be afraid to own your niche. Your marketing results might not come in overnight, but stay the course and be loyal to your chosen audience. If you do, you’ll be able to enjoy the freedom and financial reward that come with doing what you love.