The marketing segment for the women’s health clinic should be based on the demographic, the psychographic, and the behavior of the potential customers (Rabinowitz, 2013). In particular, some of the demographic factors that should be considered would include the age, marital status, ethnic or racial background, and employment status of the patients. These should be considered because the needs of women from each demographic segment would be different from each other. For example, young women would have different health concerns from women in their senior years. Married women would also need healthcare services that single women don’t usually need. As well, services that are available to employed patients would differ from those unemployed because of their health coverage.
With regards to the psychographic factors, these would include considerations such as the patients’ values, beliefs, attitudes, and lifestyles. These must be considered as the clinic staff should be sensitive to the patients’ beliefs, values, and attitudes. For example, some cultures may have negative perceptions about psychiatric treatments, so these patients must be approached differently from the others. Some patients may also have busy lifestyles and hectic schedules, so certain services should be designed or packaged especially for them.
On the other hand, with regards to the behavior factors, these can include things such as the patient’s desire to change, their knowledge of the problem, and their belief in the problem’s importance. These should be considered as they can become bases for adding value to the services or products being offered by the clinic. For example, the clinic might offer education programs together with their particular services in order to ensure that the patients understand what their health problems are and why it’s important to address them. They can also offer support groups or support services to help patients maintain their health regimens.
In summary, the market segmentation for the women’s health clinic should be based on the patients’ demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics. In turn, these traits should be used for determining the product component of the marketing mix in that they should become the bases for developing the product content, function, and features (“Marketing Mix,” 2012).
References
Marketing mix (price, place, promotion, product). (2012). Retrieved from
http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/business-theory/marketing/marketing-mix-price-place-
promotion-product.html#axzz2ez6NIJMa
Rabinowitz, P. (2013). Segmenting the market to reach the targeted population. Retrieved from
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1326.aspx.
